Vijftig jaar victimologie vanuit wetenschapshistorisch perspectief

In this article the author describes how the rise of victimology as an independent discipline is intrinsically linked to the growth of the victims’ movement in the late 1970s. He argues that the success of this movement was based on the confluence of two powerful social forces, the universal rise of common crime across the Western world and the equally ubiquitous political demand for more democracy in all sectors of society. In his view, victimological reforms such as extensive victim support were readily adopted in the Netherlands because they aligned with an engrained national tradition of pragmatism in criminal policy.