Editors: The Editorial Board Jo-Anne Wemmers, Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff, Rika Snyman, Elmar Weitekamp

Vol.1 #1

From the Editor's Desk... The World Society of Victimology has approximately 400 members from countries around the globe. Both the WSV and its membership actively contribute to the advancement of research on victims and victim assistance and the promotion of victims' interests throughout the world. However, in order to realize these goals, co-operation and communication are essential. The Victimologist provides members with a tool with which we, together, can further our efforts for victims. This first edition of The Victimologist contains contributions from around the world. The contribution by Irvin Waller, President of the WSV, addresses the developments within the WSV and provides suggestions for the future. Ryka Snyman's article on Victim Empowerment and Support in South Africa presents an overview of the important changes for victims which are taking place there and in doing so provides ideas for other nations in transition.. Kristiina Kangaspunta’s contribuiotn provides insight into international developments in the fight against domestic violence. The contribution by Jo-Anne Wemmers considers the importantce of recent developments in restorative justice for victimology. In addition to these articles, this edtion of The Victimologist also contains news regarding the activities of the WSV. This first edition is just a preview of the intentions of the Editorial Board. For future issues we would like to include short articles on research and developments around the globe, personal news of victimologists, conferences and events, new publications of members, book reviews, victimological services and instituti-ons, position announce-ments, interviews with victimologists. We would like to publish the Victimologist several times a year however this depends wholly on the input from the membership. All of the contributi-ons in this first issue were directly solicited. For future issues we need contributions from the members of the WSV. We therefore urge every member to send information, short articles, ideas etc. which could be published under the above mentioned categories or features to the members of the Editorial Board. Contributions should be sent both in written form and floppy disk or via e-mail in Word or Word Perfect.

1997 — Elections Executive Committee
Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff

In 1997 the members of WSV elected new members to the Executive Committee. The new Executive Committee consists of : Sara Ben David (Israel); Ewa Bienkowska (Poland); Jan van Dijk (Netherlands); John Dussich (Japan); Paul C. Friday (USA); Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff (FRG); Helen Reeves (England); Hans Joachim Schneider (FRG); Aglaia Tsitsoura (Greece); Irvin Waller (Canada); Frans Willem Winkel (Netherlands); Marlene Young (USA). All those elected have already accepted the positions they were voted in. The first convention of the new Excecutive Committee will take place August 25, 1997 , at 15.30 in the Aula and during this meeting the members will elect the new President, the Secretary General, the Treasurer, the four Vice Presidents and coopt three members to assist in the work but who do not have voting rights. The new Executive Commitee will be in session from 1997 to 2000.

Domestic Violence
Krtistiina Kangaspunta

The elimination of violence against women is one of the priorities of the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme. The UN urges governments and other entities to intensify their efforts to prevent violence against women as well as to improve police training in order to ensure that all incidents of violence against women are investigated, that adequate assistance and support are given to them and that their rights are respected. In 1995 the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, in co-operation with the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network and with the Canadian authorities, developed a global training project to help prevent and address domestic violence. In order to develop a core training curriculum and a delivery plan an International Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence was formed. The Committee suggested that a series of pilot projects should be held in different countries in order to highlight both the inadequacies and the flexibility of the core curriculum in order to be tailored to the specific needs of different countries. The first pilot course for Central and Eastern European countries was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 14 to 17 January 1997. It was organized by the European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI) together with the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), the Lithuanian Women’s Issues Information Centre and UNDP Lithuania. The pilot consisted of two parts: a seminar for policy-makers and a training for practitioners. The seminar provided a starting point for the training. The purpose of the training was to provide training for future trainers. Following the pilot a brief handbook on domestic violence issues will be prepared by HEUNI and distributed to all Lithuanian police officers and practitioners dealing with domestic violence problems. HEUNI will also consider the possibilities for continuing the training and organizing a second part of the training course that would focus on more practical issues in police performance when working with domestic violence cases.

The WSV Student Paper Competition 1997
Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff

