The Victim as an Agent of Criminal Law and Justice

Abstract

The victim of crime is an agent of power. Following the governmentality literature and Foucault’s genealogical method, the victim has participated in power relations with various institutions of the Crown and state over the course of common law justice since Norman Conquest. The gradual transfer, negotiation and organisation of victim power under the Crown and state leads to the conclusion, in the context of governmentality, that the victim is indeed a powerful agent of change. The victim thus exercises significant discursive power leading to the formation of criminal law and justice as an institution of control. The reconceptualisation of criminal law and justice follows as a consequence.