This paper summarizes The Structural Exclusion of Rape Complainants in South Africa Criminal Justice System: Justice through Participation by Jameelah Omar. The monograph by Omar systematically explores how the legal framework of South Africa, based on the tradition of Roman-Dutch and English law, structurally denies rape complainants a meaningful role in a process directly impacting their lives. The book elaborates a theoretical framework of participation-information access, protective measures, support services, and influence in the decision-making process and assesses both the domestic mechanisms that are in place and comparative international models of empowering involvement of the complainants. This review evaluates the contributions made by the book to the scholarship on criminal justice, places it within the rest of the literature on the topic of secondary victimization and victim-centered reform, and outlines what the analysis might have done to enhance the discussion with the practical implementation issues.
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Long Y. (2026) Book Review: The Structural Exclusion of Rape Complainants in South Africa’s Criminal Justice System: Justice through Participation. Journal of Social Development and History, 2(1), 42-46. https://doi.org/10.71052/jsdh/CSHB3869