Victims’ Rights in Jurisprudence and Criminal Procedure Law

The aim of this study was to investigate the developments about victims’ rights in criminal law in light of criminal procedure law. Victim as one of the most important pillars of the criminal phenomenon has not yet found its real and decisive position in the criminal policy of societies. Criminal researchers have focused their utmost on elements such as crime, offender, and punishment, and as a result, victims of crime or crimes, which often play an effective role in the occurrence of crime, have remained out of sight. With the advent of victimology knowledge in recent decades, great steps have been taken to scientifically study the victims and to identify their characteristics and performance in a crime. In addition, the prominence of human rights issues through the adoption of global and regional documents and regulations on criminals and victims has provided a suitable platform for serious attention to the status of victims in national criminal justice systems. For this reason, material and spiritual protections of victims such as compensation fund, psychological and medical support are seen in the Criminal Procedure Code of 2013.