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INTERNATIONAL VICTIMOLOGY:YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROWJohn P. J. Dussich*I. VICTIMOLOGY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
A. Legal and Linguistic Roots
The earliest complete legal code comes from King Ur-Nammu of the ancient civilization of Sumer insouthern Mesopotamia dated in the Third Dynasty of Ur 2050 BCE. Its significance to victimology is thepresence of compensation to victims throughout this legal code (Kramer 1988). Some three centuries later
King Hammurabi of Babylonia created his well-known code which also contained compensation and restitution
for victims as part of his 252 legal rules (Horne 1915). The expression “an eye for an eye and a tooth for atooth” epitomizes the form of restitution used by Hammurabi’s Code.
Many modern countries have religious and legal roots related to the Abrahamic religious teachings of the
Mosaic Codes which started with the Ten Commandments from the Hebrew God to the prophet Moses tothe Israelites in circa 1400 BCE influencing Sharia (Islamic) Law, Old Testament (Christian) Law and Halakhah(Hebrew) Law. A form of replacement restitution to the victims by their offenders was a common theme in
the Mosaic Codes (Doe 2018).
Some thousand years later the Twelve Tables became the legal foundation of Roman law in 451 BC. Theselaws were used throughout the Roman Empire and significantly impacted the development of the legal
systems that emerged in the many nations that formed well after the Roman Empire fell. Of special note inthese laws was the role of victim restitution, not only during the Roman rule, but also among the nations that
followed (Domingo 2018).
About 1,000 years later Justinian I Byzantine Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire promulgated his
legal codes in 529 AD called Corpus Juris Civilis. While these laws were not new, they did represent greatly
revised legislation that reflected reformed legal practices of their times. The roles of victims were delineatedthroughout these Codes; however, in some cases, victims were held responsible for their own victimizations;in other instances, restitution was available (Radding and Ciaralli 2007).
Some 700 years later the Magna Carta Libertatum (Great Charter of Freedoms), the book of King John ofEngland and Archbishop Stephen Langton (who wrote the first draft) was a charter of rights forced upon
the king by his barons in 1215. The significance of this document is that it represents an historical symbol
against the abusive oppression of the common folk by the ruling class. It established the foundations forcommon law and due process procedures, significant aspects of Anglo-Saxon Law and later Anglo-American
Law, both of which eventually had significant influence in emerging nations throughout the modern world(Arif 2015). It is interesting that, “the position of the crime victim or separate rights of the victim are notmentioned in [the] Magna Carta” (Arif 2015:48). However, it must be noted that although the concept of abuse* Professor Emeritus, California State University, Fresno, California, United States of America. I wish to dedicate this article
to Irene Melup a significant victim rights facilitator and contributor who was a friend to the WSV at the UN. She worked
at the UN in New York at the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. The WSV honoured her with its highest
accolade, the Hans von Hentig Award in 1994. She was dynamic and ardent about victim issues and brought many key
persons together and motivated them and gave them information and explanations as to how the WSV might succeed invarious UN deliberations over the past years. We spent many hours together in person and on the telephone trying to findstrategies to get the proposed Victim Convention approved. She passed away on August 14, 2016. Her insights, passion andenergy were legendary. Victimologists around the world will remember her with great respect, deep affection, and fondmemories.

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of power came into being much later, its roots are clearly embodied within the intent, values, and content of
this historic document.
The modern English word “victim” has its roots in many ancient languages that covered a great distancefrom north-western Europe to the southern tip of Asia and yet had a similar linguistic pattern: victima in
Latin; víh, wéoh, wíg in Old European; wíh, wíhi in Old High German; vé in Old Norse; weihs in Gothic; and,vinak ti in Sanskrit (Webster’s 1971). As an academic term victimology contains two elements: The first is
the Latin word “Victima” which translates into the English word “victim.” The second is the Greek word
“logos” which means a system of knowledge, the direction of something abstract, teaching, science, and adiscipline.
Although writings about the victim appeared in many early works by such criminologists as Beccaria(1764), Lombroso (1876), Ferri (1892), Garófalo (1885), Sutherland (1924), von Hentig (1948), Nagel (1949),
Ellenberger (1955), Wolfgang (1958) and Schafer (1968), the concept of a science to study victims and the word
“victimology” had its origin with the early writings of Beniamin Mendelsohn, a Romanian prosecutor (1937;1947), these first writings led to his seminal work where he actually proposed the term “victimology” in his
article “A New Branch of Bio-Psycho-Social Science, Victimology” (1956). It was in his 1969 article that hesuggested the establishment of societies, clinics, institutes, and journals of General Victimology (1976: 22).
Two international societies came to fruition with the creation of the World Society of Victimology in Münster,Germany, in 1979 which is still active today; and, with the World Congress of Victimology in Arlington,
Virginia, USA, in 1980 which is no longer active. Many countries also have victimology societies, some which
are still active today and some not.   Instead of calling them “clinics” as Mendelsohn envisioned, victim
treatment centres evolved to over a thousand programmes called victim assistance, victim advocate, or
victim support centres worldwide. The establishment of several victimological research institutes were also
realized with one in Tokyo, Japan, at the Keio University by Koichi Miyazawa active from 1968 to 1992; one
in Sarajevo, Bosnia i Herzegovina, called The Institute of Victimology in Sarajevo initiated in 1997 by me andGerd F. Kirchhoff (Dussich 1997); another called the Tokiwa International Victimology Institute (TIVI) in
2003 started with Hidemichi Morosawa and myself; and, one in the Netherlands, called the International
Victimology Institute Tilburg (INTERVIC) in 2006 by Marc Groenhuijsen. The establishment of seveninternational journals also came to pass with the first in the USA, Victimology: An International Journal,
started and edited by Emilio Viano, in 1976; one in England, The International Review of Victimology, started
and edited by John Freeman and Leslie Sebba in 1989); one in Japan, International Perspectives in Victimology,
started and edited by John Dussich in 2004; one in Argentina, Victimología started and edited by Hilda
Marchiori in 2005; another one in the USA, Victims and Offenders: An International Journal of Evidencebased Research, Policy, and Practice, started and edited by Bonnie Fisher and Robert Jerin in 2012 as a partof the American Society of Criminology’s Division of Victimology; one in Spain, Revista de Victimología/
Journal of Victimology started and edited by Josep M. Tamarit in 2015, and the most recent one in India, theJournal of Victimology and Victim Justice, originally published in association with the Indian Society ofVictimology (http://isvindia.webs.com/) and formerly at the National Law University Delhi but now at the
Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, started and edited by G. S. Bajpai in 2019. Although Mendelsohn
provided the world with his vision and blueprint with General Victimology societies, clinics, institutes, andjournals, none have used the term “General Victimology” in their title. In spite of this shortcoming, many ofthese manifestations did follow his basic view of General Victimology. Thus, as his disciples we have followed
his basic guidance. Out of respect for his insights, his passion, and his guidance we honour Mendelsohn byreferring to him as “The Father of Victimology.” It is noteworthy that these early suggestions proposed by
Mendelsohn and the other pioneering victimologists laid the foundation for the application of victim assistanceand victim rights, significantly improving the lives of victims around the world.
B. Theoretical Roots
Usually, a theory is a statement that explains a given phenomenon based on causal relationships. In thiscase, what is needed is a statement that explains how and why victimizations occur.
1. Beniamin Mendelsohn
As mentioned above, the first person to begin the development of theoretical writings about victimology
was Beniamin Mendelsohn, who was a Romanian defence attorney, who needed to understand victims to
improve his ability to defend offenders. To do this, in 1956 he created a short taxonomy of six categories that
centred on the relative guilt of victims. These categories were designed to facilitate the degree to which a
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victim shared the responsibility for a crime with the offender; however, they did not explain the causes ofvictimization. Mendelsohn was intrigued with the relationship between the offender and the victim. He
referred to this relationship phenomenon as the penal couple. These were his first victim types:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

The completely innocent victim.
The victim with minor guilt.
The victim who is as guilty as the offender.
The victim who is more guilty than the offender.
The most guilty victim.
The imaginary victim.

Twenty years later in 1967 and 1969 Mendelsohn proposed a much different view of victims with hisconcept of General Victimology which considered the source of the victimization especially with genocide.
Based on this concept, he listed five types of victims with their offender type:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The victim of a criminal
The victim of himself
The victim of anti-social behaviour
The victim of technology
The victim of uncontrolled energies of the natural environment (Mendelsohn 1969).

2. Hans von Hentig
With the publication of his textbook in 1948, The Criminal and His Victim: Studies in the Sociology of
Crime von Hentig created a taxonomy that described how victims were responsible for their own harms. His
schema was based on psychological, social, and biological factors. He was also interested in the reciprocal“doer-sufferer” relationship between offender and victim, in what he called the criminal-victim dyad. Althoughvon Hentig was one of the first to approach the study of the victim in a systematic way, it was not empiricalresearch (Schafer 1968:41); and it is noteworthy that he never used the word “victimology’ in his textbook.
His categorizations of victims were:
I. General:
1. The Young
2. The Female
3. The Old
4. The Mentally Defective and other Mentally Deranged
5. The Immigrants
6. The Minorities
7. The Dull Normals
II. Psychological:
8. The Depressed
9. The Acquisitive
10. The Wanton
11. The Lonesome and the Heartbroken
12. The Tormentor
13. The Blocked, Exempted, and Fighting Victims
III. The Activating Sufferer
14. Broader Aspects: involve victims of “various degrees and levels of stimulation or response” and“the intricate play of interacting forces” with the victim as the offender (Hentig 1948:438).
3. Stephen Schafer
Extending the work of von Hentig, Stephen Schafer used an ironic change of emphasis on the victim in
the title of his book, The Victim and His Criminal: A Study in Functional Responsibility. He also focused on
the offender victim interaction and developed a taxonomy based on determining the level of the victim’sfunctional responsibility for the crime:

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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Unrelated Victims (no victim responsibility)
Provocative Victims (victim shares responsibility)
Precipitative Victims (some degree of victim responsibility)
Biologically Weak Victims (no victim responsibility)
Socially Weak Victims (no victim responsibility)
Self-Victimizing (total victim responsibility)
Political Victim (no victim responsibility)

