I. Editorial Overview
(1) Historical Context
From Crime Prevention to a Focus on Victims
The Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (1985) stands as a milestone in the United Nations’ long-term promotion of criminal justice reform. Since assuming the functions of the International Penal and Penitentiary Commission (IPPC) in 1950, the United Nations has used the Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders as its core platform. Beginning in 1955, these congresses convened global experts every five years to exchange institutional experiences. However, the early focus remained overwhelmingly concentrated on how to treat offenders and prevent crime.
Traditional criminal justice systems were centered on “State prosecution and State punishment.” Once a crime occurred, the State monopolized the powers of investigation, indictment, and trial. Although victims were essential to initiating these procedures, they were often marginalized as mere “evidence” (witnesses). Structurally, victims lacked rights to information and participation, and criminal proceedings rarely provided an effective avenue for obtaining civil damages.
Even more troubling, when victims interacted with police, prosecutors, or courts, they frequently encountered indifference, suspicion, or unnecessary invasions of privacy due to rigid institutional practices or insufficient professional sensitivity. This harm inflicted by the justice system itself is known as secondary victimization. Following the emergence of victimology in the 1940s, led by pioneers such as Benjamin Mendelsohn and Hans von Hentig, the international community gradually recognized that victims must not remain silent bystanders. They need to be seen, respected, and provided with remedies within the justice system.
From State Responsibility to International Standards
In the 1950s, British reformer Margery Fry advanced a critical argument: since the State monopolizes the right to punish and prohibits private vengeance, it must assume responsibility for state compensation for the harm caused by crime. This reform movement spread rapidly. New Zealand enacted the world’s first state compensation scheme for victims of violent crime in 1963, followed by similar systems in the United Kingdom, Israel, and other countries.
At the international level, the First International Symposium on Victimology in 1973 led to the establishment of the World Society of Victimology. In 1983, the Council of Europe adopted the European Convention on the Compensation of Victims of Violent Crimes. Driven by academic research, civil society advocacy, and regional institutional initiatives, these developments ultimately converged at the United Nations.
On November 29, 1985, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 40/34, formally approving this Declaration. It clarified the definitions and scope of protection for both victims of crime and victims of abuse of power, and established fundamental rights including access to justice, fair treatment, restitution, compensation, and assistance. This marked the point at which victims’ rights became a recognized international human rights standard.
(2) Why It Matters for Taiwan
The Welfare State Principle as a Starting Point
In 1998, Taiwan enacted the Crime Victim Protection Act, citing the Welfare State Principle (Article 155 of the Constitution) as its legislative foundation. Through a state compensation system, the State assumed part of the harm suffered when offenders were unknown or insolvent, or when victims could not obtain timely civil damages. This approach aimed to prevent victimized families from falling into poverty and generating additional social risks. Drawing on models from New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the United States, Japan, and South Korea, the Act established the basic framework of Taiwan’s crime victim compensation system.
Aligning with International Human Rights Standards in 2023
Nevertheless, the early system largely viewed victims as objects of protection and assistance, with policy emphasis placed on monetary compensation and administrative support. At that stage, victims’ procedural rights had not yet been clearly articulated as an independent category of rights within Taiwan’s criminal justice system.
This changed in 2023, when comprehensive amendments were adopted and the law was renamed the Crime Victim Rights Protection Act. In its legislative reasoning, Taiwan explicitly referenced the UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, thereby affirming the procedural rights of crime victims within judicial proceedings. This reform symbolizes Taiwan’s shift from treating victims as passive recipients of aid to recognizing them as rights-holders, bringing its legal framework into closer alignment with international human rights standards.
(3) Core Principles
- Access to Justice: The State must ensure that victims can enter judicial and administrative redress mechanisms through affordable, understandable, and accessible procedures, and receive effective responses within a reasonable time.
- Fair Treatment: Judicial and administrative personnel should treat victims with compassion and respect for their dignity, while safeguarding their privacy and personal safety to avoid secondary victimization.
