Dutch family liaison officers inform and support trauma victims or their relatives. Recent studies suggest that professionals working with trauma victims may develop work-related stress. However, other studies have shown that professionals can also develop personal growth from their experiences with traumatized persons. This study was the first to investigate to what extent Dutch family liaison officers experience work-related stress or personal growth. Results suggest that the majority of the respondents experience no or very low levels of work-related stress. Levels of personal growth appear to be rather low as well, but seem to be more broadly dispersed. These findings suggest that Dutch family liaison officers are able to cope with the potentially negative effects of their work and even experience positive outcomes from working with traumatized persons. In spite of this, many participants provided suggestions for further improvement of their work practices.

In their article on the victim orientation in the combat against human trafficking – in particular labour exploitation – Cleiren, Van der Leun and Van Meeteren highlight the limitations of the protection of victims in practice. Based on a brief legal analysis and a secondary reading of the empirical literature, they conclude that the rights of victims remain subordinate to the main aims of the relevant legal domains: criminal law and immigration law. In addition, the practices-based analysis shows a mismatch between a victim-oriented approach and preferences and perceptions of many migrants involved as well as existing tensions between different legal domains.

Victims play an increasingly more prominent role in the criminal justice process. While the consequences of victim participation in the judicial process have been criticized by researchers and practitioners alike, the possible negative consequences of secondary victimization has been largely neglected in this debate. From a social psychological perspective, I discuss research on just-world theory that can explain these negative reactions and give some insight into the processes that play a role in both negative and positive reactions toward victims. Implications for the law practitioners and scholars will be discussed.

The public prosecutor should act as the knight fighting in court for a victim. A much more communicative strategy instead of one aiming at a juridical discourse will reframe what is happening in court and make it understandable for victims and public in general, Examples are given of how to do so. A discussion on the effects of such a strategy is presented.