These three pioneer victimologists, strangely enough, were not focused on the injury caused to the victimby the offender nor on reducing their suffering nor on helping them recover. Their main concern was withthe victim’s role in contributing to the crime, cooperating with the criminal justice system, and helping it todecide who was guilty. The term General Victimology that Mendelsohn had developed and presented in
1976, was strange and distracting to most “crime oriented” victimologists as they had been trained incriminal law and/or were in a profession that exclusively focused on crime victims. However, the logic of
including victims of other harmful situations (wars, traffic accidents, natural disasters, manmade disasters,
human rights violations, genocide, etc.) was compelling, especially since Mendelsohn argued that there were
fundamental similarities among all victims in their loss and sufferings, their need for and manner of treatment,
and the duration of their trauma. All of them deserved to be treated with dignity and made whole again inspite of the source of their harm.
4. Dietrich L. Smith and Kurt Weis
In 1976, Dietrich L. Smith and Kurt Weis presented a rudimentary model of victimology based on the
General Systems Theory perspective which considered the “universe of situations, events and processes thathave a probability of resulting in being defined as victimization” (Smith and Weis 1976:45). This model
appears remarkable like Mendelsohn’s concept of General Victimology; however, Smith and Weis have neveraddressed this similarity.
1. The study of the creation of definitions of victims by legal processes, everyday processes and scientificprocesses.
2. The study of applications of the above definitions by control agents, significant others, community,
behavioural and social scientists, and the victim him or herself.
3. The study of societal response systems with victims such as crisis intervention, social services, police,
prevention, medical services, and civil courts.
4. The study of the victim’s reaction in the post-victimization behaviour such as seeking help, complaints,
and reactions to the response of others.
5. John P. J. Dussich
A unified comprehensive theory of victimization within the scope of General Victimology was created andpresented by John Dussich in 1985 with the presentation of his “Social Coping Theory” at the WSV’s Fifth
International Symposium on Victimology in Zagreb. In 2004 this theoretical model was expanded andpresented to the American Society of Victimology’s Second Symposium. In 2006 it was again expanded andrevised under the title Psycho-Social Coping Theory and presented at the American Society of Criminology’s
58th Annual Meeting. The essential elements of this model consider the existence and value of personal
situation-specific resources in the victim’s environment that exist prior to, during and after their victimization.
Persons who have an adequate number and type of situation-specific resources can more easily thwart their
victimization; if the victimization is not thwarted, the injury can be diminished thereby reducing the level ofsuffering, and, as a consequence the victim is much more likely to recover sooner. However, victims withfewer personal situation-specific resources in their repertoire and in their environment will be more
vulnerable to victimization, likely have greater injury and suffering, and will probably not recover as well.
The unique aspect of this theory is that it can both help explain the dynamics as well as help in the treatment
to recovery process of all types of victimizations.
C. A Chronological Overview
The journey of victimology covers a span of about 85 years beginning with the early writings of its
pioneers Mendelsohn in 1937 and von Hentig in 1948, through the years of World War II and the reactions
to the Holocaust, especially by Jewish scholars, into the First International Symposium on Victimology held
in Israel in 1973, including the establishment of the World Society of Victimology in 1979 followed by like110

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named national organizations, the passage of the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice forVictims of Crime and the Abuse of Power (hereinafter referred to as the “Declaration”) in 1985 and othervictim related UN instruments, with their multiple impacts across the globe, into the academic and legal
developments of their principles, finally with practical applications of their mandates into the era of direct
support with multiple variations of victim assistance for a wide variety of services up to the year 2022 (seeAppendix D for a list of key dates).
D. Victim Assistance, An American Overview
Since the mid-1970s victim assistance programmes in America had to cope with the realization that thisnew field did not have a professional corps of people with special training in dealing directly with crime
victims. Those who were working in the programmes were a mixture of medical doctors, ministers,
psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, on-the-job trained counsellors, persons outside the helping
professions and volunteers with all types and levels of training. There were no international or national
professional standards. There was no certificate or degree to prepare someone to do the work of helping
victims recover. However, before formal victim assistance programmes evolved, there were some people
trained to work with victims, especially people who had been helping child abuse and family violence victims.
These were mostly social workers and psychologists. Today, the victim services scene has changed. There
are now a wide array of professionals and non-professionals working with victims who have received specificvictim-centric training. These include: social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, medical doctors,
non-specific professionals (who received their formal degrees in other fields but were trained to help victims
in the numerous training schools which are both part and independent of academic settings); and, volunteers(who also received their training in the numerous training schools which are both part and independent of
academic settings, many of which are 40 hour training modules offered by the victim service agencies where
they work). Today the field of victim assistance is the major career field in victimology for persons wanting
to help victims of crime (and other misfortunes) directly. The single largest and oldest university still offeringa criminology bachelor’s degree with a victimology specialty and a separate victim services certificate is at
the California State University, Fresno.

II. CONTEMPORARY FOUNDATIONS
A. Some of Today’s Fundamental Victimology Concepts
1. “Victim” has its roots in the early religious notions of suffering, sacrifice, and death. This concept of“victim” was well known in the ancient civilizations, especially in Sumer, Babylonia, Palestine, Greece, andRome. In each of these civilizations the law mandated that the victim should be recognized as a person
who deserved to be made whole again by the offender.
2. “Crime victim” is a person who has been physically, financially, or emotionally injured and/or had theirproperty taken or damaged by someone committing a crime.
3. “Victimogenesis” refers to the origin or cause of a victimization; the constellation of variables whichcaused a victimization to occur.
4. “Victim Precipitation” a victimization where the victim causes, in part or totally, their own victimization.
5. “Vulnerability” is a physical, psychological, social, material, or financial condition whereby a person or an
object has a weakness which could render them a victim if another person or persons would recognize
these weaknesses and take advantage of them.
6. “General Victim” is a person who has been physically, financially, or emotionally injured and/or had theirproperty taken or damaged by someone, an event, an organization or a natural phenomenon.
7. “Victimization” refers to an event (such as a crime, a war, a disaster) where persons, communities andinstitutions are physically, emotionally, financially, socially damaged or injured in a significant way. This
includes persons who suffer a violation of rights or significant disruption of their well-being.
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8. “Victimology” is an academic scientific discipline which studies data that describes phenomena and causal
relationships related to victimizations. This includes events leading to the victimization, the victim’s
experience, its aftermath, and the actions taken by society in response to these victimizations. Therefore,
victimology includes the study of the precursors, prevention, vulnerabilities, events, impacts, recoveries,
and responses by people, organizations and cultures related to all forms of victimizations.
9. “Abuse of Power” is the violation of a national or international standard in the use of organized powerfulforces, such that persons are injured physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, or in their rights, asa direct and intentional result of the misapplication of these forces.
10. “Victim Assistance, Support or Services” are those activities which are applied in response to victimizations
with the intention of relieving suffering, facilitating recovery and preventing revictimization. This includes
providing information, assessments, therapy, interventions, case advocacy, system advocacy, public policy
and programme development.
11. “Victim Recovery” is the resumption of a similar or better level of functionality and normalcy as was
enjoyed prior to victimization. Persons who have been victimized vary in their level of mental health andwell-being prior to their victimization. Consequently, victimization affects each person in a different way
and causes differing degrees of injury or trauma. In their recovery it is necessary for victims to first try
to regain their previous level of functioning plus learn from their misfortune and hopefully exceed theirprevious level of functionality. To be recovered suggests that a person has at least regained their priorlevel of well-being and at best, has exceeded it. This state may be measured by identifying their previous
mental condition and determining if they have at least regained that prior status using the criteria of:trust in others, autonomy of self, individual initiative, competency in daily activities, self-identity,interpersonal intimacy, control over personal situations, successful relationships, safety in daily activities,
acknowledgment of memory, trauma symptoms have become manageable, self-esteem is restored,
resourcefulness is achieved, and there is an improved ability to ward off potential threats (Dussich 2016).
12. “Child Abuse” is the intentional application of sexual, physical, emotional, or psychological injury to a childto include neglect at the hands of her or his parents or care-provider within the confines of their family
or place of care.
13. “Victim Offender Mediation” (VOM) is a formal process for face-to-face meetings in the presence of a
trained mediator between a victim of a crime and his/her offender who committed that crime. This isalso called victim-offender dialogue, victim-offender conferencing, victim-offender reconciliation, or
restorative justice. Often the victim and the offender are joined by their respective families and community
members, or other persons related to the crime event often referred to as stakeholders. In these meetings,
the offender and the victim talk to each other about the victimization, the effects it had on their lives, andtheir feelings about it. The aim is to create a mutually agreeable plan to repair any damage or injury that
occurred because of the crime in the hopes of permanently eliminating the conflict thatcaused the crime in the first place.
14. “Restorative Justice” is a systematic formal legal response to crime victimization that emphasizes healing
the injuries that resulted from the crime and affected the victims, offenders, and communities. This
process is a departure from the old-style retributive punishment form of dealing with criminals andvictims which have generally perpetuated the conflict which resulted in the original crime.
15. “Victim Trauma” includes emotional and physical experiences that produce pain and injuries. Emotional
injury is a normal response to an abnormal event. It results from the pairing of a painful or frightening
emotional experience with a specific setting-based memory which often has a long-lasting painful effecton the life of a victim. Generally, the more direct the exposure to the traumatic event, the more serious
and closer to the risk of death, the higher the risk for prolonged emotional harm and problematic effects.
16. “Crisis Intervention” is the provision of emergency psychological short-term care to traumatized victims
to help them return to an adaptive level of functioning and to prevent or mitigate the negative impact of
psychological and emotional crisis.

