ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the treatment of victims of common crimes by key state agencies and service providers. The findings of Brienen and Hoegen relate to the implementation of the 1985 Council of Europe Recommendation in 1999. Since the turn of the century, many new developments have taken place. An important milestone for victim policies in Europe was the 2001 EU Framework Decision. Percentages of serious crimes reported to the police vary greatly across world regions. Within Europe, reporting rates in Eastern Europe and to a lesser extent Southern Europe are lower than in Western and Central Europe. When data on Central and on Eastern European countries are desegregated, rates of some Eastern European countries appear to be as high as those in Western Europe. The socio-legal desk research of Brienen and Hoegen allowed a crude ranking of European countries in terms of their compliance with the Council of Europe Recommendation around 1999.