The World Society of Victimology (WSV) received several papers in the Student paper Competition, all of which were of high quality. The papers covered a wide range of victimologically relevant topics, such as: Victims of Mass Rape Victim and Offender Mediation Prevention of Victimization Victims of Corruption and Abuse of Power War Victims Reactions to Stress (PTSD) Hidden Sexual Victimization Suicide Victims and War in Croatia Systematic Rape Recovered Memories Children as Victims of War Victim Impact Evidence Constitutional Protection Papers came from Australia, Croatia, France, Hungary, Italy, Mexico and the United States. Jurors Committee was chaired by Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Schneider, founding president, EC member and Treaesurer of WSV. It included Prof. Dr. Paul C. Friday, member of the EC and Chair of Criminal Justice at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA; Prof. Dr. Zvonimir Paul Separovic, Law School, University of Zagreb; Dr. Frans Willem Winkel, EC member and senior lecturer of social psychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, NL; and Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff, EC member and Secretary General of WSV who coordinated the competition and the jurors work. All members of the Jurors Committee were Co- Directors of the Inter University Center Dubrovnik for Post Graduate Studies Course "Victimology, Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice". The award money was donated to WSV by the Joshie Miyazawa Foundation in Tokyo, Japan. WSV awarded the flight tickets to the Amsterdam Symposium where the winners of the competition will receive the award at the Closing Session of the symposium. The winners are at equal rank order positions: Mrs. Anna Costanza Baldry from Rome's University "La sapienza", Italia on "Victim Offender Mediation in the Juvenile Justice system - Restorative Justice Approach in the Italian Juvenile Justice System" Mrs. Antonija Petricusic, Sveuciliste u Zagrebu, Pravni Fakultet, Croatia on "Systematic Rape. A Weapon of War in Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina". „The Victimologist" joins in the congratulations to both students. Their papers were, although very different, chosen for their interdisciplinary approach, for their thorough bibliographical documentation and their conscientious attempts to describe what was already known and to develop this a little bit further by own empirical work. This is the method in which victimology can be fruitfully developed further, and the papers chosen do this in their way. Both prize winners will participate in the Students' Course "Vicimology, Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice" from August 20 to 30, 1997 in Amsterdam. At the closing session of the symposium, Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Schneider will give the award to the prize winners. The Closing Session starts Friday, August 29, 16.00 in the Aula of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The paper on „Hidden Sexual Victimization - The Hungarian Study" was not ranked within this competition since two jurors felt a conflict of interest. However, the Secretary General was able to secure an additional sum of money by INTEG, Gesellschaft zur Förderung integrativer Maßnahmen e.V. in Germany, to be awarded to the Hungarian student Anita Skobl, so that she can participate in the IXth Symposium. Her paper will be discussed in the Forum „Hidden Sexual Victimization" on Thursday, 28th of August, Room 2A-05, together with various papers of the international research project on Hidden Sexual Victimization.

Manual on the Implementation of the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power
Jo-Anne Wemmers and Thijs van der Heijden

On March 6th and 7th 1997, the third expert meeting on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power was held in The Hague, The Netherlands. The two prior meetings had taken place in Vienna (1995) and in Tulsa, Arizona (1996). The meeting was attended by experts from over 15 different countries and representatives of various international organizations. The United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power was adopted by consensus in the General Assembly in 1985. It reflects a collective will of the international community to restore the balance between the fundamental rights of suspects and offenders, and the rights and interests of victims. The Declaration is based on the philosophy that victims should be adequately recognized and treated with respect for their dignity. Victims are entitled to access to the mechanisms of justice and prompt redress for the harm and loss suffered. They are also entitled to receive adequate specialized assistance in dealing with emotional trauma and other problems caused by the impact of victimization. The adoption of the Declaration, however important, is just a first step towards actual improvements in practice. The objective of the Expert Meeting in the Hague was to prepare a more advanced version of the draft manual for policy-makers and to design a draft resolution on Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power. The purpose of the manual is to draw the attention of policy-makers to what has been done, and what can be done to ensure that the effectiveness and fairnes of criminal justice, including related forms of support, is enhanced in a way that respects the fundamental rights of suspects and offenders as well as those of victims. The manual would be submitted to the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention at it sixth session as an annex to the draft resolution on Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power by the Government of the Netherlands. The Meeting also continued work on the draft handbook for practitioners and volunteers. In the handbook more concrete topics are addressed such as how projects can be set up and preconditions for the successful implementation of projects. The goal is to make the handbook available on a special web site and that this „open document" will be up-dated regularly. Throughout the meeting key issues in victim policy were addressed including the important relationship between victim support and crime prevention. It was argued that by helping victims of crime, authorities could in fact help prevent crime. For example, the prevention of repeat victimization. In addition, it was suggested that an internatio-nal databank of promising practices should be established. Such a databank is presently being development for promising practices in crime prevention by the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC:www.crime-prevention.org/icpc). At the end of the two days is was agreed that the manual and the draft resolution were ready for submission to the Untied Nations Commission. It was decided that the manual would be translated into the different working languages in advance of the sixth session of the Commission in Vienna in May 1997.