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17. “Compensation” is a formal administrative procedure provided by law which can include a range of victim
types (crimes, wars, natural disasters, neglect, accidents, and genocides), only provides money to victims
for “out of pocket” real expenses directly resulting from their victimization to be paid by the state after
the victim is found to qualify according to specific criteria determined by the respective state or federallaw.
18. “Restitution” is a formal judicial procedure used by a judge after guilt is determined as part of a sentence
which can provide money and/or services to the victim for damages or suffering which resulted from thevictimization to be paid or performed by the offender.
19. “Victim Survey” is a periodic data collection and analysis process conducted usually by a government oruniversity entity to study information about crime victims regardless of whether they reported their
victimization to the police or not. It typically uses a face-to-face or telephone interview (or questionnaires
are sent) and covers demographics, attitudes about crime and details about the victimizations experienced
typically over the previous six months.
20. “Victim Rights” are privileges and procedures required by written law which guarantees victims’ specificconsiderations and treatment by the criminal justice system, the government and the community at large.
These twenty fundamental concepts are in use today – of course many others exist and more are
evolving. In 1985 the concept of “abuse of power” was mentioned briefly above and became a significant partof the UN Declaration.
B. Abuse of Power
1. 	Recent Contextual Information
Despite the legal sanctions which exist throughout the world to prevent the Abuse of Power (AOP), it
continues to occur with growing frequency and relative impunity. There are essentially five considerations
with abuse of power: the types of abusers; the specific abusers; the methods used; the victims; and the extent
of injury and/or damage. In each of these five considerations there are numerous examples ranging from theformer Government of South Africa’s previous use of apartheid on black South Africans, to the criminalorganizations which use violence, racketeering, coercion, intimidation, graft and corruption on innocent
citizens causing extensive death, suffering and property loss as had been the case in Medellin, Colombia. Oneof the more recent examples of AOP was the government of Serbia using extreme forms of aggression,
against adjacent ethnic groups referred to as “ethnic cleansing” against: Croats, Slovenians, Bosnians, andKosovans involving mass killings; mass rapes; extensive destruction of private and public property, buildings,
and sacred cultural symbols. For the most part Serbia ignored the protocols of the Geneva Conventions forthe conduct of armed conflict. This macro criminological/victimological phenomenon has been extensively
reported on by the media and by scholars, but predominantly in narrative form. Thus far, very few attempts
have been made to isolate the key variables of these behaviours, to explain the dynamics of these events andmeasure their occurrences in an empirical manner.
2. 	The Research Challenge for Abuse of Power
Like all phenomena, the study of abuse of power can and should discipline itself to formal researchmethods which call for definitions, theoretical organization, and empirical measurement. Often the magnitudeand brutality of these occurrences dramatically turns our heads away from the dispassionate evaluation
required to determine the facts. The drama of these events is often so compelling, even trained scientists
have difficulty using their research tools and sometimes even unknowingly yield to the subjective descriptions
which can cloud and overwhelm those chronicling these massive events.
Despite the strong emotions of revulsion and shock the magnitude of the problem still requires carefulmeasurement, analysis, and synthesis so that honest accurate understanding can emerge. This proposal
recommends using the social behavioural and conflict theories familiar to most criminologists who study
macro criminological phenomena. This writer has personally experienced these problems resulting incompassion fatigue when assisting victims in the aftermath of the war in the former Yugoslavia at the handsof Serbian “ethnic-cleansing” in Bosnia i Herzegovina and Croatia in 1996. Despite gruesome images andheart wrenching stories I saw and heard daily, I was able to establish a Victimology Institute of Sarajevo
with the help of three Bosnian professors and with the help of my friend victimologist Gerd Kirchhoff who
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supported this effort by obtaining funding from the German government, and so some empirical research
was carried out even if for only a short period.

III. MEASURING VICTIMIZATION
A. Descriptive Research
Descriptive research is often used to systematically gather information to determine characteristics
about a population such as amounts, frequencies, and categories of a particular theme. Four typical types arecase studies, surveys, longitudinal research, and cross-sectional research. The types of data used are usuallyeither quantitative or qualitative. This allows us to determine the size of a population (like frequencies orpercentages), what the central tendency is like (with the median, mode or mean), how the population is
spread out (the dispersion), what is the shape of the distribution (flat, spiked, s-shaped etc.), and it lets us
compare one population with another. For us it is important to know that one of the types of descriptive
research used extensively is victimization surveys. These surveys have become the backbone of victimologicalinformation. Not only do these surveys give us the numbers and types of victims, but they also give us trend
information so that we can compare victims from one jurisdiction to another, from one type of victim toanother, and we can measure the rate of victimization within a time period, for a given unit of population(per 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000). Another important type of descriptive research is the measurement of
behaviours that exist as continua. This type of research gives us information about the feelings, opinions, andvictim response patterns. Thus, they can, help us understand the emotional impact of victimization, thedegree of trauma and the progress of recovery.
B. Evaluative ResearchThis type of research is often used to measure official government or organizational programmes or
projects which respond to victimizations and are used to help victims cope. It is usually aimed at measuring
the systemic aspects of responding to victims. This is usually focused on the two measures of success:effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness evaluates the achievement of programme objectives; and efficiency
evaluates the consumption of resources over the time needed to achieve objectives. Another important
aspect of evaluative research is accountability, both economic and political. Economic accountability focuseson whether a programme is justified given the funds available and the value-system currently in existence.
Political accountability focuses on whether the existence of a programme and its costs are supported bythose in political power. A large part of accountability has to do with community values, outcome expectations
and official responsibilities. The measurement of these variables helps to contextualize a victim programmewithin the larger society or culture.
C. Causal Research
Causal research is perhaps the most challenging and difficult form of victimological research. For example,
it might try to understand why some victims are severely traumatized by an event, while other victims are
not seriously impacted by the same event. The usual method of causal research is to first create an hypothesis
about the relationship between a cause (independent) variable and an effect (dependent) variable. Then, tomeasure these variables and see if the data allows you to support or reject your hypothesis. This process
can lead to understanding not just one possible causal link, but many connected causal links or chains. Using
the new findings uncovered using causal research, a victimologist can then develop a theoretical statement.
These statements can help to understand the complex social and psychological phenomena of victimization.
Consequently, equipped with research findings, victim advocates working to prevent victimization could
identify facts related to reducing the vulnerability of potential victims. Crisis interveners armed with
empirical facts about the victims’ experiences, could better reduce the suffering of victims immediately after
the victimization and prevent the escalation of a trauma. Advocates and therapists, basing their responses
on research findings, could better know how their victims think and feel, and thus, reduce their suffering andpromote the return to stable and functional lives which can help them recover.

