The victim of crime and the criminal justice process

The victim of crime1 is not an active participant per se in the criminal justice system. The victim is effectively a third party whose input to the criminal justice process is confined to that of being an informant2 and witness for the prosecution. The right of victims to actively participate in the criminal justice process has conventionally been denied owing to the “public prosecution” model of criminal justice and the need to safeguard the impartiality of the criminal trial