Introduction

In Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange young delinquents terrorize the persons and property of haphazardly chosen victims, and yet we are induced as readers to consider Alex—the ringleader—as a victim of the modern age. Similar treatment is afforded Gary Gilmore, the multiple murderer who helped restore the death penalty in the United States, by Norman Mailer in The Executioner's Song, where the offender is again treated as a product of a sick society. A new concern for the crime victim thus arose substantially to stem the tide of dissatisfaction with law enforcement. Even though evidence was available to show that the increase in the American crime rate was illusory compared to previous periods in our history. The crime victim has been analyzed widely across the world, irrespective of political or economic systems, or levels of development. This chapter also presents an overview of this book.