Victims in the War on Crime: The Use and Abuse of Victims' Rights (Critical America (New York University Hardcover)) [Paperback]

Markus Dirk Dubber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0814719287 | ISBN-13: 978-0814719282

Two phenomena have shaped American criminal law for the past thirty years: the war on crime and the victims' rights movement. As incapacitation has replaced rehabilitation as the dominant ideology of punishment, reflecting a shift from an identification with defendants to an identification with victims, the war on crime has victimized offenders and victims alike. What we need instead, Dubber argues, is a system which adequately recognizes both victims and defendants as persons.

Victims in the War on Crime is the first book to provide a critical analysis of the role of victims in the criminal justice system as a whole. It also breaks new ground in focusing not only on the victims of crime, but also on those of the war on victimless crime. After first offering an original critique of the American penal system in the age of the crime war, Dubber undertakes an incisive comparative reading of American criminal law and the law of crime victim compensation, culminating in a wide-ranging revision that takes victims seriously, and offenders as well.

Dubber here salvages the project of vindicating victims' rights for its own sake, rather than as a weapon in the war against criminals. Uncovering the legitimate core of the victims' rights movement from underneath existing layers of bellicose rhetoric, he demonstrates how victims' rights can help us build a system of American criminal justice after the frenzy of the war on crime has died down.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dubber pulls off quite an intellectual feat. First, he offers a ruthless expose on the so-called Victim’s Rights movement. Then he shows how the War on Crime, in which victims are enlisted, has little to do with real human victims in the first place. Where, he asks, are the victims in the vast array of possession offenses that are the heart of the War on Crime? He ends by conceiving what a legal system would look like if we were truly interested in victims as persons, not as pawns. This is a bold work of jurisprudence and also a practical blueprint for better policy—one of the most original books on criminal law in recent years.”
-Robert Weisberg,Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law, Stanford University

“Interesting, well-argued, and provocative. [Dubber] raises new and important issues about the role and impact of the victims’ rights movement.”
-Law and Politics Book Review

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“Dubber's book is an outstanding achievement: original and insightful, well-written and well-informed, deeply humane and at times even passionate. It deserves to have a significant impact not only on the way criminal justice is thought about by scholars, but also on the wider public policy debate.”
-Criminal Law Forum

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“Dubber gives some powerful examples of how the law has developed haphazardly in response to individual victims' experiences.”
-The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice

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“Victims in the War on Crime includes a valuable review of the development of victims’ rights and the war on crime and an interesting link of the two movements that have occurred in the same place and time.”
-Contemporary Sociology

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About the Author

Markus Dirk Dubber is professor of law at the University of Toronto. His many books include Victims in the War on Crime: The Use and Abuse of Victims’ Rights (NYU Press, 2002).

Product Details

• Paperback: 412 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (July 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814719287
• ISBN-13: 978-0814719282
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,703,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent book, October 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Victims in the War on Crime: The Use and Abuse of Victims' Rights (Critical America (New York University Hardcover)) (Paperback)

I couldn't disagree more with the previous review. I think Dubber's presentation is singularly well thought out, and constitutes the only work on this subject that can be fairly described as even handed. My personal biases run in the opposite direction of the previous reviewer and I think it is telling that I occasionally found it frustrating because it seemed to favor the other side. What better evidence could there be of its neutrality?

Because it is a book that closely analyzes contemporary trends there is less reliance on "research" methodology and instend a focus on close readings of policies and cultural behaviors.
The book is subtle in its repositioning victims at the center of criminal justice system. To quote the comments by of Stanford Law Professor Robert Weisberg that appear on the book jacket:

"Dubber . . . shows how the War on Crime, in which victims are enlisted, has little to do with real human victims in the first place. Where, he asks, are the victims in the vast array of possession offenses that are the heart of the War on Crime? He ends by conceiving what a legal system would look like if we were truly interested in victims as persons, not as pawns. This is a bold work of jurisprudence and also a practical blueprint for better policy--one of the most original books on criminal law in recent years." The real trick here, and what may have bothered the previous reviewer, is that he does the same thing for criminal defendants, also maintaining their humanity.

As for its use on a college campus, I guess I agree that it may be too sophisticated for the average college student, and would be better suited for use only be very advanced undergraduates and by graduate students and law students.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Victims in the War on Crime, October 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Victims in the War on Crime: The Use and Abuse of Victims' Rights (Critical America (New York University Hardcover)) (Paperback)

This is a book based on the bias of the author. Poorly researched and presumptive, it is filled with assumptions. Victims are assumed to be vindictive and out for blood and offenders are assumed to be ignored by the system, now, supposedly focused on victim's rights. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just as there are as many kinds of offenders and reasons for their offenses, so are there a variety of opinions within the victim's rights movement. Not all victims are in favor of the death penalty and capital punishment was never the issue in most of the cases cited. Laws passed, like Jenna's Law and Megan's Law were safety issues and had nothing whatsoever to do with capital punishment, yet they are both used as examples of the bloodlust of victims and survivors.
Dubber has written a book that should never be used on a college campus because of its extreme bias without research, yet in his position at SUNY Buffalo it will almost certainly be used as one of the assigned texts. Pity the poor law student who believes this mess of circuitous logic and biased assumptions.