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IV. CONTRIBUTIONS OF CONTEMPORARY ORGANIZATIONS AND PEOPLE
A. Internationally
Four main international resource organizations that advocate, for a variety of victims are The World
Society of Victimology, the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, the World Health Organization, and the International
Committee of the Red Cross. It is unfortunate that these organizations are rarely mentioned in thevictimological literature in spite of their significant contributions to the field especially serving to disseminate
information about new laws, research findings, innovative victim-centric changes and help host events wherescholars and practitioners can come together and exchange their findings and promote victim reforms.
1. The World Society of Victimology (WSV) a membership non-profit based international organizationthat advocates on behalf of victims across the globe and has Special Category Consultative Status with
the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations; has developed recognition with the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN Department of Public Information(DPI), and the Council of Europe. The WSV continues to lobby to convert the UN’s Declaration into aformal UN “Convention” which would give this proposed instrument more “muscle” to implement the
principles embodied in the Declaration across the globe. The WSV on its current website has aStrategic Plan which has four organizational goals with strategies and supporting information on
behalf of victims (see Appendix A). The WSV continues to serve victims as one of the main internationalorganizations disseminating the messages embodied in the UN Declaration to its members and the
public, through its website, and in the past, its newsletter (The Victimologist) now not being published,
and using a variety of social media, and its continuing triennial symposia (due to the pandemic its
normal triennial cycle was disrupted and will resume in 2022 in Spain), its many two-week courses(some of which are less than two weeks); and, at special occasions as in 2005 when the it maderecommendations to create new responses on behalf of victims and presented them in Bangkok,
Thailand, at the 11th UN Congress on Crime (see Appendix B). Today it continues to evolve andexpand (see: http://www.worldsocietyofvictimology.org/about-us/strategic-plan/).
2. 	The United Nations, through its Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the primary entity which hasaddressed the area of crime and victims. It is in Vienna, Austria, and has hosted some of the creationsof many major victim-related instruments. That with the most impact has been the Declaration of
Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power in 1985 (informally dubbed by
victimologists, “The Magna Carta for Victims’ Rights”). Others which are also victim-centric are the
Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice Programmes in Criminal Matters adopted by an
ECOSOC resolution in 2002 (Groenhuijsen and Letschert 2008); the Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime (sometimes referred to as the “Palermo Convention”) which was signed in December
2000 (Annon 2004); and,  the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation
for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations ofInternational Humanitarian Law in 2005, hereinafter referred to as “the Principles and Guidelines”(for two authoritative discussions of this UN instrument see: M. Cherif Bassiouni’s book International
Protection of Victims (1988) and Theo C. van Boven’s article at: https://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/ga_60147/ga_60-147_e.pdf). (retrieved on January 30, 2022, from: http://taylorfrancis.com).
3. While the World Health Organization is not typically associated with victims of crime, abuse of
power, the criminal justice systems, drugs, terrorism, human trafficking, or human or victim rights,
they are involved in two major areas dealing with victims of interpersonal violence: measures to
identify and respond to these victims (especially aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-2021):
using screening tools, education programmes on violence and victim identification, mandatory reporting
systems, and multi-agency risk assessment and response; and, programmes for care and support ofthese victims with: advocacy programmes; sexual assault or forensic nurse examiner programmes;
women’s shelters; helplines; psychosocial interventions; protection orders; and special courtroom
measures, specialist courts and police stations that exclusively cater to women (retrieved on January
29, 2022, from: https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/programmes.pdf).
4. The International Committee of the Red Cross, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, is an“impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect
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the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide themwith assistance” especially now during the invasion of Russia into Ukraine (retrieved on January 29,
2022, from: https://www.icrc,org).
5. 	HEUNI, (the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control) was established in 1981 affiliatedwith the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and supported by the Government of Finland andlocated in Helsinki. It is part of the United Nations Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention Programme
Network of eighteen entities. HEUNI primarily conducts international research and participates intechnical assistance and training especially on topics reflecting innovations resulting from United
Nations decisions. Under the leadership of former director Matti Joutsen, it played a major role inpreparations for and drafting of the UN Resolution and its Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice forVictims of Crime and Abuse of Power (Bassiouni 1988).
6. Amnesty International, founded in London, England, in 1961 because of an article in The Observer byattorney Peter Beneson expressing outrage over the arrest of two Portuguese students who were
jailed for seven years just for raising a toast to liberty. As a result of the response to his article, hefounded this organization that became a global movement dedicated to fighting human rights abuses
across the globe.
B. Nationally
There are some countries which have been very active in the field of victimology and have also produced
model victim programmes in support services, laws, training, education, and research.   Also, they haveshown outstanding leadership in their regions by being effective in establishing, stimulating, and assistingwith these initiatives among their neighbors. In my judgment these countries are the top ten that havedemonstrated great energy and broad development on behalf of crime victims (listed alphabetically withbrief highlights): Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, India, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, South
Africa, and The United States of America.
1. 	Australia was an early nation to help crime victims using offender-funded compensation. The state ofVictoria used this type of compensation in 1958; however, New Zealand was the first county toestablish a state-funded victim compensation programme. In Australia it was New South Wales in 1967
that first launched the state funded variant, followed by Victoria in 1972 (Freckelton 2004), and South
Australia in 1969 (O’Connell, 2020:160). Academic victimology was first introduced by South Australia
as part of self-help efforts that led to the formation of Victims of Crime Services under the “stewardshipof its first executive officer Ray Whitrod” who sought to support victims and pressed for system
reforms (O’Connell 2020:161).   Formal state-wide reviews confirmed that reforms were needed,
especially to recognize secondary victimization by the criminal justice system, The “pace of reform
and the magnitude of change in the 1980s in South Australia was, in a relative sense, remarkable”(O’Connell 2022:161). Of special note was the National Symposium on Victimology hosted by South
Australia in 1981 conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology. This became an important
wellspring in the 1980s for victimological discourse in Australia. In 1985 Attorney-General Chris
Sumner of that state led a delegation to the Fifth International Symposium on Victimology in Zagreb,
Croatia, immediately followed up with a trip to Milan, Italy, where the deliberations in support of the
UN’s Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power took place.
Upon returning, he used those principles, to model declarations for his state and for Australia’s firstdeclaration on victims’ rights. These actions had a significant impact on reforms to victim compensation
schemes, the use of victim impact statements and other legislation on behalf of victims (O’Connell,
2022:162). Of special note was the introduction of victimological training for police competency anduniversity baccalaureate education. Australia hosted two WSV International Symposia, one in Adelaide
in 1994 and another in Perth in 2012. Other key persons who made significant contributions supporting
victim reforms were (listed alphabetically): John Braithwaite, Gary Byron, Duncan Chappell, John
Dawes, Sam Garkawe, P. N. Grabosky, David Hunt, Stanley Johnston, Elton Mayo, Michael O’Connell,
Harold Weir, and others. Today the victimology banner is being held high by Michael O’Connell ascholar activist and victim advocate of the highest order and who is also the Secretary General for theWorld Society of Victimology.
2. 	Canada has also been a fountainhead for early victimological activities, both theoretical and practical,
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where a wide variety of sophisticated victim service programmes throughout their country have beencreated. In 1974 the first victim mediation programme was used for two offenders to make restitution
with their vandalism victims. Over the past four decades similar programmes have been usedthroughout this country (Latimer and Kleinknecht 2000; Principles and Guidelines 2018). In 2000 it
hosted the 10th WSV International Symposium on Victimology and is home to several leading
victimologists, especially Ezzat Fattah, born and educated in Egypt, has made long term contributions
to victimology internationally. He is the founder of the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University
in Vancouver, Canada, where he is professor emeritus. He is one of the early pioneers in the study ofvictimology, has authored, co-authored and edited over a dozen books, including an anthology Towards
a Critical Victimology and Understanding Criminal Victimization published in 1992. Ezzat Fattah’s
research led him to become an outspoken critic of the victim movement whose demands he saw aspunitive and vindictive. He advocates instead for a humane system of restorative justice, based on thenotions of healing, reparation, and restitution. Irvin Waller, another well-known contributor to
victimology was one of the prime movers of the UN Declaration, who served as president of the WSV,
and was a member of the first “Bellagio family” which convened a group of victimology pioneers in
1975. He was director of the International Center for the Prevention of Crime in Montreal, establishedin 1997, which contributed to the promotion of victim-friendly programmes and activities. He iscurrently the president of the International Victim Assistance Organization. Yet another major
contributor to the victimological literature who has been teaching and researching in Canada is JoAnne M. Wemmers. She served as editor of the WSV Newsletter The Victimologist, and also as
Secretary General for a 3 year term. She is now Professor at the School of Criminology of the
Université de Montréal as well as Head of the Research Group for Victims, Law and Society at theInternational Centre for Comparative Criminology and is the editor of the International Review ofVictimology. She publishes mostly in French (Wemmers 2003) and in English (Wemmers 2017). Today
the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights builds on its existing national laws so that all victims have theright for security and privacy considered by criminal justice personnel, to be protected from intimidation
and retaliation; and to ask the court that their identity not be released to the public.
3. 	Germany also played a major founding role in the early development of victimology, starting with
Hans von Hentig’s initial article on victim and offender interactions in 1941 and then his book The
Criminal and his Victim: Studies in the Sociology of Crime in 1948. In 1975 Hans-Joachim Schneider
published the first German victimology textbook titled Viktimologie – Wissenschaft vom Verbrechensopfer(Victimology – Science of Crime Victims). In 1979 he hosted the Third International Symposium on
Victimology at his university in Mȕnster. At that event he successfully promoted the idea of the World
Society of Victimology (WSV) and was promptly elected as its first president. I was coincidentallyworking at a German criminology research institute (KFN) and with another victimologist, Gerd F.
Kirchhoff, had been asked by Professor Schneider to be the symposiums’ rapporteurs. Thus, at thefounding of the WSV I was asked to serve as the WSV’s first Secretary General and Kirchhoff was
asked to be the WSV’s first Newsletter editor and to register our new organization in Mönchengladbach,
Germany. In 1979, Gerd F. Kirchhoff and Klaus Sessar published an edited reader Das Verbrechensopfer(The Victim of Crime). Subsequently, with this synergy of these people and events Germany became
an early fountainhead for things victimological and the WSV continued its growth by hosting the
symposia every three years to the present time (except for the interruption of the global Covid-19
pandemic 2020-2022). Other key German victimologists are (listed alphabetical): Michael Baurmann,Hans-J. Kerner, Erwin Kube, Hans-H. Kȕnh, Helmut Kury, Peter Schäfer, Hans D. Schwind, Kurt Weis,
Elmar Weitekamp and others. The dominant victim assistance organization is the Wiesse Ring, thecofounder and chair for many years was Edward Zimmerman who established it on September 24,
1976, in Mainz as an “e. profit” organization. It is the dominant independent victim support organizationin Germany with approximately 420 local offices throughout the country (retrieved on January 30,
2022, from: https://weisser-ring.de).
4. 	Great Britain hosted several significant and innovative practices on behalf of crime victims, such as
the concept of modern victim reparations called compensation by Margery Fry in 1957. In 1971 Erin
Pizzy established the first, and largest shelter for abused women known as Cheswick Woman’s Aidand she wrote the first book about spouse abuse, Scream Quietly or the Neighbors will Hear (1974).
Ironically, she went from being a pioneer in the women’s movement, to becoming a men’s rights
activist. Britain is also the home of the journal International Review of Victimology first published in
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1989 thanks to the initiative of two early victimologists with strong ties to England, John C, Freeman(born in Australia) and Leslie Sebba (born in Israel). Victim Support UK was established almost 50
years ago by Dame Helen Reeves in 1974. It “became the leading independent victims’ charity in
England and Wales” and “by 1986 every county had at least one Victim Support Scheme (retrieved on
February 2, 2022 from: https://www.victimsupport.org.uk/more-us/about-us/history/). These key
British resources provided victim services leadership and mentorship especially within the European
community and beyond, recently Victim Support – Asia was launched on March 24-26, 2019, in Seoul,
South Korea, with the assistance of Frida Wheldon from Victim Support Europe. Other key persons
contributing primarily with crime victimization surveys and theoretical victimology were (listed
alphabetically): Ronald Clark, Hazel Genn, Rob Mawby, Patricia Mayhew, David Miers, Paul Rock,
Joanna Shapland (current editor in chief of the journal International Review of Victimology), andSandra Walklate, and many others. Victimology is well established in British academia today, forexample one can get a Master of Science degree in Victimology at the University of Portsmouth(retrieved on January 30, 2022, from: https://www.port.ac.uk).
5. 	India’s concern for crime victims extends into ancient times with the concepts of restitution andatonement by the offender. Classical Hindu law born in Calcutta in 1772 under the Bengal government
was prompted by trade conditions with Great Britain. Anglo-Hindu Law evolved when the British
ruled India from 1858 until 1947, which impacted the Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. English
common laws were mostly unwritten laws that included local customs, behaviours and traditions.
These were applied by Great Britain to its colonies including India, except for laws that dealt withmarriage, inheritance, and succession of property. When British rule ended, left behind was theirlanguage which became India’s lingua franca and their common law legal traditions. Thus, victims
were a source of evidence; their participation in their cases was minimal. After independence Nehru
and Gandhi, both law-trained in England, infused India’s new constitution in 1950 with strict common
law principles. Indian empirical studies concerning crime victims began in the late 1970s mostly aboutdacoit gangs, homicide, and motor vehicles (Singh, 1978; Rajan and Krishna, 1981). Supreme Court
Justice V. R. Krishna Yyer, a pioneer of legal activism and patron of the poor greatly inspired K.
Chockalingam’s multiple interests in victims as a teacher and researcher. In 1984, the first seminar on
victimology was organized by Chockalingam in the University of Madras/Chennai. His attending theFifth International Symposium of Victimology in Zagreb in 1985 encouraged him to further promote
victimology by founding the Indian Society of Victimology (ISV) in 1992 – inaugurated by Justice V. R.
Krishna Yyer. Chockalingam served 15 years as its first president. He is easily considered the “Fatherof Indian Victimology.” (retrieved on January 29, 2022, from: https://isvindia.webs.com/); Key scholars
who continued this work are (listed alphabetically): G. S. Bajpai, a prolific victimology author andcurrently the ISV president, and is the editor in chief of the new Indian based Journal of Victimology
and Victim Justice since 2018; Susai M. Diaz, active victimologist and former chair of the ISV, K.
Jaishankar teacher and author in victimology, R. K. Raghavan, S. P. Sahni (Director of the Centre forVictimology and Psychological Studies at the Jindal Global University), Beulah Shekhar well knowteacher, victim event promoter, international presenter and author in victimology, M. Srinivasan,teacher and host of victim events, and many others.
6. 	Israel was the home of the First International Symposium on Victimology in 1973 thanks to theleadership of Israel Drapkin, the Director of the Institute of Criminology at the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem since 1959. The symposium proceedings, edited by Israel Drapkin and Emilio Viano (anItalian/American victimologist), resulted in the publication of six volumes of text mostly by the key
presenters. These volumes became a tome of significant value to the heart and soul of early
victimological growth in the years that followed. It contained the writings of many key persons whoembraced this new discipline and mostly perpetuated the ideas and suggestions of Mendelsohn who,
in his later life moved to Israel. Some of those who were, and still are active (listed alphabetically):
Menachem Amir, early contributor to victimological research; Sarah Ben David (who hosted the Sixth
International Symposium on Victimology in 1988 in Jerusalem has been a steady researcher andauthor from her country and is a continuing contributor to the Post Graduate Course on Victimology,
Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice in Dubrovnik; Leslie Sebba who, in 1989 (with John Freeman)launched the journal International Review of Victimology and became its first editor in chief. Most
universities in Israel teach victimology. Because many Israelis were second or third generation
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the dynamics of victimization. This is especially applicable to the survivors and their psychologicalsequelae (Landau and Sebba 1998).
7. 	Japan entered the field of victimology early when Professor Osamu Nakata and his team of colleagues(Professors Furuhata, Yoshimasu, Onojima, and Hirose), from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University
in 1958 translated Mendelsohn’s concept of victimology from French into the Japanese language. Thiswas followed in 1965 with the publication of Koichi Miyazawa’s dissertation titled Basic Theory ofVictimology (Miyazawa 1986). In 1971 a former student of Miyazawa, Hidemichi Morosawa, establisheda degree programme for students interested in victimology at his Tokiwa University in Mito, Japan,
and began teaching victimology and promoting the ideas of victimology throughout Japan especiallyin the public media (Kirchhoff and Morosawa 2009). In 1982 Miyazawa hosted the Fourth International
Symposium on Victimology in Tokyo and Kyoto. On November 17, 1990, the Japanese Association ofVictimology (JAV) was established at Keio University. This organization published the Japanese
Journal of Victimology which lasted for six years (WSV 2013). In 1998 Morosawa published his firstmajor victimology textbook, An Interdisciplinary Study on Victim and Victimization, The mostdramatic event in the field of victim law in Japan was the enactment of the new Fundamental Act on
the Protection of Victims of Crime in 2004 (Morosawa 2012). In the following decade the Morosawa
family’s university became internationally known for its teaching innovations in victimology, victim
services, victimological research, hosting of WSV courses, and as the home of the Tokiwa International
Victimology Institute (TIVI) and a Graduate School of Victimology supported with ten victimologists.
In 2009 TIVI hosted the 13th International Symposium on Victimology. Due to a change of priorities,
this university no longer hosts these programmes. In 2016 Morosawa published his magnus opus, a
1,042-page encyclopedic text in the Japanese language Victimology. Other key victimologists were(listed alphabetically): Takako Konishi; Chie Maekoya; Susumu Nagai, Satomi Nakajima, Minoru Ohya,
Tatsuya Ota, Toshi Tatara, Nobuho Tomita, and Akira Yamagami. Two key persons in Japan’s victim
assistance movement were Isao Okamura (well-known attorney and founder of the National Associationof Crime Victims and Surviving Families known as “Asunokai”) and victim advocate Emiko Okubo
from the premier victim support programme called the Tomin Center in Tokyo (Dussich and Kishimoto
2000; Morosawa 2012).
8. 	The Netherlands has sponsored several significant activities which reflected their government’s earlysupport for victim rights activities. Willem H. Nagel, one of the Dutch pioneers who made key
theoretical contributions, was involved in the early victimological discourses concerned with victimology
becoming a separate discipline (Nagel 1963). Set up by the Ministry of Justice in 1987, early funding
for the International Crime Victim Surveys working group was provided, under the leadership of Jan
van Dijk (who was also a president of the WSV), this support led to a series of significant comparative
publications about victimization in many countries across the globe. Two WSV International Symposia
were held in the Netherlands, the 9th in Amsterdam in 1997 and the 14th in Den Hague in 2012 (thewebsite from that event continued as the most useful single resource for international victimologicalinformation for many years). In addition to the establishment of victim services throughout the nation,
the Netherlands also produced high-quality research in various areas of victimology. Yet anothercontribution to the field of victimology was the creation, in 2005, of a research institute dedicated to
victimology called the International Victimology Institute Tilburg (INTERVICT) under the directorshipof Marc Groenhuijsen with significant contributions from Jan van Dijk, Rianne Letschert, Anthony
Pemberton, Frans Wilem Winkel and many others. However, this institute ceased operations in 2013.
9. 	South Africa recovering from apartheid (from 1948 until 1991) continues to have major challenges
with the enfranchisement of Blacks and those of other non-white races. Since the legal basis forapartheid ended, in 1994 all-race elections took place and a coalition government was formed with aBlack majority. From over 30 years of structural victimization most of the apartheid’s social andeconomic problems remained. This was a major challenge for the newly elected president, Nelson
Mandela. As part of the improvements in 1996 the National Crime Prevention strategy was launchedand promoted a victim-centred approach to criminal justice reforms. Needed were witness and victim
protection during trials, compensation schemes, victim empowerment and fostering service providers(Snyman, 1997:9). Linda Davis and H. F. Rika Snyman (in 2005 co-edited an anthology Victimology inSouth Africa), and hosted the Eleventh International Symposium on Victimology in Stellenbosch in2003. Jaco Barkhuizen, one of the few persons who has a doctorate in victimology from Tokiwa
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University), has specialized in sexual victimization on public transportation in Japan; his other areas ofinterest have been South African human trafficking, serial murder, and sexual victimization. RobertPeacock, is head of the Department of Criminology at the University of the Free State (UFS) and is
the current president of the WSV, he has focused much of his victimological efforts on street-children
as victims. He has a special interest with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in
Post-Apartheid, critiques of “colonial tyranny”, abuse of power, and the application of Transitional
Justice. Today, most victim support organizations in South Africa only focus on abuse of children,
spouse, and sexual assault victims. Since 1994 South Africa has been facing the challenges of changing
their culture from one that had accepted the victimization of a people for just over four decades. This
monumental challenge is now to suppress the reflexes of those of color, mostly indigenous persons,
who had accepted being victims of those who ruled from Europe as offenders; and, to a very new
mind-set that replaces those reactions with reflexes for all to be equal.
10. In the USA when writing about victim assistance the name NOVA (National Organization for Victim
Assistance) is dominant and still active. Established in 1976 as a non-for-profit organization, it was thefirst national organization created to serve the needs of victim advocates, to give victims a voice, tolobby for victim reforms and victim rights. At the government level, the USA’s Office of Victims of
Crime is one of the few governmental agencies in the world which services people in all countries byproducing documents, funding research and hosting conferences in the areas of victimology and victim
assistance in many parts of the globe. The most remarkable aspect of the USA’s role in victim services
is the large number of different types of victim service programmes throughout the country (roughly
20,000 with separate programmes for victims of sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse, domestic
violence, etc. In response to the 1985 UN’s Declaration, the USA established a special partnership with
the United Nations, and thus two follow-up documents were produced, the Handbook on Justice forVictims, and the Guide for Policy Makers, both published in 1999 by the UN Office for Drug Control
and Crime Prevention in collaboration with the US government. Some of the top American contributors
to victimology and victim services were (listed alphabetically): Ron Acierno, Dick Andzenge, Douglas
E. Beloof, Susan Brownmiller, Ann W. Burgess, Frank Carrington, Lynn A. Curtis, Yael Danieli, Robert
Denton, Rebecca Dobash, Russell Dobash, Edna Erez, David Finkelhor, Vincent J. Fontana, Burt
Gallaway, Gilbert Geis, Paul C. Friday, Mario Gaboury, Gilbert Geis, Michael R. Gottfredson, Michael J.
Hindelang, Lynda L. Holmstrom, Joe Hudson, Chadley James, Robert Jerin, Janice Joseph, Andrew
Karmen, C. Henry Kempe, Dean Kilpatrick, Dick Knudten, Leroy Lamborn, Bernadette Muscat, Brian
Ogawa, Xin Ren, Lisa Nerenberg, James Rowland, Stephen Schafer (who hosted the Second International
Symposium on Victimology in 1976 in Boston), Jane Sigmon, Wesley G. Skogan, John Stein, Murray  
Straus, Martin Symonds, Yoshiko Takahashi, Thomas Underwood, Emilio Viano, Steven Walker,
Harvey Wallace, Marvin Wolfgang, Marlene Young, Eduard Ziegenhagen, myself and many others.
Some key NCEA, and others. During the past five decades the synergy of these and other victimologists
has produced remarkable changes in our criminal justice system greatly advancing how we treat
victims. It has been my honour to have been part of this journey.
C. Reflections on These Resource Organizations and People
The above six international organizations’ and ten nations’ exemplary efforts on behalf of crime victims
have shown us how a few dedicated persons and organizations of good will, passion, intelligence, persistence,vision and moral commitment can accomplish lofty goals for the well-being of a society, a region and theworld. In the hands of these few, not only have they lifted their nation, but they have led the way byadmirable actions and helped their neighbours and improved the plight of victims the world over. They havegiven us the gifts of hope, sharing and humanity which makes the struggle noble, humane and worthwhile.
I would be remiss if I did not mention other persons who also have made significant contributions but
have not been mentioned above. These are (listed alphabetically): Anna Alvazzi del Frate, from Italy servedat the UNODC in Vienna, made significant contributions on behalf of victims, worked with international
victimization surveys and recently worked in the area of small arms violence prevention; Augusto Balloni
from Italy, forensic neuropsychiatrist and scholar in criminal victimology; Antonio Beristain-Ipiña from theBasque Country, Spain, a victimologists and criminologist whose passion was with human rights and was amember of the WSV; José de la Cuesta Arzamendi director of the Instituto Vasco de Criminología yVictimología and host of the 17th Inernational Victimology Symposium in Spain; Elias Escaff-Silva victimologist
from Chile; Arif Gosita from Indonesia, a pioneer victimologist in his country; Marianne Johanna Hilf Lehmkuhl
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well known victimologist from Austria and now Switzerland, has been a regular contributor at the Dubrovnik
postgraduate courses and member of the WSV; Alline Pedra Jorge Birol from Brazil victimologist andspecialist in human rights currently working at the UN in Vienna; Guo Jaing-an, from China instrumental incoordinating international victimization surveys; Ester Kosovski, the grande dame of victimology from Brazil,
leader in Latin America and host of the 7th WSV Symposium; Maria de la Luz Lima from Mexico, a leader
in victimology and victim assistance, and former member of the WSV; Hilda Marchiori from Argentina who
has been a constant light by publishing the Spanish language journal Victimología and many othervictimological publications; Elias Neuman from Argentina and prolific publisher of specialty books invictimology; Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović from Serbia, is a victimology scholar known throughout the Balkans
and has worked especially with gender issues and restorative justice; Annette Pearson from New Zealand/
Colombia, who specializes in Justice Centers throughout Latin America; Luis Rodríguez Manzanera from
Mexico one of the scholar giants in Latin America in both victimology and criminology; Armando Saponaro
from Italy, has been teaching victimology in his country and at numerous international postgraduate
victimology courses for almost two decades; Zvonimir Paul Šeparović from Croatia, who was a charismatic
leader of victimology in the Balkans, an influential government official, a former WSV president and the hostof the 5th WSV symposium that played a key role in supporting the UN Declaration; Heru Susetyo fromIndonesia, is a scholar activist in victimology throughout Southeast Asia; and Aglaia Tsitsoura from Greece
served as a major victimology link between the WSV and the Council of Europe and served on the EC of the
WSV.

