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http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/style/rutgers-professor-says-sometimes-its-ok-to-blame-the-victim
    
Rutgers professor says sometimes it's OK to blame the victim
    Monday, 14 September 2009 10:11
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Provocative beliefs from a law professor in New Jersey argue that, in the 
interest of fairness and effectiveness, criminal law should be reformed to 
recognize that victims sometimes share a responsibility for their losses or 
injuries.?

    The maxim "don't blame the victim" is a cornerstone of Anglo-American 
jurisprudence. The law does not recognize victim fault as a defense to 
criminal liability, even when the victim is clearly a co-author of the 
suffered harm.

    In her new book "Victims' Rights and Victims' Wrongs," Vera Bergelson, 
professor of law at Rutgers School of Law-Newark, criticizes the current 
approach and outlines a more fair, coherent, and efficient set of rules to 
recognize that victims sometimes share responsibility for their losses or 
injuries.
    Evaluating several controversial cases involving euthanasia, 
sadomasochism, date rape, battered wives and "innocent" aggressors, Professor 
Bergelson builds a theoretical foundation for criminal law reform. Under such 
reform, each criminal episode would be viewed as an interaction of victim and 
perpetrator.

    "Considerations of fairness and effectiveness mandate," writes Professor 
Bergelson, "that criminal law integrate victims into its theory of liability. 
If victims by their own actions have reduced their rights not to be harmed, 
defendants should be allowed to raise that as an affirmative defense at their 
trial."

    Professor Bergelson's approach to comparative criminal liability offers a 
unitary explanation for consent, self-defense, and provocation. Victims' 
Rights and Victims' Wrongs, described by Professor Heidi Hurd of the 
University of Illinois College of Law as "a work of breath-taking 
intellectual courage and honesty," provides a practical and coherent 
mechanism for evaluating the impact of a victim's conduct on a perpetrator's 
liability in a variety of circumstances, including those currently excluded 
from comparative analysis.

    - NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM