Victims' Rights: A Documentary and Reference Guide: A Documentary and Reference Guide

by Douglas E. Beloof

Overview

Victims' rights represent the greatest change in the criminal justice system within the last 30 years. Victims' Rights: A Documentary and Reference Guide traces the origins, evolution, and results of the victims' rights movement. It puts victims' rights in a legal, historical, and contemporary context, and comprehensively collects important victims' rights documents in a single volume—perfect for students as well as general readers.

Bringing together dozens of varied documents such as presidential task force reports and recommendations, Supreme Court cases, state constitutions, human rights reports, critical articles, and political documents, this book is an indispensable resource for those seeking to understand the origins and modern consequences of American victims' rights policy. The author's accompanying commentary and analysis helps the reader to gain a complete comprehension of the significance of these documents, while numerous bibliographic sources provide additional resources for interested readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313393464
Publisher:	ABC-CLIO, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/06/2012
Series:	Documentary and Reference Guides
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	313
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Douglas E. Beloof is professor of law and founder of the National Crime Victim Law Institute at Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, OR.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a clearly written and informative book on an important subject lacking literature. . . . Highly recommended for public and academic libraries." - Library Journal

"Part of a series, this reference by Beloof (Lewis and Clark Law School) provides in a single volume a historical/legal overview of the status of victims' rights in the US and in the process identifies key texts, documents, court cases, history, journal articles, and references for further reading. . . . Summing Up: Recommended." - Choice

From the Publisher

This work is best described as a documentary legal history of the privileges now afforded to persons who have been harmed by crime. Beloof (founder, National Crime Victim Law Inst., Lewis & Clark Law Sch.; Victims in Criminal Procedure) here collects such material as U.S. Supreme Court cases, excerpts from treatises and scholarly journal articles, and congressional reports that trace the evolution of the victims' rights movement from the early 1970s to the present. Eight chapters clearly delineate the issues involved as well as perceived obstacles and remedies, either proposed or established. Particularly helpful, especially for those unfamiliar with the topic, is the opening chapter, "Background and History of Victims' Rights," which sets the stage for the remainder of the book. Other chapters look at the current role of victims in the criminal justice process and how it fits into the constitutional framework and congressional legislation such as the Crime Victims' Rights Act of 2004. Noteworthy also are the analysis sections of each chapter that cut through the legal lingo and help to interpret sometimes densely worded documents. As might be expected from the subtitle of this volume, all sources are carefully and extensively detailed in a references list at the end of each chapter. VERDICT This is a clearly written and informative book on an important subject lacking literature. A rare comparable title is Peggy Tobolowsky's Crime Victim Rights and Remedies, 2d ed., (Carolina Academic Pr., 2010), but Beloof's title is more current, contains a greater amount of context and analysis, and has other strengths. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.—Michael Bemis, Washington Cty. Lib., Woodbury, MN

Library Journal