V. THE LIKELY FUTURE
A. Blueprints and Promising Practices
As new programmes and new laws evolve, some will prove effective, and others will not. In the searchfor programmes and laws that fulfil the fundamental aims of what Mendelsohn proposed in 1947 and whichwere embodied in the core concepts of the 1985 UN’s Declaration – they are: “to be treated with compassion
and respect for their dignity... to be provided with access to the mechanisms of justice and to prompt
redress... to be informed of their rights... to be informed of their role and the scope, timing and progress ofthe proceedings and of the disposition of their cases... to be provided with proper assistance throughout thelegal process... to have their privacy protected and ensure their safety... to be considered for receipt of
restitution... to be informed about receiving compensation...” These 1985 UN Declaration’s appeals are thecriteria which should be used to determine the value of victim programmes and laws so that they can beevaluated and ultimately recommended as worthy of duplication. In each of the sub-categories of victim
programmes, laws, practices and rights, specific noteworthy examples have emerged. Some of these were
included the US Department of Justice’s 1998 significant publication: New Directions from the Field: Victims’
Rights and Services for the 21st Century (see Appendix C).
There are specific victim-centric actions that each component of the criminal justice system can take.
Here are specific examples from four criminal justice components in the United States of America:
1. Law Enforcement
In San Diego, California, there is a partnership between the police and the YWCA which resulted in a
Community Domestic Violence Resource Network. This has resulted in a major resource for all the police
agencies in the community for accurate information about the availability of shelters at any given time
(COPS, 1997). Today the San Diego Police Department  now has a Domestic Violence Unit which is locatedwithin the San Diego Family Justice Center, which houses several public and private agencies that work
together to address domestic violence (retrieved on January 29, 2022, from: https://www.sandiego.gov/
police/services/units/domesticviolence).
2. Prosecution
The district attorney in Huntsville, Alabama, established the nation's first children's advocacy centre in
1984 to reduce the trauma that the system was inflicting on child victims during the investigation andprosecution of child sexual abuse cases. “Rather than requiring children to retell their story through repeatedinterviews and examinations by law enforcement, prosecution, medical, mental health, and social services
agencies, the district attorney created a multidisciplinary approach in which all of these professionals work
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together” (New Directions from the Field, 1998: chapter 3;1). “The National Children’s Advocacy Center(NCAC), located in Huntsville, Alabama, has revolutionized the United States’ response to child sexual abuse.
Since its creation in 1985, the NCAC has served as a model for the 950+ Children Advocacy Centers (CACs)
now operating in the United States” (retrieved on January 29, 2022, from: https://www.nationalcac.org/#).
3. Judiciary
In Tucson, Arizona, the Municipal Court established a partnership with the police, victim advocates,
prosecutors, and health care professionals to form a Community Domestic Violence Awareness Centre (NewDirections, Chapter 4; 1998:100). Today, the “Domestic Violence Court ... established in 2012 ... operates with
continuing assistance of grants from the US Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women ... in2017, the Court was selected by the Office of Violence Against Women to serve as a Domestic Violence
Mentor Court. It is now one of fourteen courts nationwide who are recognized as national models” (retrievedon January 29, 2022, from: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/DV).
4. Corrections
In Texas in 1995, the Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) started a victim-offender mediation/dialogue
programme for victims of severe violence and their incarcerated offenders (New Directions, Chapter 5,
1998;130). Today, the “TDCJ Victim Services Division Victim Offender Mediation Dialogue (VOMD)
programme, ... provides an opportunity for victims or surviving family members of violent crime to initiate
an in-person meeting with the TDCJ offender responsible for their victimization. Crime victims haveexpressed a sense of taking back control after meeting with the offender to describe the impact of their
victimization and to receive answers to questions regarding the offence (retrieved on January 29, 2022, from:https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/divisions/vs/vomd.html).
B. Facing the Realities of Promising Practices
As writer and publisher Charles Douglas Jackson once said,” Great ideas need landing gears as well aswings.” Although a wide variety of new programmes have been tried and dubbed as “promising” most ofthese have not yet been subjected to empirical evaluation. Before these programmes can be accepted as
feasible and worthy of duplication, they must be scrutinized and evaluated over a sufficient time. Not only
would this be organizationally frugal, but it would help ensure successful applications in service to thetreatment of victims.
Essential for the field of victimology and victim services must be an overarching curriculum where these
two related courses representing theory and practice can exist side by side as university courses leading toa baccalaureate degree supporting the professionalization of victimologists, even at the masters and doctorate
levels. “Grounding in the potential causes of victimization can provide the student with a framework tocritique victim policy, reduce victimization risk, and appreciate the broader context of victimization risk ascriminal justice agents, first responders, and service providers” (Dussich 2003:1).
Countries that I can confirm have universities teaching victimology related courses and some which offer
degrees in victimology are in Africa, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Great Britain, India,
Indonesia, Italy, Israel, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, South Korea, and USA. It is likely there are others
that have also started victimology curricula. These actions at the university level will move us to institutionalize
new societal norms to treat all victims as members of our own families and establish the bedrock of lesssuffering and more joy.
“Victimology tomorrow will need to adapt. As crime mirrors the existing political,
social, economic, and technological structures, as any of these changes, so will theform and sources of victimization, among other things” (O’Connell 2020:171).
“The acorns of today are the oaks of tomorrow.”

