The Expressive Function of #VictimsLaw: Developing a Substantive and Enforceable Framework of Rights and Remedies in Response to Local Need and the Emerging forms of Victimization

Abstract

All too often, the law fails victims because it is placatory and unenforceable. The law fails to provide real support and redress when victims need it. Recent international attention has moved to consider the benefits of a victims’ law, one that provides for recognition, dignity and respect for victims by enhancing victim agency through a type of justice which is both substantive and enforceable. It aims to provide higher levels of transparency and accountability of public officials, including the police, prosecution and courts. Such a law builds upon previous attempts at enforceable rights by ascribing a more comprehensive human rights framework compatible with the fair trial process, by granting victims the right to be informed, present and heard within the investigative and trial process more broadly. This article will consider the feasibility of a victims’ law by examining what it offers the recently addressed or emerging forms of victimization. Three examples trending on the #victimslaw hashtag are selected for analysis—domestic and gendered violence; modern slavery and servitude; and coercive control, cyber-abuse and harm. The extent to which a victims’ law provides a meaningful way of ratifying international standards and norms against domestic law and policy is assessed against the needs of those most vulnerable victims of abuse and neglect.