Victim issues are highly politicised during and after conflict, and where major regime change and democratisation has occurred, victim issues are often neglected as part of the commitment to the nation- building project. This leads to victims feeling abandoned and neglected. Victim research is mostly qualitative and based on in-depth interviews, which reinforces in victim studies themes around neglect; of victims being problematic to the future and thus discarded in policy terms. Northern Ireland is an exception, both in the sustained policy response to victims and the availability of survey data on victim issues. It is with this lack of quantitative investigation in mind that this article focuses on victimhood status and public attitudes towards the peace settlement in Northern Ireland. Using data from the 2004 Northern Ireland life and Times Survey, we distinguish between types of victimhood and examine attitudes towards the new political arrangements within this society.