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APPENDIX A
World Society of Victimology
Strategic plan: 2019 – 2022
Vision: A world without victimisation
Purpose: To promote Victimology as a scientific endeavour; and, advocate for laws and policy that enhance
victims’ rights and improve victim assistance to enable timely, fair and equitable access to justice for all
victims and survivors.
Our values: Truth > Respect > Collaboration > Engagement > Courage > Resolve >Goal One
Improve victims’ access to justice and assistance
Success
WSV is a partner with international organizations, governments, and civil society (including NGOs) inadvancing victims’ rights and victim assistance. Its activities have improved outcomes for victims andsurvivors.
Strategies• Develop and advocate for laws and policy that advance victims’ rights and address victims’ needs.
• Participate with international authorities such as the United Nations and other regional authorities
such as the Council of Europe on strategies aim to prevent victimisation and reduce harm.
• Encourage responses that protect victims, especially those prone to victimisation, including women,children, refugees and migrants.
• Educate government personnel and non-government employees on Victimology, victims’ rights, andevidence-based victim assistance.
• Collaborate with the international community on ways to tackle victimisation and to properly address
the effects of victimisation.
Goal Two
Increase compliance with international and domestic victims’ rights law.
Success
By drawing attention to acts and omissions contrary to victims’ rights, WSV helps improve the treatment ofvictims.
Strategies• Help design and facilitate delivery of victim assistance programmes that match victims’ needs.
• Inform individuals, governments, businesses and civil society about their obligations regarding
treatment of victims and survivors.
• Promote the rights of victims of crime and abuse of power.
• Help victims and survivors exercise their rights and access assistance.
• Encourage mechanisms to enforce victims’ rights and comply with these obligations
Goal Three
All nations have accessible, fair and just civil, criminal and administrative justice systems.
Success
WSV’s policies, practices and activities have helped make justice systems throughout the world moreaccessible, more inclusive, just and more equitable for victims and survivors.
Strategies• Pursue reforms that make criminal justice systems more timely and effective for victims and survivors,
without unduly impacting on the rights of the accused.
• Encourage justice reforms that benefit victims and survivors, whilst being inclusive of suspects,
defendants and offenders’ needs, as well as criminal justice practitioners’ needs.
• Recommend ways to make it easier for victims and survivors to interact with those tasked to helpthem.
• Consult victims, survivors and others affected by proposed justice reforms, and ensure as far as
reasonably practical that they are given a voice on decisions that affect them.
• Sponsor workshops, courses, and seminars to enhance Victimological knowledge and skills.
Goal Four
Recognised as a top expert, not-for-profit organization of excellence.
Success
WSV embraces innovation and improvement, manages resources efficiently, collaborates on and invests in
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ways to meet members’ expectations and encourages others to become members.
Strategies• Collaborate with WSV members, with other societies and associations that share the WSV’s purpose
and values and with international and domestic organizations such as the United Nations and theEuropean Union.
• Improve our services by asking for and listening to feedback from members and others.
• Use technology to keep members informed and make it easier for them and others to work with us.
• Invest in ways to share the WSV’s collective knowledge and skills to deliver results.
• Recognise and value our members.
(Retrieved on January 28, 2022, from: http://www.worldsocietyofvictimology.org/about-us/strategic-plan/).

