Places the development of victim-related policy-making into its wider, international and societal context. This book offers a systematic analysis of the occupational cultures of criminal justice practitioners when dealing with domestic violence and sex crime.

1. Victims, victimology and policy-making. Researching victims. Victims in academia and politics. Raising questions. Methodology. Book structure 2. Victims in criminal justice: rights, services and vulnerability. Victim 'rights'. Facilities, services and support for victims. Vulnerable and intimidated victims as witnesses. Ways forward 3. Victims of crime: a policy chain?. Victim policies?. Interpreting the 'policy'. Victims and witnesses: shaping the 'policy'. Politics, pressure and influences: deconstructing the 'policy chain'. A 'policy chain' 4. A narrative-based model of victim-centredness in criminal trials. Story-telling and narrative. Stories in criminal trials. Victims' narratives and account-making at the heart of criminal justice 5. Victims in criminal trials: victims at court. The Witness Service. Prosecutors and victims. Wider facilities and information at court. Waiting at court. Domestic violence: 'one on its own'?. Victims at court 6. Victims in criminal trials: the trial itself. Calling witnesses. Giving evidence. Reactions to evidence. Special measures. The impact of crime in criminal trials. Victims and witnesses after trials. Victims at the heart of criminal justice: principles or practice? 7. Victims 'at the heart' of criminal justice: a discussion. What would it mean to have a victim-centred criminal justice system?. What factors have driven this 'policy'?. What has putting victims 'at the heart' of the system meant so far in practice?. Final points