The Evolving Role of Victim Narratives in Policy Discourse

Since the 1980s, victims’ voices have gained increasing prominence in policy debates around criminal justice. As researchers Walklate, Maher, McCulloch, and Fitz-Gibbon (2019) document in their work on narrative victimology, “victims’ voices have been increasingly heard and have been influential in policy debates” over this period. What began as isolated testimonies has evolved into organized advocacy that leverages victim experiences to identify systemic failures and propose evidence-based solutions.

This evolution reflects a significant shift in how we understand the role of lived experience in policy formation. Where traditional policymaking often relied exclusively on statistical data and expert opinion, contemporary approaches increasingly recognize the essential insights that can only come from those who have directly experienced system failures.

The Mechanisms of Narrative-Driven Policy Change

How exactly do individual stories translate into policy reform? Our research and platform data at Not Just One have identified several key mechanisms:

1. Problem Identification and Definition

Victim narratives often bring attention to previously unrecognized or underappreciated problems. By describing their experiences in detail, victims highlight gaps in existing policies that might otherwise remain invisible to lawmakers and the public.

Consider the case of domestic violence legislation. Before victim advocates brought personal stories to public attention, domestic violence was widely considered a private family matter rather than a crime requiring public policy solutions. Victim narratives were instrumental in redefining this problem as a matter of public concern requiring legislative action.

2. Creating Moral Urgency

Statistics alone rarely generate the moral urgency necessary to overcome political inertia. Victim narratives humanize abstract problems, creating emotional connections that can motivate action. As research from the Office for Victims of Crime notes, “Research has clearly shown that victim satisfaction with the criminal justice process is far more closely linked to the opportunity to participate than to the outcome of the case” (Office for Victims of Crime, 2023).

This participation extends beyond individual cases to include shaping the systems themselves through narrative-based advocacy.

3. Challenging Prevailing Narratives

Victim stories often challenge dominant narratives about crime, justice, and victimization. By providing counter-narratives based on lived experience, victims can shift public understanding and create openings for policy alternatives.

For example, research from the Alliance for Safety and Justice found that, contrary to common assumptions, “most victims prefer public safety policies that focus on stopping crime cycles over increasing arrests and incarceration” (Alliance for Safety and Justice, 2022). These insights, derived directly from victim experiences, challenge punitive approaches that claim to center victim needs.

4. Building Coalitions Through Shared Experience

Individual stories, when connected through platforms like Not Just One, create powerful communities of shared experience. These communities can develop into advocacy coalitions with the collective power to demand change.

The strength of these coalitions often lies in their ability to identify patterns across individual experiences, demonstrating that problematic outcomes aren’t isolated incidents but reflections of systemic issues requiring policy-level solutions.

Case Studies: When Victim Narratives Drive Policy Reform

The theoretical mechanisms described above find concrete expression in numerous successful reforms driven by victim narratives. These case studies illustrate the journey from personal story to policy change:

Sexual Assault Kit Reform

In jurisdictions across the country, backlogs of untested rape kits sat in storage for years, denying justice to thousands of sexual assault survivors. While the statistical problem was known to officials, it was victim narratives that created the momentum for change.

When survivors began publicly sharing their experiences of reporting assaults, undergoing invasive evidence collection, and then learning their kits were never tested, public outrage mobilized resources and political will. Between 2010 and 2020, more than 30 states passed laws mandating testing of all rape kits and establishing tracking systems to prevent future backlogs.

As one advocate noted, “Statistics told us how many kits were untested, but survivor stories told us why that mattered.”

Trauma-Informed Court Procedures

Research consistently shows that traditional court procedures can retraumatize victims, particularly in cases of sexual and domestic violence. While academic studies documented this problem, it was victim narratives that illustrated its human impact and drove reform.

When survivors shared detailed accounts of how cross-examination techniques, courtroom layouts, and procedural practices exacerbated trauma, many jurisdictions implemented changes:

• Creating separate waiting areas for victims and defendants
• Allowing support persons to accompany victims during testimony
• Permitting remote testimony via closed-circuit television
• Implementing trauma-informed questioning guidelines

As the Australian Institute of Family Studies notes in their research on victim-focused justice responses, these reforms aim to “improve the experiences of victim/survivors in the criminal justice process” based directly on narratives of how traditional processes cause harm (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2023).

Victim Compensation Reform

Traditional victim compensation programs often included restrictive eligibility requirements that excluded many victims. Narrative-based advocacy highlighted how these restrictions impacted real people, leading to significant policy reforms in multiple states.

For example, when victims shared stories of being denied compensation because they didn’t report crimes within arbitrary timeframes—often due to trauma, fear, or lack of information—many states reformed reporting requirements to accommodate the realities of victimization.

The Not Just One Approach: Structured Narrative Collection for Policy Impact

At Not Just One, we’re developing methodologies to maximize the policy impact of victim narratives by:

1. Structured Data Collection

While preserving the unique details of individual stories, we collect structured data on key policy-relevant factors:

• Points of system contact and response
• Barriers to reporting and participation
• Service gaps and needs
• Procedural experiences and challenges
• Outcome satisfaction metrics

This approach allows us to identify patterns across narratives while maintaining the richness of individual experiences.