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APPENDIX B
World Society of Victimology
Recommendations to the 11th UN Crime Congress
Bangkok, Thailand
April 2005
The WSV calls on Member States to take the following actions through the UN Crime Prevention andCriminal Justice Programme as well as through their national overseas development agencies:
1. Victim Assistance Programmes
Invest in projects to implement victim assistance and support, including services provided to women andchildren by non-governmental organizations, health and mental health, and police professionals.
2. Research and Surveys
Invest in research to assess the extent to which victims receive services and justice as well as surveys tomeasure the extent of victimization and its impact, including the international victim survey and a regularsurvey focused on domestic violence.
3. Education and Training
Develop standards for police, lawyers, health professionals and others as well as establish appropriate training
and educational courses.
4. Legislation
Adopt legislation that puts the principles in the UN Victim Declaration into the language of Member Statesin a form that it provides a framework for the implementation of the Declaration.
5. Permanent Network for Victim Assistance and Justice
Establish a permanent network of centres concerned with research, training, education, and action forvictims.
6. Prevention
Implement national crime prevention programmes consistent with the UN Guidelines and the recommendationsof the World Health Organization to significantly reduce violence and criminal victimization with a priority
to violence within the family.
7. Convention
Establish the process to develop a draft convention for consideration by the UN Commission on Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice in the immediate future to foster universal implementation of the UN Victim
Declaration.

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APPENDIX C
Five Global Challenges from the Field(New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century, 1978)
While compiling the hundreds of recommendations from the field and in listening to the voices of victims,
their advocates, and allied professionals who work with crime victims throughout the nation, certain key
recommendations emerged. The following five global challenges for responding to victims of crime in the
21st century form the core of the hundreds of ideas and recommendations presented in this report.
•

To enact and enforce consistent, fundamental rights for crime victims in federal, state, juvenile, military,and tribal justice systems, and administrative proceedings.

•

To provide crime victims with access to comprehensive, quality services regardless of the nature of their
victimization, age, race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, capability, or geographic location.

•

To integrate crime victims’ issues into all levels of the nation’s educational system to ensure that justice
and allied professionals and other service providers receive comprehensive training on victims’ issues aspart of their academic education and continuing training in the field.

•

To support, improve, and replicate promising practices in victims’ rights and services built upon soundresearch, advanced technology, and multidisciplinary partnerships.

•

To ensure that the voices of crime victims play a central role in the nation’s responses to violence andthose victimized by crime.

New Directions provides recommendations that point specifically to the implementation of these five global
challenges. Each section and chapter are based upon papers submitted by leading experts in the field as wellas the input of victim advocates, justice system and allied professionals, crime victims, and others who
participated in public hearings, working group meetings, and those who provided individual comments andreview as the document progressed towards completion.

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APPENDIX D
List of Key Dates for Victimology and Victim Assistance• 	 1924  Edwin Sutherland included a chapter on victims in his new textbook Criminology.
• 	 1937  Beniamin Mendelsohn published his early writings on the rapist and his victim.
• 	 1940  Hans von Hentig published an article on victim and criminal interactions.
• 	 1947  Beniamin Mendelsohn coined the term and explained his concept of “victimology” in a speech to
the Romanian Society of Psychiatry in Bucharest on 29 March (Hoffman 1992).
• 	 1948  Hans von Hentig published his textbook The Criminal and His Victim: Studies in the Sociology of
Crime.
• 	 1949  Frederic Wertham first used the word “victimology” in English in his book Show of Violence.
•

1956 Beniamin Mendelsohn proposed the term and concept “victimology” in a French language journal,
Revue International de Criminologie et de Police Technique et Scientifique. Geneva.

• 	 1957  Margery Fry proposed victim compensation in an article “Justice for Victims” in The Observer on
July 7.
• 	 1958  Marvin Wolfgang studied homicide victims; and used the term “victim precipitation”.
• 	 1963  New Zealand enacted the first state supported Criminal Compensation Act.
•

1965  California is the first state in the USA to enact state supported victim compensation law.

• 	 1966  Japan enacts their state supported Criminal Indemnity Law.
• 	 1966  USA conducted a national survey to measure crime victims not reported (dark figure).
• 	 1967  Canada creates a Criminal Compensation Injuries Act as does Cuba and Switzerland.
• 	 1967   Beniamin Mendelsohn gave a paper introducing his General Victimology theory applied to thehorrors of genocide.
• 	 1968   Stephen Schafer wrote the first English language victimology textbook The Victim and His
Criminal: A Study in Functional Responsibility.
• 	 1969 Beniamin Mendelsohn published his General Victimology genocide presentation from his 1967 paper.
• 	 1971  Erin Pizzey started the world’s first domestic violence centre Chiswick Aid Center, in London, UK
and wrote the first book about domestic violence, in 1974.
• 	 1972  The first three victim assistance programmes are created in USA St. Louis, Missouri, San Francisco,California and in Washington, D. C.
• 	 1973  The first (triennial) International Symposium on Victimology held in Jerusalem, Israel.
• 	 1974  The first police-based victim advocate project started in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
• 	 1975  The first “Victim Rights’ Week” is organized by the Philadelphia District Attorney, Pennsylvania,
USA.
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1975 Susan Brownmiller wrote one of the first books about rape, Against Our Will: Men, Women and
Rape, USA.

• 	 1976  John Dussich launched the National Organization of Victim Assistance (NOVA) in Fresno, California,USA.
• 	 1976  Emilio Viano launched the first scholarly journal Victimology, An International Journal.
• 	 1976  James Rowland created the first Victim Impact Statement in Fresno, California, USA.
• 	 1979   The World Society of Victimology (WSV) is founded in Mȕnster, Germany (see:   http://www.
worldsocietyofvictimology.org/).
• 	 1980   Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) is founded by Candi Lightner after one of her twin
daughters was killed by a drunk driver who was a repeat offender.
• 	 1981  President Ronald Reagan proclaims the First National Victims’ Rights Week in April.
• 	 1982  The first Victim Impact Panel was established by MADD to educate drunk drivers about how their
victims suffered, started in Rutland, Massachusetts, USA.
• 	 1982 The first WSV newsletter called The Victimologist was published; the editors have been Gerd
Kirchhoff, Elmar Weitekamp, Jo-Anne Wemmers, and Michael O’Connell. •1983 The first victimology
course is taught in the United States by John Dussich at the California State University, Fresno.
• 	 1984 The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) establishes the national Crime Victims Fund from federal crimefines to pay for state victim compensation and services.
• 	 1984 The first two-week Course on Victimology and Victim Assistance, hosted by the Inter-University
Centre for Post Graduate Studies and the World Society of Victimology, held in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia
with Co-directors; Paul Šeparović, Gerd Kirchhoff, and Paul Friday.
• 	 1985 The United Nations unanimously adopts the Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of
Crime and Abuse of Power.
• 	 1985 The Council of Europe Recommendation on the Position of the Victim in the Framework of Criminal
Law and Procedure is adopted.
• 	 1987 The US Department of Justice opens the National Victims Resource Centre in Rockville, Maryland.
• 	 1988 The first “Indian Nations: Justice for Victims of Crime” conference is held by the Office for Victimsof Crime in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA.
• 	 1989 The journal International Review of Victimology was founded by John Freeman in London, UK.
• 	 1990 Victim Support Europe was launched. “Victim Support Europe (VSE) is the leading European
umbrella organization advocating on behalf of all victims of crime. VSE represents 61 national member
organizations, providing support and information services to more than 2 million people affected by crime
every year in 31 European countries." (www.victimsupporteurope.eu). The European Forum for Victim
Services was founded by all the national organizations in Europe working for victims of crime inconsultative status with the Council of Europe and the UN.
• 	 1998 Under the auspices of the United Nations, The Rome Statute was adopted and ratified as a treaty
to establish the International Criminal Court with a Victim Witness Unit which entered into force on July
17.