First Asian Post Graduate Mito Course: Victimology and Victim Assistance

August 31 to September 11, 1998 Tokiwa University Mito, Japan This first Asian Post Graduate Mito Course on Victimology and Victim Assistance will serve to cover the fundamentals of both major areas. In addtion, students will learn about more advanced subjects such as: victimization surveys, victim needs, victim/offender relationships, new forms of victimization, victims of interpersonal violence, victims of abuse of power, non-criminal victimizations, fear of crime victimization, victims of disasters, the role of the victim in the criminal justice system, the society's response to victims, the range of victim services, victim trauma and recovery, victim service models, victim compensation, victim restitution, mediation and reconciliation, victimological theory, and comparative victimology. Course Schedule: The course will begin at 9:00 August 31st at the Department of Applied International Studies, Tokiwa University in Mito. The course language will be English. Directions will be provided to all registrants and resource persons. During the second week, a field trip to the Mito police headquarters will be arranged. During the middle weekend, an excursion to the famous Nikko Park and waterfalls will be arranged (an extra charge will be collected). Registration Fee: US$30/JPY2900 Registration Deadline: June 1, 1998 Faculty Commitment: February 1, 1998 Participant/Faculty Housing: Guest House of the Tokiwa University Room Costs: JPY 19,500(US$200)(including linen and clean-up) Reservations must be made through Dr. Dussich by July 1, 1998 For private arrangements hotels are available in the city of Mito. Provisional list of Resource Faculty: Ewa Bienkowska (Poland), K. Chockalingam (India), Insub Choi (South Korea), Sarah Ben David (Israel), Jan van Dijk (The Netherlands), John Dussich (Japan), Glen Edwards (Australia), Paul Friday (USA), Jianan Guo (China), Richard Knudten (USA), Ester Kosovski (Brazil), Vitali Kvashis (Russia), Koichi Miyazawa (Japan), Hidemichi Morosawa (Japan), Susumu Nagai (Japan), Helen Reeves (England), Xin Ren (USA), Hans Schneider (Germany), Nobuho Tomita (Japan), Aglaia Tsitsoura (Greece), Irvin Waller (Canada), Frans Willem Winkel (The Netherlands), Marlene Young (USA). Registration: In order to register for the course, please write anyof the co-directors. On site registration will be possible only if space is available. Payment of all fees is due on the first day of the course. Co-Directors: John P.J. Dussich, Professor, Tokiwa University, Mito, Japan 310 Tel:81-29-232-2604 Fax:81-29-232-2591 Email:[email protected] Paul C. Friday, Chair, Criminal Justice, University of North Carolina, Charolotte, NC 28223, Tel:704-547-4776 Fax:704-547-3349 Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff, University of Applied Sciences Lower Rhineland, Department of Social Work, Richard Wagner Strasse 101, 41065 Monchengladbach, FRG, Tel. +49n 2161 186609, Fax 49 2161 186 633 e-mail:[email protected] Hidemichi Morosawa, President, Tokiwa University, Mito, Japan 310 Tel: 81-29-232-2611 Fax: 81-29-231-6078 Nobuho Tomita, Professor, Tokiwa University, Mito, Japan 310 Tel: 81-29-232-2628 Fax: 81-29-232-2591

The WSV Student Paper Competition 1997
Gerd Ferdinand Kirchhoff

The World Society of Victimology (WSV) received several papers in the Student Paper Competition, all of which were of high quality. The papers were sent in by students from countries around the world and covered a wide range of topics such as: victims of mass rape; victim- offender mediation; prevention of victimization; victims of corruption and abuse of power. Jurors Committee was chaired by Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Schneider, founding president, EC member and Treasurer of WSV. It included Prof. Dr. Paul C. Friday, member of the EC and Chair of Criminal Justice at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA; Prof. Dr. Zvonimir Paul Separovic, Law School, University of Zagreb; Dr. Frans Willem Winkel, EC member and senior lecturer of social psychology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, NL; and Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff, EC member and Secretary General of WSV who co-ordinated the competition and the jurors work. All members of the Jurors Committee were Co- Directors of the Inter University Centre Dubrovnik for Post Graduate Studies Course "Victimology, Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice". The award money was donated to WSV by the Joshie Miyazawa Foundation in Tokyo, Japan. WSV awarded flight tickets to the Amsterdam Symposium where the winners of the competition will receive the award at the Closing Session of the symposium. The winners are: Anna Costanza Baldry from Rome's University "La sapienza", Italia for her paper titled: Victim Offender Mediation in the Juvenile Justice system - Restorative Justice Approach in the Italian Juvenile Justice System Antonija Petricusic, Sveuciliste u Zagrebu, Pravni Fakultet, Croatia for her paper titled: Systematic Rape. A Weapon of War in Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina The Victimologist congratulates both students. Although very different, their papers were chosen for their interdisciplinary approach, their thorough bibliographical documentation and their conscientious attempts to describe what was already known and to develop this a little bit through own empirical work. Both prize winners will participate in the WSV’s Student Course "Vicimology, Victim Assistance and Criminal Justice" which takes place from August 20 to 30, 1997 in Amsterdam. Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Schneider will give the award to the prize winners at the closing session of the symposium The paper on „Hidden Sexual Victimization - The Hungarian Study" was not ranked within this competition because two jurors felt a conflict of interest. However, the Secretary General was able to secure an additional sum of money by INTEG, Gesellschaft zur Förderung integrativer Maßnahmen e.V. in Germany, to be awarded to the Hungarian student Anita Skobl, so that she can participate in the IXth Symposium.

