ABSTRACT
The rights and powers of international, regional, and even select domestic instruments have contributed to the development of a normative framework of rights and powers for victims of crime. However, the normative framework of victim rights and powers established by the international, regional, and domestic instruments and resolutions has had various direct and indirect implications for the development of law and policy on the local level. This chapter moves to consolidate the international, regional, and domestic instruments that have contributed to the setting out of this normative framework to be accessed in discussion throughout this book. As domestic jurisdictions increasingly ratify or otherwise reform laws and policies with regard to these normative rights and powers, the international force of victim rights increases, albeit not in a way that necessarily standardises victims’ access to justice through the world. Regional and local differences must be accounted for in the ratification and reform process.
