ABSTRACT
Historically, the role for a victim in an adversarial system of justice has been limited to an instrumental one as a witness for the Crown. As in other parts of the world, organised victim movements began to appear in Australia between the 1970s and early 1980s. Initiatives to introduce victims' rights in Australia preceded the 1985 UN Declaration Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power. Together with the provision of services, victims' entitlements in legal processes have expanded. This chapter focuses on the sentencing process, while victims are entitled to be consulted at other stages of criminal legal proceedings as victim of the crime rather than prosecution witness, it is only at the sentencing stage that they are legally entitled to participate in the process. The provision of support for victims, especially of domestic and sexual violence, has been contested by the rise of men's groups, whose agenda is shared by conservative governments.