Victim Empowerment and Support in South Africa
HF (Rika) Snayman

Crime is at present regarded as one of the four most strategic challenges in South Africa. The impact of crime is felt on a large front, that varies from the individual victim who is harmed by crime and who receives very little, if any, support, to foreign investors that would like to invest in South Africa, but who are often scared off by the high crime rate. Contrary to the high crime rate and the emphasis placed on the reduction of crime, very few services are available to the victims and aspects like a meaningful role for the victim in the justice process, and compensation, are non-existent. Civil society feels helpless against crime and believe that the South African government is not doing enough to protect them against crime. It is felt that the Constitution, accepted in February 1997, and specifically the Bill for Human Rights, is favouring offenders and fails to address the rights of victims. Despite the fact that the latest official crime statistics indicate that crime has decreased and stabilised in the first three months of 1997, public perception holds the opposite viewpoint. Various protest actions, in the form of protest marches, petitions to the State President and support for harsher penalties in the form of signs taped to motor vehicles, are regularly launched. In South Africa awareness of the needs of crime victims as well as services for them are found to compare unfavourably with developments elsewhere in the world. Due to reasons like the absence of a human rights culture in pre-1994 South Africa; the focus on offender-based strategies to combat crime; and the divided nature of South African society in general; very little attention was paid to victims. Children as victims of crime, the victim of woman abuse, and the rape victim, were the only categories of victims that received any attention in the past. Service delivery was mainly offered by Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s) that were funded by foreign countries and state departments, like the South African Police, distanced themselves from the victim issue. Recent initiatives by government and civil society placed crime victims firmly on the national agenda. The National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS), an interdepartmental and intersectoral government initiative, was launched in May 1996. It promotes a victim-centred approach to crime prevention where „the onus is on government to deliver a crime prevention approach which places the rights and needs of victims at the centre of the strategy". Whilst attention from service providers, be it state departments or civil society, has traditionally focused on victims of sexual violence as well as women and children, the national programme promotes a more generic approach to victims, namely that all victims of crime receive, at least initially, equal treatment from the police and justice officials. This will avoid the danger of enforcing stereotypes of women and children as vulnerable groups. The Victim Empowerment Programme Team of the NCPS regards the empowerment of victims of violence and crime through the creation of sustainable victim centred policies and programmes at all levels which will minimise and address the harmful effects of all forms of victimization and the prevention of crime, as its desired outcome. The South African Law Commission has prepared a number of discussion documents, inviting comments from all sectors, on issues like restorative ustice (compensation for victims of crime and victim empowerment); alternative dispute resolution, and juvenile justice. This will pave the way for mechanisms like victim-offender mediation, victim impact statements and a compensation scheme to be introduced in the criminal justice system. There are various challenges that must still be met before South Africa can claim to have an effective victim empowerment programme and a victim-centred crime prevention approach. All the roleplayers in the criminal justice process need to be transformed - structurally, for example separate waiting rooms for victims and perpetrators, and functionally, in the form of sensitive interaction with and accountability to victims and victimised communities. The inadequate crime information system that is currently in place needs to be restructured and supplemented with data from victimization surveys. Effective witness protection programmes should be established that are shaped to serve the needs of victims, rather than merely offering protection to perpetrators who opted to turn state’s witness. A compensation scheme for victims of violent crimes needs to be established as a matter of urgency. The argument that it is a very expensive venture that can not be realised at present should be turned around to accommodate innovative measures of setting the compensation fund up. The Victim Empowerment Programme Team, that is compiled from representatives of state departments and non-government organizations that are involved in the criminal justice process, will have to gain official recognition as the national co-ordinating body for victim empowerment. Service providers outside of government structures, should work together in a co-ordinated manner without duplicating services and jeopardising each other in the scramble for the scarce and dwindling funds.