Victim Participation Rights

Kerstin Braun is Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Justice at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, where she teaches criminal law and procedure. Following her studies in Muenster, Duesseldorf and Turin she was licensed to practice law in Germany in 2009. She has published widely in areas concerning comparative criminal law and victims’ rights.

“Victim Participation Rights: Victims across Criminal Justice Systems opens up a range of possibilities for integrating victims at all procedural stages of a criminal matter and presents a thoughtful case for expanding legal representation schemes for victims. As such, this book will be of considerable interest to scholars and policy-makers in the field.” (Tracey Booth, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, Vol. 31 (4), 2019)“Kerstin Braun’s book … offers a much-needed overview of victim participation rights across national criminal justice systems. Braun’s book is highly informative as she contrasts and compares inquisitorial, accusatorial and mixed systems. … Braun highlights the importance of protection and victims’ right to protection in the criminal justice process.” (Jo-Anne Wemmers, International Review of Victimology, Vol. 25 (3), 2019)

• 1. Victim Participation in Criminal Procedure: An Introduction.- 2. Victim Participation: A Historic Overview.- 3. Victim Perspectives and Criminal Justice.- 4. Victim Participation: Investigation and Pre-trial Decisions.- 5. Victim Participation: The Trial and Sentencing Process.- 6. Victim Participation Post Trial: Appeals and Early Release.- 7. Limits of Victim Participation in Adversarial and Non-adversarial Systems-a Case Study of Germany and Australia.- 8. Victim Participation: An Enhanced Focus on Legal Representation For Victims.- 9. Victim Participation: Review and Conclusions.