The Role Of Victims Of The Criminal Justice System

In recent years the role of victims in the criminal justice system has risen into prominence, inspiring much research into victim experience and possible reform. There are a multitude of factors that influence policy makers in relation to reforming the criminal justice system, one of which is victims. However, victims while they can be catalysts for reforms such as the case of James Ramage among others, they still play a relatively minor role in influencing policy change.

The idea of victim-oriented crime prevention holds that the majority of victimisation that occurs centres around a relatively small percentage of the population and that targeting crime prevention efforts and policy at potential or prior victims can prevent a large quantity of crime (Riley and Mayher 1980). In Garland’s (2001) investigation he observed that a reduced public confidence in the criminal justice system and its capability to reduce crime has led to victim treatment as playing a more important role in creating reform. In considering victims during criminal processes and law-making, the standard of efficiency in our system has been critically analysed and led to changes in a variety of areas. The development of official definitions of what constitutes victimhood and increased recognition of victims has helped legitimise and validate the criminal justice system.

Wemmers (1996) highlights that an effective criminal justice system also protects human rights. Victims are gradually being seen as the notable possessors of such rights that lead to reviews in our domestic system and also by international bodies. The protection of said rights, such as in South Africa where less express definitions between ‘victim’ and ‘human’ rights are being made by policy m...

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...mmunity involvement in justice and to provide on-site support services for victims (Hall 2010, p. 196). Although reforms to prevent crime have been increasingly influenced by victims, they are still widely recognised as neglected parties in the criminal system, mainly during the prosecution and sentencing of offenders (Strang, Heather, Lawrence W. Sherman 2003).

The consideration of victims by policy makers has taken a much larger role in influencing legislative change in the prevention of crime and the assistance of crime victims, however reforms based on victims remain largely localised to popularised cases and often fail to enter the trial side of the criminal justice system. Victims have the capacity to act as catalysts for reform, but their treatment and consideration in the criminal justice system continues to act more as an indicator of success by the system.