Victim-Centred Criminal Justice

A victim-centred approach urges institutional guarantees to minimize the re-traumatization of victims in criminal investigations and empowers victims as participants and beneficiaries in the criminal procedure. It brings new views to the criminal justice process and transformation to the affected community and the entire society. Such a new approach in criminal law is becoming a trend in investigation and reparation phases in both domestic and international legal discourse.

This RIDP libri issue consolidates the proceedings that were presented at the XIth AIDP International Symposium for Young Penalists, held at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan on 14-15 September 2023, titled: Victim-Centred Criminal Justice. The aim of the symposium was to discuss the prospects and problems of this new approach of victim-centring in criminal law. It paid special attention to global issues of the current era, such as the increase in domestic violence under the lockdown, the escalation of sexual trafficking after the reopening of state borders at the end of the pandemic, and the multi-national investigatory effort into war crimes reported following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The need for information sharing and the promotion and management of evidence collection through international cooperation are significantly increasing, and theoretical and practical problems need new ideas to ensure fair and just criminal proceedings and criminal justice outcomes.

This volume comprises eight selected contributions, some of which are theoretical, others applied to the phases of investigation, trial and reparation.

Megumi Ochi is Associate Professor of Ritsumeikan University, Japan.

Renata Barbosa is Permanent Chamber Officer at the European Public Prosecutor Office.

Luyuan Bai is Lecturer at the Law School of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, China.