Citation

Erez E, Bienkowska E. J. Crim. Justice 1993; 21(1): 47-60.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(93)90005-8

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Victims in the European criminal justice systems have rights of input into and participation in proceedings. Some scholars have recommended that adversary legal systems, such as the U.S. legal system, learn from the Europeans how to listen to victims. This study examined the forms and extent of victim participation in proceedings (as private prosecutors, subsidiary prosecutors, or civil plaintiffs), and it assessed the effect of participation on victim satisfaction with justice in one European system (Poland). Based on a national sample of Polish victims, the study identified the correlates of victim participation and suggested that victim participation in proceedings is associated with victim satisfaction with the sentence and with the criminal justice system in general. The implications of the findings for adversary legal systems are discussed.