Victims as agents of state accountability: a comparative and normative analysis / Marie Manikis

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Manikis, Marie

Series:

Oxford monographs on criminal law and justice

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Government accountability ǂz United States.

Victims of crimes ǂx Legal status, laws, etc. ǂz England.

Victims of crimes ǂx Legal status, laws, etc. ǂz Wales.

Victims of crimes ǂx Legal status, laws, etc. ǂz United States.

Criminal justice, Administration of ǂz England.

Criminal justice, Administration of ǂz Wales.

Criminal justice, Administration of ǂz United States.

Government accountability ǂz England.

Government accountability ǂz Wales.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Oxford Oxford University Press, 2026.

Summary:

While prevailing accounts of victim participation often frame victims as holders of primarily private interests, victims in common law jurisdictions have increasingly emerged as active public participants in criminal justice systems. With a comparative focus on England and Wales and the United States, Victims as Agents of State Accountability recharacterizes victims as agents of accountability in state decision-making. Through historical, empirical, and case-based analysis, this book advances a normative framework that positions the victim's role as a civic duty, enhancing transparency, legitimacy, and substantive equality in prosecutorial decisions. Accordingly, mechanisms of state accountability are examined, such as private prosecutions, judicial review, and internal review schemes, illustrating how their potential for accountability differs depending on whether victims are recognised as advancing primarily public or private interests.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Series

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

Contents

Part I Preliminary Considerations and the Conceptualization of Victim Participation

1 Introduction

2 A Typology of Victim Participation Across Private-Public Conceptions

1. Introduction

2. Conceiving of Interests Across a Public-Private Spectrum and Within Aggregate and Unitary Theories of the Public Interest

3. A Predominantly Private Conception of the Victim Within the Wider Literature on Victim Participation

4. Edwards' Typology of Victim Participation as Predominantly Rooted Within a Private Conception

Types of participation rooted within a predominantly private conception: control, consultation, and expression

5. Expanding Edwards' Framework by Rooting Certain Types of Participation Within a Predominantly Public Conception

6. Obligations Held by Victims and State Decision-Makers Within Edwards' Typology of Victim Participation

Participatory obligations held by victims within Edwards' typology

State decision-makers and their obligations towards victims within Edwards' typology

7. Obligations Held by Victims and State Decision-Makers Within a Predominantly Public Conception and Typology of Victim Participation

Obligations held by victims within a predominantly public conception

Participative duties by type of participation

Obligations held by state criminal justice decision-makers within a predominantly public conception

8. The Relationship Between Victim Participation and Victim Rights

9. Conclusion

3 An Additional Role for Victims: Conceptualizing State Fallibilities and Accountability

2. State fallibilities within social context

Quasi-eutopias and predominant individual state failures

Quasi-dystopias and predominant state systemic failures

3. Conceptions of Accountability

Normative and descriptive conceptions

Accountability within red light and green light frameworks

Accountability tied to conceptions of interests across the public/private spectrum

Accountability by victims as bearers of predominantly private interests in a public process

Accountability by victims as bearers of predominantly public interests in a public process

Accountability understood across a substantive and procedural spectrum

4. Conclusion

Part II Comparative Perspectives: Victims as Agents of State Accountability

4 A Predominantly Public and Evolving Conception in the English Common Law Tradition

2. The Rise of State Accountability by Citizen-Victims in England and Wales

3. Victims as Citizens: Mechanisms Holding the State Predominantly Substantively Accountable in the Public Interest

Private prosecutions

The victim's accountability role rooted in the public interest

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-19-199394-8