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Abstract: 

One obvious forum where victims can and are expected to speak about the crime is in the criminal justice proceedings related to their case. The trial is perhaps the primary forum for victims of crime, and many victims, if their case goes to trial and if they testify at trial, will not speak publicly again about their experience. However, the primacy of these proceedings for the victims is hardly recognized by its participants. Victims are typically sidelined and their need to speak about the event does not merit consideration. Despite their importance to the criminal proceedings, victims often find that they are expected to keep quiet and to appear conservatively dressed with a spotless reputation and mentally composed. In criminal justice proceedings, victims are treated as mere window dressing. As one commentator put it, “the exclusion of the victim has become so routine that the victim virtually vanishes after the arrest.”

Keywords: victims not parties to case; exclusion of the victim

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