Constructing Victimhood

Beyond Innocence and Guilt in Transitional Justice

Prof Cheryl Lawther (School of Law, School of Law, Queen's University Belfast)

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English

Oxford University Press
06 April 2025

Crime & criminology; Criminology: legal aspects; Civil remedies; Criminal justice law; Offences against the person

Series: Clarendon Studies in Criminology

Constructing Victimhood seeks to go 'beyond innocence and guilt' to expand the criminological, victimological, and transitional justice image of who we 'see' as victims, what we 'hear' as experiences of victimisation, and who makes these determinations. The book argues that the construction, reproduction, and politicisation of victimhood is structured not only by notions of innocence and guilt and the existence of complex victims, but by larger questions concerning the existence of complex hierarchies of victimhood that supersede simplistic notions of 'good' and 'bad' victims. Lawther also considers the exercise of voice, the role of silence and the silencing of certain variants of victimhood (in gender-based crimes for example), the politicisation of victims' groups and the impact of unresolved legacies of violent conflict. The author argues that in the failure to cast the transitional justice gaze more widely it is not only the 'voices in the cracks' that will be overlooked, but entire experiences of victimhood and victimisation.

If transitional justice is to live up to its claims of being 'victim centred', widening its conceptual and practical boundaries to recognise the multiple and overlapping variables that construct and reproduce victimhood is essential. Pursuing this line of enquiry, Constructing Victimhood aims to change our understanding of victimhood in post-conflict and transitional contexts.

By: Prof Cheryl Lawther (School of Law School of Law Queen's University Belfast)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 220mm, Width: 145mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 500g
ISBN: 9780192846365
ISBN 10: 0192846361
Series: Clarendon Studies in Criminology
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 06 April 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Cheryl Lawther is a Reader at the School of Law and a Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen's University Belfast. Her research interests are in the fields of transitional justice, truth recovery, victims and the use of atrocity sites. She is the author of 'Truth, Denial and Transition: Northern Ireland and the Contested Past' (Routledge 2014) and lead editor of the 'Research Handbook on Transitional Justice' (Edward Elgar 2017, 2023). Cheryl is the previous recipient of the Brian Williams Article Prize by the British Society of Criminology, a Fulbright Ireland Scholarship and a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship.

Reviews for Constructing Victimhood: Beyond Innocence and Guilt in Transitional Justice

The title and subtitle of this superb book accurately describe its contents. It will prove an admirable addition to the literature on transitional justice, focusing on Northern Ireland. It also provides a superb overview of victimology and serves as an essential contribution to this field. Lawther (Queen's Univ. Belfast, UK) makes excellent use of slightly differing but complementary versions of critical criminology, including such icons as Nils Christie and Stan Cohen. * C. Powell, Choice *