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VISITING EXPERT’S PAPER• 	 1999 The United Nations and the US Office for Victims of Crime publish the Guide for Policymakers on
the Implementation of the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime
and Abuse of Power and the Handbook on Justice for Victims: On the Use and Application of the United
Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power.
• 	 2002 On July 1 the International Criminal Court (ICC) became effective. It is the only international courtwith jurisdiction to prosecute persons for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crimeof aggression. It’s prosecutor’s office included the creation of a Victim and Witness Unit.
• 	 2003 On October 2nd the Tokiwa International Victimology Institute (TIVI), in Mito Japan opened its
doors to promote victim rights, to conduct seminars, courses, publish an international journal, and hostannual symposia and lectures and conduct research on victimology and victim services. TIVI was under
the leadership of John Dussich for ten years.
• 	 2003 The American Society of Victimology was founded in Kansas City, Kansas at the First American
Symposium on Victimology.
• 	 2004 Japan puts the UN’s Declaration into their national legislation by adopting the new Fundamental
Act for Crime Victims. To ensure that these principles would be initiated, the Prime Minister establisheda cabinet level committee. The new law included services for victims, restitution from the offender,
information about criminal justice and a right to formally participate in the criminal justice process.
• 	 2004 The journal Victimología was founded by Hilda Machiori in Cordoba, Argentina.
• 	 2004 The journal International Perspectives in Victimology was founded by John P. J. Dussich in Mito,
Japan.
• 	 2005 In the Netherlands, the TiIburg University established the International Victimology InstituteTilburg (INTERVICT). Its mission was “Working towards a comprehensive, evidence-based body ofknowledge of victim empowerment.” This institute was under the leadership of Marc Groenhuijsen until
its closure in 2015.
• 	 2015 Revista de Victimología / Journal of Victimology founded by Josep M. Tamrit Sumalla in Barcelona,
Spain.
• 	 2018 The Journal of Victimology, and Victim Justice, founded by GS Bajpai in New Delhi, India.
• 	 2019 Victim Support Asia was launched under the sponsorship of Victim Support Europe at its first
conference in Seoul, Korea, on March 26.
• 	 2021 On December 29 Archbishop Desmond Tutu passed away. He was a member of the first Board of
Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims at the ICC.
• 	 2021 On December 20 the office of the ICC Prosecutor launched public consultation on “a new policy
initiative to advance accountability for the crime against humanity of persecution on the grounds ofgender under the Rome Statue” (ICC; retrieved on January 25, 2022, from: http://www.icc-cpi.int/).
• 	 2022 The World Society of Victimology holds it 17th International Victimology Symposium in Donostia/
San Sabastian, Basque Country, Spain June 5-9.

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APPENDIX E

United Nations                                                                          A/RES/40/34

General AssemblyDistr. GENERAL
29 November 1985
ORIGINAL:ENGLISH________________________________________________________________________________________________
A/RES/40/34
29 November 1985
96th plenary meeting

Declaration of Basic Principles of Justicefor Victims of Crime and Abuse of PowerThe General Assembly,
Recalling that the Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of
Offenders recommended that the United Nations should continue its present work on the development ofguidelines and standards regarding abuse of economic and political power,
Cognizant that millions of people throughout the world suffer harm as a result of crime and the abuse of
power and that the rights of these victims have not been adequately recognized,
Recognizing that the victims of crime and the victims of abuse of power, and also frequently their families,
witnesses and others who aid them, are unjustly subjected to loss, damage or injury and that they may, in
addition, suffer hardship when assisting in the prosecution of offenders,
1. Affirms the necessity of adopting national and international measures in order to secure the universal
and effective recognition of, and respect for, the rights of victims of crime and of abuse of power;
2. Stresses the need to promote progress by all States in their efforts to that end, without prejudice tothe rights of suspects or offenders;
3. Adopts the Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power,
annexed to the present resolution, which is designed to assist Governments and the international
community in their efforts to secure justice and assistance for victims of crime and victims of abuseof power;
4. Calls upon Member States to take the necessary steps to give effect to the provisions contained in the
Declaration and, in order to curtail victimization as referred to hereinafter, endeavour:(a) To implement social, health, including mental health, educational, economic and specific crime
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prevention policies to reduce victimization and encourage assistance to victims in distress;(b) To promote community efforts and public participation in crime prevention;(c) To review periodically their existing legislation and practices in order to ensure responsiveness tochanging circumstances, and to enact and enforce legislation proscribing acts that violate
internationally recognized norms relating to human rights, corporate conduct, and other abuses ofpower;(d) To establish and strengthen the means of detecting, prosecuting and sentencing those guilty ofcrimes;(e) To promote disclosure of relevant information to expose official and corporate conduct to public
scrutiny, and other ways of increasing responsiveness to public concerns;(f) To promote the observance of codes of conduct and ethical norms, in particular international
standards, by public servants, including law enforcement, correctional, medical, social service andmilitary personnel, as well as the staff of economic enterprises;(g) To prohibit practices and procedures conducive to abuse, such as secret places of detention andincommunicado detention;(h) To co-operate with other States, through mutual judicial and administrative assistance, in suchmatters as the detection and pursuit of offenders, their extradition and the seizure of their assets,
to be used for restitution to the victims;
5. Recommends that, at the international and regional levels, all appropriate measures should be taken:(a) To promote training activities designed to foster adherence to United Nations standards and norms
and to curtail possible abuses;(b) To sponsor collaborative action-research on ways in which victimization can be reduced and victims
aided, and to promote information exchanges on the most effective means of so doing;(c) To render direct aid to requesting Governments designed to help them curtail victimization andalleviate the plight of victims;(d) To develop ways and means of providing recourse for victims where national channels may beinsufficient;
6. Requests the Secretary-General to invite Member States to report periodically to the General Assemblyon the implementation of the Declaration, as well as on measures taken by them to this effect;
7. Also requests the Secretary-General to make use of the opportunities, which all relevant bodies andorganizations within the United Nations system offer, to assist Member States, whenever necessary,in improving ways and means of protecting victims both at the national level and through international
co-operation;
8. Further requests the Secretary-General to promote the objectives of the Declaration, in particular by
ensuring its widest possible dissemination;
9. Urges the specialized agencies and other entities and bodies of theUnited Nations system, otherrelevant intergovernmental and non-governmentalorganizations and the public to co-operate in theimplementation of theprovisions of the Declaration.

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ANNEX
Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims.
of Crime and Abuse of Power
A. Victims of Crime
1. "Victims" means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical ormental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights,
through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws operative within Member States,
including those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power.
2. A person may be considered a victim, under this Declaration, regardless of whether the perpetrator
is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted and regardless of the familial relationship between
the perpetrator and the victim.  The term "victim" also includes, where appropriate, the immediatefamily or dependants of the direct victim and persons who have suffered harm in intervening to assist
victims in distress or to prevent victimization.
3. The provisions contained herein shall be applicable to all, without distinction of any kind, such as race,
colour, sex, age, language, religion, nationality, political or other opinion, cultural beliefs or practices,
property, birth or family status, ethnic or social origin, and disability.
Access to justice and fair treatment
4. Victims should be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity. They are entitled to accessto the mechanisms of justice and to prompt redress, as provided for by national legislation, for theharm that they have suffered.
5. Judicial and administrative mechanisms should be established and strengthened where necessary toenable victims to obtain redress through formal or informal procedures that are expeditious, fair,
inexpensive and accessible.  Victims should be informed of their rights in seeking redress throughsuch mechanisms.
6. The responsiveness of judicial and administrative processes to the needs of victims should be facilitatedby:(a) Informing victims of their role and the scope, timing and progress of the proceedings and of thedisposition of their cases, especially where serious crimes are involved and where they haverequested such information;(b) Allowing the views and concerns of victims to be presented and considered at appropriate stagesof the proceedings where their personal interests are affected, without prejudice to the accused andconsistent with the relevant national criminal justice system;(c) Providing proper assistance to victims throughout the legal process;(d) Taking measures to minimize inconvenience to victims, protect their privacy, when necessary, andensure their safety, as well as that of their families and witnesses on their behalf, from intimidation
and retaliation;(e) Avoiding unnecessary delay in the disposition of cases and the execution of orders or decrees
granting awards to victims.
7. Informal mechanisms for the resolution of disputes, including mediation, arbitration and customary
justice or indigenous practices, should be utilized where appropriate to facilitate conciliation andredress for victims.

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Restitution
8. Offenders or third parties responsible for their behaviour should, where appropriate, make fairrestitution to victims, their families or dependants. Such restitution should include the return ofproperty or payment for the harm or loss suffered, reimbursement of expenses incurred as a result of
the victimization, the provision of services and the restoration of rights.
9. Governments should review their practices, regulations and laws to consider restitution as an available
sentencing option in criminal cases, in addition to other criminal sanctions.
10. In cases of substantial harm to the environment, restitution, if ordered, should include, as far as
possible, restoration of the environment, reconstruction of the infrastructure, replacement of community
facilities and reimbursement of the expenses of relocation, whenever such harm results in thedislocation of a community.
11. Where public officials or other agents acting in an official or quasi-official capacity have violated
national criminal laws, the victims should receive restitution from the State whose officials or agentswere responsible for the harm inflicted.  In cases where the Government under whose authority thevictimizing act or omission occurred is no longer in existence, the State or Government successor intitle should provide restitution to the victims.
Compensation
12. When compensation is not fully available from the offender or other sources, States should endeavour
to provide financial compensation to:(a) Victims who have sustained significant bodily injury or impairment of physical or mental health as aresult of serious crimes;(b) The family, in particular dependents of persons who have died or become physically or mentally
incapacitated as a result of such victimization.
13. The establishment, strengthening and expansion of national funds for compensation to victims should
be encouraged.  Where appropriate, other funds may also be established for this purpose, including
those cases where the State of which the victim is a national is not in a position to compensate thevictim for the harm.
Assistance
14. Victims should receive the necessary material, medical, psychological and social assistance throughgovernmental, voluntary, community-based and indigenous means.
15. Victims should be informed of the availability of health and social services and other relevant assistanceand be readily afforded access to them.
16. Police, justice, health, social service and other personnel concerned should receive training to sensitize
them to the needs of victims, and guidelines to ensure proper and prompt aid.
17. In providing services and assistance to victims, attention should be given to those who have special
needs because of the nature of the harm inflicted or because of factors such as those mentioned inparagraph 3 above.
B. Victims of abuse of power
18. "Victims" means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical ormental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights,
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internationally recognized norms relating to human rights.
19. States should consider incorporating into the national law norms proscribing abuses of power andproviding remedies to victims of such abuses. In particular, such remedies should include restitution
and/or compensation, and necessary material, medical, psychological and social assistance and support.
20. States should consider negotiating multilateral international treaties relating to victims, as defined inparagraph 18.
21. States should periodically review existing legislation and practices to ensure their responsiveness tochanging circumstances, should enact and enforce, if necessary, legislation proscribing acts that
constitute serious abuses of political or economic power, as well as promoting policies and mechanisms
for the prevention of such acts, and should develop and make readily available appropriate rights andremedies for victims of such acts.

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