Jonathan Doak, Victims' Rights, Human Rights and Criminal Justice: Reconceiving the Role of Third Parties

Abstract

Jonathan Doak deals with the topic of victims’ rights and their legal role and status within the adversarial system in England. Doak advocates a unified definition of victims that includes victims of both state and non-state crimes, the latter mainly understood by him as domestic offences. The author considers that the adversarial system has not completely fulfilled the victims’ rights and he proposes a progressive incorporation of international human rights law, international criminal justice standards and some features of the inquisitorial system into the criminal justice system in England. The authors’ criticism is related to the bipartisan nature of the adversarial model in which interest in punishing the responsible and keeping the equality of arms between prosecutor and accused monopolizes criminal procedures. Victims consequently play a secondary role as mere participants or witnesses and, when participating, victims may not be completely protected. Doak therefore calls for judicial reform, moving away from a system led by retributive justice values and principles, which are often present in adversarial procedures, towards a system driven by mechanisms of restorative justice, so as to strengthen the role of victims as third parties and give voice to their concerns and interests.