Victims and witnesses: Current trends in the American criminal courts

Abstract

By the early 1800 the United States of had nearly completed its task of separatingcriminal legal proceedings from civil proceedings, and effectively minimizing the role ofvictims in participating (or at least controlling) criminal proceedings. As a body of caselaw continued to evolve for the next 150 years clarifying the rights of the accused incriminal proceedings, the role and influence of victims became even less significant. Presentation made at the The 10th annual Conference and General Meeting of the International Association of Prosecutors held in Copenhagen, Denmark on August 28 to September 1, 2005.