The criminal justice landscape has evolved significantly during the last four decades, with its predominant focus on the offender shifting to the background, while the role and experiences of the victim have emerged as centre stage, rhetorically at least. The focus of this book is to examine the range of complex factors that have impacted upon and altered this landscape. In particular, the interplay between victimology as an academic discipline, the role and activism of individuals and special interest groups, and the subsequent impact upon policy making and professional practices. The merger of narratives, from the basic tenets of the early positivist victimologists to the challenges of radical, critical and cultural approaches,