- Restitution: Offenders or responsible third parties should bear direct responsibility for returning property, compensating for losses, or restoring violated rights.
- Compensation: When full restitution cannot be obtained from the offender, the State should provide financial compensation based on its duty to protect, and the establishment of national compensation funds is encouraged.
- Assistance: Victim recovery requires multidisciplinary support. The State should integrate medical, psychological, social welfare, and community resources to provide accessible, sensitive, and continuous assistance.
(4) Terminology Notes
- Victims of Crime: Persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm through acts or omissions that violate existing national criminal laws, including laws proscribing criminal abuse of power. By recognizing collective victimization, the Declaration lays the foundation for protecting collective rights.
- Victims of Abuse of Power: Persons who suffer harm through acts or omissions that do not constitute violations of national criminal law but do violate internationally recognized human rights norms. The Declaration addresses structural situations that are “legal but unjust” and contexts of impunity, affirming the right of such victims to remedies and compensation.
- Indirect Victims: As specified in the latter part of Article 2, the term includes immediate family members or dependents of direct victims, as well as persons harmed while assisting victims or preventing victimization. This concept expands the scope of Article 1 (Victims of Crime) and Article 18 (Victims of Abuse of Power), confirming these individuals as rights-holders entitled to protection.
- Harm: The Declaration adopts a holistic approach to harm, encompassing not only physical injury but also mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss, and substantial impairment of fundamental rights. Compared with traditional damage concepts focused on monetary compensation, the Declaration emphasizes psychological recovery, restoration of dignity, and restitution of rights.
(5) How to Use This Document
- Identify who is protected (Who)
Begin with Article 1 (victims of crime), Article 2 (indirect victims), and Article 18 (victims of abuse of power) to determine who qualifies as a rights-holder under the Declaration. - Understand the four core pillars of rights (What)
These provisions form the substantive framework of victim protection:- Access to justice and fair treatment (Articles 4–7)
- Restitution (Articles 8–11)
- Compensation (Articles 12–13)
- Assistance and services (Articles 14–17)
- Read the special remedies for abuse of power (Supplement)
Articles 19–21 explain how States should prohibit, prevent, and provide specific remedies for abuses of power through legislation and policy, addressing gaps left by traditional criminal law.
II. Document Information
Official Title: Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (PDF Download)
Chinese Title: 犯罪與權力濫用被害人司法基本原則宣言 (PDF Download)
Adopting Body: United Nations General Assembly
Date of Adoption: 1985-11-29
Resolution / Document Number: UN General Assembly Resolution 40/34
Document Type: United Nations Declaration
Legal Status / Legal Effect: Soft Law Instrument
VST Edition: 2026-01-05 Version
III. Full Text
Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power
A. Victims of crime
Definition of victims
1. “Victims” means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws operative within Member States, including those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power.
2. A person may be considered a victim, under this Declaration, regardless of whether the perpetrator is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted and regardless of the familial relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. The term “victim” also includes, where appropriate, the immediate family or dependants of the direct victim and persons who have suffered harm in intervening to assist victims in distress or to prevent victimization.
3. The provisions contained herein shall be applicable to all, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, age, language, religion, nationality, political or other opinion, cultural beliefs or practices, property, birth or family status, ethnic or social origin, and disability.
Access to justice and fair treatment
4. Victims should be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity. They are entitled to access to the mechanisms of justice and to prompt redress, as provided for by national legislation, for the harm that they have suffered.
5. Judicial and administrative mechanisms should be established and strengthened where necessary to enable victims to obtain redress through formal or informal procedures that are expeditious, fair, inexpensive and accessible. Victims should be informed of their rights in seeking redress through such mechanisms.
