Due Process and Victims' Rights

'Kent Roach brings to life the Canadian experience of victim's rights in the criminal process. It is a masterful treatment of the rethinking of criminal law needed to take the claims of victims seriously.' -- John Braithwaite, Australian National University 'A new benchmark in Charter of Rights scholarship. All the protagonists are here: the offenders and the victims, the police and the media, the lawyers, the judges, the scholars- the social classes, the races, and the sexes, too. All are given a fair hearing and their points of view are all taken seriously, if often taken seriously to task ... If you read nothing else on crime, law, and the constitution, you should read this book.' -- Michael Mandel, Osgoode Hall Law School 'This book breaks new ground in trying to sort through the various strands of victims' rights issues and movements ... a wonderful piece of work.' -- Don Stuart, Queen's University 'A fresh and engaging improvement on the old due process/crime control models.' -- Christine Boyle, University of British Columbia

A critical examination of the dramatic changes in criminal justice over the last two decades and the first full-length study of the law and politics of criminal justice in the era of the Charter and victims’ rights.

In Due Process and Victims' Rights Kent Roach critically examines dramatic changes in criminal justice in the last two decades. He argues that increasing concern by courts about the rights of those accused of crime and by legislatures about the rights of crime victims and groups who are disproportionately subject to some crimes, such as women and children, has transformed debates about criminal justice. He examines recent cases in which due process and victims' rights have clashed and concludes that, in most instances, victims' rights claims have ultimately prevailed. He concludes that the future of criminal justice will depend on whether victims' rights continue to develop in a punitive fashion or whether they inspire increased emphasis on crime prevention and restorative justice.

This is the first full-length study of the law and politics of criminal justice in the era of the Charter and victims' rights. It examines changing discourse in the courts, legislatures, and media, and the role of women, young people, minorities, Aboriginal people, and crime victims in criminal justice reform. It builds new models of criminal justice based on victims' rights as alternatives to Herbert Packer's famous due process and crime control models. Roach draws on criminology literature about the growth of a 'risk society,' in which the risk of crime is more easily calculated and controlled, as well as writings concerned with restorative and Aboriginal justice.