1.1 Motivation for the study The administration of justice the world over focuses more on the offender, to the exclusion of the rights, needs and interests of victims. The costs of peace-keping, law enforcement and the administration of justice that are state-funded are all justified as being for the social good. The abuse of peace-keping and law enforcement, also termed police brutality, constitutes statesponsored violence, which remains funded or subsidised by the state. State-sponsored violence makes deliberate attempts at evading liability. Victims of police brutality are usually labelled criminals and thereby automatically become ineligible for state-funded assistance to address the effects of the violence. In the absence of empirical data on the costs borne by victims of police brutality, the tendency for funding, law enforcement and peace-keeping at the expense of respecting the rights to life and freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, is often overlooked. Victims may require psychosocial and medical attention, special protection, and compensation. The UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power (1985) defines victims of abuse of power as “persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws operative within Member States, including those laws proscribing criminal abuse of power”. It specifies victims’ rights of access to justice and fair treatment, restitution, compensation and assistance. The Guide for Practitioners Regarding the Implementation of the Declaration To promote implementation of the Declaration contains principles that they “apply, without discrimination, to all countries, at every stage of development and in every system, as well as to all victims”, placing “… corresponding responsibilities on central and local government, on those charged with the administration of the criminal justice system and other agencies that come into contact with the victim, and on individual practitioners”. Human rights violations are acts committed in the name of, or on behalf of, the state by government representatives (usually the security or law enforcement officials). States have a 5