ABSTRACT
Primary prevention is the ideal, and we give some consideration to how learning from victim experiences may lead to primary preventive strategies. Mental health and support services for victims of crime are scarce. Realisation that the primary victim is not the only one to suffer from service failures is spurring new and useful lines of research within the database. A more obvious public health approach to reduction of victimisation through alcohol misuse lies in the economics literature. The publication of the Victim’s Charter in 1990 heralded a drive to give victims of crime a greater voice in criminal justice proceedings. The probation service’s work with victims commences after the offender is sentenced; engagement with victims prior to that is undertaken by Witness Care Units or police family liaison officers. Responsibility for contact with the victim(s) of an unrestricted patient rests with the hospital where s/he is being treated.
