It has been suggested that civil society organisations (CSOs) in the penal sector may be losing their autonomy, whilst delivering services to the public sector. This interview‐based study explores this question in the context of Nordic and Scottish CSOs. The findings reveal that for these CSOs that already are dependent on co‐operation with the criminal justice system, service‐delivery contracts have generated additional difficulties in remaining truthful to their missions. However, those CSOs that had embedded their core activities in volunteering instead of paid professionals were able to hold on to their original missions to a greater extent, regardless of service delivery. The article suggests that CSOs that still wish to remain loyal to their original purposes should reinforce volunteer‐based working methods within their organisations.

Our understanding of the structural factors shaping the agency of penal voluntary organisations in different jurisdictions is limited. This article explores how political, economic, and ideological factors in the voluntary and criminal justice sectors have affected two voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) which work with offenders -Finland's KRITS and New Zealand's NZPARS -and their ability to pursue their charitable goals and values. Based on qualitative thematic documentary analysis, our findings indicate that while marketisation and the populist penal policy environment contributed to the downfall of NZPARS, KRITS has been able to pursue its value-based mission of introducing unique elements to the criminal justice system, in spite of also experiencing pressures of marketisation. By contrasting these accounts it is clear that the current structures in New Zealand society have not supported the autonomy of all penal voluntary sector organisations, adding to the challenges of reforming the criminal justice system.

In response to international obligations many Western states have strengthened their responsibility for crime victims' access to support services. This is also the case in Finland and Norway where this interview study explored the views of representatives from five key civil society organisations (CSOs) working with victims of crime in relation to the public sector's increasing duty to organise victim support services. The findings indicate that despite the fact that improvements in victims' access to support services were generally welcomed, there was a growing concern that the position of these traditional CSOs could-or already had-become challenged by the public and private organisations and other CSOs as new funding streams and mechanisms attract new players to the field. This had created a need to highlight the distinctiveness of these agents as CSOs working with victims of crime. This article argues that while international standards for victim support services have been a triumph for victim movements in many countries, their realisation in the present era of austerity and mixed welfare economies presents traditional victim support organisations with new challenges in retaining their ownership and distinctive ways of treating the problem of victimisation.

The chapters of the book take the reader through a structured introduction from the broadly theoretical origins of victims as a discrete site of academic interest to the emergence of the victim as powerful subject of political conjecture and now, as a subject of rights and powers in systems in justice increasingly ready to provide victims means of participation or standing in justice processes. The chapters are logically ordered and supply ideal context and discussion for teaching use, enhanced with supplementary materials and examples provided by appendices. Yet this book also consolidates and develops essential materials for researchers. It will undoubtedly be at home on the shelves of those interested in policy reform and advancement. While the broader contexts of victimology are well covered, the nexus between the theoretical and disciplinary context to the emerging structural reforms, including the development of human rights instruments and frameworks and those taken to enforce them, could draw from nuanced policy example and discussion, and commentary as to institutional intersectionality. Novel international and comparative approaches to the differences between legal representatives and non-legal victim advocates would enhance the arguments presented (see Chapter 10), showcasing Wemmers' work and leadership on this important policy development. Enhanced focus on narrative victimology and emerging discourse as to victim-survivors, particularly what we now know of the personal and institutional significance of the power of reclaiming traditional abuse narratives by survivors, and risks to be confronted by such reclamation, could also be enhanced by greater use of Wemmers' leading work on the International Criminal Court, where narratives play an essential role through case determination and reparation (see Chapters 5, 6 and 12). Such guidance is evermore needed-both on the benefits and limits of representation and on discourses around victim narratives-considering the rise of #MeToo and the power of progressive, victim-focused social movements that fundamentally challenge key assumptions as to victim status, power and entitlement. Indeed, such continued momentum demonstrates the rapid evolution of topics covered by this book, and makes a case for the next edition. Yet the continued development of this fast-moving field does little to detract from the book's core strengths. Wemmers' Victimology: A Canadian Perspective is essential reading for those interested in victims of crime in all their dynamism-theoretically, politically, and within the disciplines. However, Wemmers takes this further by providing a powerful analysis of structural and institutional reform, through the emerging human rights instruments that place victim rights firmly on the policy agenda. Bringing together a volume of this kind is no small feat, internationally significant, but with obvious relevance to those especially interested in Canada's justice response.