The man was reading this book and sighing every page turn. I am not sure if it was because he was annoyed or because he was touched by the book. The title "Recht van spreken" means The Right to Speak.
This will not be a book I will pick up. First of all I am in doubt about the motives the author has and second though I do support that victims get more rights when it comes to their own lawsuit I am not sure if this is the way to reach out to the public to get the support. The synopsis gives me the feeling he is trying to get his point heard over the heads of the victims actually victimizing them a second time. If you have read the book and feel that it is not the case please leave a comment to convince me of the contrary.Victims of serious crimes often have to figure everything out by oneself. Due to (Dutch) laws and regulations they do not have the power to influence their own lawsuit. More often victims or their survivors turn to lawyers to get a voice.
Richard Korver is one of the few Dutch lawyers who actively pleads for a a better position for victims of crimes. Having a lot of experience in defending both victims and criminals he is advocating for a better position for victims of serious crimes. He writes about what is wrong and gives useful advice how it can be changed.Besides that the books holds a lot of heartbreaking stories of victims talking about their tragedy and the staggering resistance they find on their way.
2 reacties
Write reactiesDear Ciska,
ReplyI've read Recht van Spreken and I think you've got the wrong impression. In this book Richard Korver is definitely not trying to victimize victims for a second time and I can't think of a reason why you would think he has ulterior motives.
The author is just trying to get societies attention to see the flaws in the Dutch legal system concerning the rights of victims and the necessity to change it. The battle he is fighting on behalf of every victim who has not only been victimized by his/her perpetrator but also by the legal system, can only be considered as something noble and we should be grateful for what he is doing.
Therefore, I can highly recommend you to read this book and to form an opinion about the book afterwards. And of course I wasn't there when you saw the man reading this book, but if I have to choose I'm convinced he was sighing because he was touched by the book and not because he was annoyed.
- a law student -
As said I judge these books I discuss in Train on Thursday on first impressions without reading them. My opinions obviously are based on the feeling I get when I read synopsis and some reviews and my personal experience with books in the same category.
ReplyWhen a book states "with stories of the victims" I often get the feeling/impression that an author uses (or abuses) these people to get easy attention as there are a lot of people who love to read about others people misery.
I am therefore very happy you reacted to tell the opinion of someone who did read the book and very glad to hear that this specific author did not do this and is actually trying to fight this battle with all the good intentions.
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