RT Article
T1 The impact of top-down and bottom-up factors in shaping the status of the victim: A study of recent victim empowerment shifts in Slovenia
JF International review of victimology
VO 31
IS 2
SP 221
OP 237
A1 Peršak, Nina
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1921375744
AB Victims of crime have seen a significant shift in the criminal justice approaches towards them over time: from rather passive observers of the conflict between the state and the offender to more active agents whose thoughts, wishes and emotions are allowed to be voiced and whose participation is recognised as legitimate in its own right within the criminal process. The article analyses to what extent this empowerment shift is reflected in Slovenia, specifically how the criminal law acknowledges and defines the victim in the criminal justice setting. While the European Union (EU) legislation in this area, as a top-down factor in shaping the rights and status of the victim, has provided an important impetus for legislative changes, particularly in relation to certain aspects, rights and categories of crime victims, as well as the definition of the victim, the more conceptual recent transformations (e.g. an altered model of rape) arose out of changed societal sensitivities spurred by triggering events and a wider social and political context. Implications and outstanding challenges are discussed in the concluding section.
K1 Slovenia
K1 Sexual Violence
K1 Contextual factors
K1 Criminal Justice
K1 Victim
DO 10.1177/02697580241271466