Victim emancipation in Dutch criminal proceedings: an oral history study

• In Event: Human Trafficking and Vulnerable Populations

Abstract

As in many other countries, in the Netherlands crime victims have been granted a number of rights to allow their participation in criminal proceedings. Examples are the right to submit a compensation claim and the right to deliver a personal statement during the court hearing. This ‘emancipation’ is remarkable in view of the distrustful attitude the Dutch legislator has had towards victims since the beginning the beginning of the 19th century. The academic literature mentions several factors which may explain this shift in thinking about victims. For example, a number of authors have argued that the rise in crime occurring in the last decades of the 20th century and the latest surge of the women’s movement have played important roles in this process. However, none of these arguments were based on sound historical research. Therefore, there is reason to doubt the reliability and validity of the explanations provided by the literature. The aim of the current study was to start with this type of research. This was done through 20 interviews with scholars, policy makers, practitioners, and politicians who were either involved in or witnessed the legal reforms which improved victims position in criminal proceedings. During this talk the author will present the results of this oral history project. They suggest that individual figures such as Jan van Dijk and Marc Groenhuijsen have been just as important for the emancipation of victims in criminal proceedings as the factors mentioned in the literature.

Author

• Maarten Kunst, Leiden University