6. The responsiveness of judicial and administrative processes to the needs of victims should be facilitated by:
(a) Informing victims of their role and the scope, timing and progress of the proceedings and of the disposition of their cases, especially where serious crimes are involved and where they have requested such information;
(b) Allowing the views and concerns of victims to be presented and considered at appropriate stages of the proceedings where their personal interests are affected, without prejudice to the accused and consistent with the relevant national criminal justice system;
(c) Providing proper assistance to victims throughout the legal process;
(d) Taking measures to minimize inconvenience to victims, protect their privacy, when necessary, and ensure their safety, as well as that of their families and witnesses on their behalf, from intimidation and retaliation;
(e) Avoiding unnecessary delay in the disposition of cases and the execution of orders or decrees granting awards to victims.
7. Informal mechanisms for the resolution of disputes, including mediation, arbitration and customary justice or indigenous practices, should be utilized where appropriate to facilitate conciliation and redress for victims.
Restitution
8. Offenders or third parties responsible for their behaviour should, where appropriate, make fair restitution to victims, their families or dependants. Such restitution should include the return of property or payment for the harm or loss suffered, reimbursement of expenses incurred as a result of the victimization, the provision of services and the restoration of rights.
9. Governments should review their practices, regulations and laws to consider restitution as an available sentencing option in criminal cases, in addition to other criminal sanctions.
10. In cases of substantial harm to the environment, restitution, if ordered, should include, as far as possible, restoration of the environment, reconstruction of the infrastructure, replacement of community facilities and reimbursement of the expenses of relocation, whenever such harm results in the dislocation of a community.
11. Where public officials or other agents acting in an official or quasi-official capacity have violated national criminal laws, the victims should receive restitution from the State whose officials or agents were responsible for the harm inflicted. In cases where the Government under whose authority the victimizing act or omission occurred is no longer in existence, the State or Government successor in title should provide restitution to the victims.
Compensation
12. When compensation is not fully available from the offender or other sources, States should endeavour to provide financial compensation to:
(a) Victims who have sustained significant bodily injury or impairment of physical or mental health as a result of serious crimes;
(b) The family, in particular dependants of persons who have died or become physically or mentally incapacitated as a result of such victimization.
13. The establishment, strengthening and expansion of national funds for compensation to victims should be encouraged. Where appropriate, other funds may also be established for this purpose, including in those cases where the State of which the victim is a national is not in a position to compensate the victim for the harm.
Assistance
14. Victims should receive the necessary material, medical, psychological and social assistance through governmental, voluntary, community-based and indigenous means.
15. Victims should be informed of the availability of health and social services and other relevant assistance and be readily afforded access to them.
16. Police, justice, health, social service and other personnel concerned should receive training to sensitize them to the needs of victims, and guidelines to ensure proper and prompt aid.
17. In providing services and assistance to victims, attention should be given to those who have special needs because of the nature of the harm inflicted or because of factors such as those mentioned in paragraph 3 above.
B. Victims of abuse of power
Victims of abuse of power
18. “Victims” means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that do not yet constitute violations of national criminal laws but of internationally recognized norms relating to human rights.
19. States should consider incorporating into the national law norms proscribing abuses of power and providing remedies to victims of such abuses. In particular, such remedies should include restitution and/or compensation, and necessary material, medical, psychological and social assistance and support.
20. States should consider negotiating multilateral international treaties relating to victims, as defined in paragraph 18.
21. States should periodically review existing legislation and practices to ensure their responsiveness to changing circumstances, should enact and enforce, if necessary, legislation proscribing acts that constitute serious abuses of political or economic power, as well as promoting policies and mechanisms for the prevention of such acts, and should develop and make readily available appropriate rights and remedies for victims of such acts.
IV. VST Editorial Disclaimer
- Disclaimer:The translation and editorial commentary reflect the author’s personal academic and professional views for public education and institutional comparison purposes only. Unless otherwise stated, content is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
- How to Cite: Hsiao, I-Min. (2026). Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (Overview & VST Edition). Victim Support Taiwan (Taiwan Victim Support Network). Retrieved from https://victim-support.tw/en/basic-principles-on-the-use-of-restorative-justice-programmes-in-criminal-matters-2/
- Revision & Update Log: 2026-01-05 — Initial publication