History of Victims of Crime

Stephen J. Strauss-Walsh teaches Criminology and Criminal Law at the University of Galway. His research is focused on victims and crime. He has a First-Class Honours Law Degree and PhD from the University of Limerick, Ireland.

‘By his thought-provoking historical assessment of victim rights in Ireland, Strauss-Walsh provides an innovative analysis of the empowerment of crime victims in the modern period. The removal and relocation of victims in criminal law and procedure continues to define the contours of justice in the modern trial context, making A History of Victims of Crime a must read for anyone interested in the socio-legal context of victim rights law reform.’Professor Tyrone Kirchengast, Associate Professor of Criminal Law, University of Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, Australia‘Tracing the emergence of a new legal culture of inclusion in regard to victims in the Irish criminal process, Strauss-Walsh provides fascinating historical and sociological context. This book is a wonderful addition to our understanding of the fall and rise of the victim in criminal proceedings in Ireland.’Professor Yvonne Daly, Full Professor of Criminal Law and Evidence, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Ireland

• Acknowledgements Table of Instruments Case Law 1 Introduction Context Research question Methodology Contribution to knowledge Structure PART IHistorical context 2 A contextual study of victim centrality in eighteenth-century Britain Introduction The eighteenth century Politics The victim of crime In the popular imagination Compounding Conclusion 3 The causes and outcomes of the exclusion of victims from the nineteenth century Irish justice system Introduction The nineteenth-century causes of victim exclusion A fading noblesse oblige and a laissez-faire revolution Urbanisationwithin an industrialising Ireland Greater resident numbers move to cities Problems with the victim-centred system are emphasised The prevalent hesitancy regarding pursuing actions Britain’s closest colony lists towards revolution British hegemonic rule becomes almost impossible The “fear of the crowd” and a move from “status to contract” Disorder sees social unrest become a persistent Irish issue The“Leviathan State” engenders punitive advancements Novel organisations begin dictating chastisement Reformalters regulation of juridical frames Traditionally overlooked transgressions Are prosecuted The impactof victim exclusion in nineteenth-century Britain Punishment becomes successfully centralised Conclusion PART IISociological transformation 4 Feminism and victimology highlight hidden victimisation Introduction Victimology The birth of the study of victims Feminism Consciousness-raising and -changing Conclusion 5 Domestic drivers of change re-establish the victim Introduction Reported crime rates—from stability to disorder The low crime society of the 1940s and 1950s The Evental moments that qualitatively changed crime Watershed moments in Irish criminal history The evolution of victim advocacy in Ireland The emergence of the victim’s voice in the public sphere Media reporting Graphic and pervasive crime portrayals Mass victimisation surveys Data suggests an increase in the reporting of victimisation Victims of child abuse The victim in the consciousness of the Irish people Conclusion PART IIILegal reformative evolution 6 Charting the Irish victim’s juridical re-integration—the evolution of the victim as a rights bearer in Ireland Introduction Supranational instruments provide victims with entitlements International law courts allocate privileges to victims The Irish judiciary recognise the victim as a rights holder Conclusion 7 The legal reincorporation of the crime victim Introduction The protection and accommodation of victims An expanded criminal calendar Pre-trial reforms Preliminary investigations Trial reforms Greater account taken of victim privacy during disclosures Conclusion 8 Legal reincorporation of victims after trial Post-trial reforms Introduction Civil process reforms The civil law—a viable justice avenue Conclusion 9 Conclusion Bibliography Index