EU’s ‘Victims’ Directive’ – a legal act for a cultural change?

The article looks at safeguarding points in Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and if and how some European countries have implemented the Directive. The article discusses what might be success factors to fulfil the Directive’s safeguarding intentions in the light of securing access to justice. We observe that focus on and measures for the victim often lead to a new conscience about the needs of all witnesses. The article addresses the need for cultural changes in the judicial system in order to fulfil the Directive’s intentions, and what might be a drive to such changes.