The Politics of Pain: A Political Institutionalist Analysis of Crime Victims' Moral Protests

Barker, Vanessa, Law & Society Review

Like the new social movements, crime victim movements were part of broad cultural struggles to redefine the character of social order in the late twentieth century. Motivated by pain and outrage over criminal victimization, they were engaged in highly charged moral protests over the rights and duties of state government and the relative value of human life. This article argues that the degree to which crime victims were part of a retributive movement-the restriction of criminal offenders' rights and liberties-or part of a restorative movement to repair victims' well-being depended on the political context in which they were operating, specifically the structure of the democratic process. …

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Publication information: Article title: The Politics of Pain: A Political Institutionalist Analysis of Crime Victims' Moral Protests. Contributors: Barker, Vanessa - Author. Journal title: Law & Society Review. Volume: 41. Issue: 3 Publication date: September 2007. Page number: 619+. © Law and Society Association 1997. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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