Using Victims' Voices to Prevent Violence Against Women: A Critique

Several changes to the UK criminal justice system have led to an

increasing visibility and engagement with victims after decades of concentrating

mainly on offenders. Victim-focused policies have advanced from homogenising

responses to victims of crime through to appreciating the diversity in victims’ needs

and wants, while also seeking to reduce or prevent future victimisation. However,

several ‘victim-focused’ crime prevention policies are paradoxically dependent on

the creation of a victim in the first place. This paper considers this contradiction in

relation to two recent Coalition Government proposals. Both the Domestic

Violence Disclosure Scheme and plans to criminalise stalking behaviours rely upon

victimisation already having taken place. The paper argues that these supposedly

‘preventative’ proposals are in fact responsive and problematic as their

implementation relies upon the creation of victims. Furthermore, it suggests that

rather than effectively preventing abuse, victims’ voices are instead being used to

enhance and expand legislation. The paper suggests that criminal justice policies

alone are unable to prevent violence against women and that more engagement

needs to occur outside of the criminal justice arena.