Administrating victimization : the politics of anti-social behaviour and hate crime policy

The study of victims and victimization has evolved to produce more information about the effects and impacts of crime, as well as victims' experiences of engagement with the criminal justice system. This book analyses the socio-political context in which particular groups of victims have been prioritised by UK policy-makers in the past two decades as requiring enhanced or targeted services. Focusing on anti-social behaviour and hate crime, Duggan and Heap explore how separating victims according to victimization type allows for a targeted approach which benefits some and disadvantages others. They assess the extent to which certain forms of victimization, or demarcated groups of victims, have been used by governments to further punitive political agendas under the guise of being 'victim-focused' or 'victim-led'. In so doing, this book explores the changing role and status of the victim in contemporary criminal justice discourses, as well as the increased managerialism evident in facilitating victims' engagement in the broader criminal justice system