SEXUAL VIOLENCE, VICTIM ADVOCACY, AND REPUBLICAN CRIMINOLOGY - WASHINGTON STATES COMMUNITY PROTECTION ACT

This article focuses on the Community Protection Act (CPA), the State of Washington's legislative effort to control sexual violence, and on the victim advocacy groups that played a prominent role in this effort . It is argued by some, most recently by republican criminologists, th at victim advocates serve democratic ideals and introduce into crimina l process important values and interests that are neglected by profess ionals. Others argue that victim advocacy tends to promote punitive po licies that empower the state, jeopardize constitutional rights, and d ivert attention from causes to symptoms. The evidence gathered in this research lends credence to the critics of republican criminology. Vic tim advocates were not reliable carriers of republican values in their strenuous support of the CPA, the central provisions of which reduce civil liberties and promote exclusion rather than reintegration.