The Evolution Of Crime And Our Criminal Justice System

Like the media, the criminal justice system and organisations in and around the criminal justice system play a major contribution in the construction of an ‘ideal victim’. As stated by ‘….Rock (2006), Institutional practices shape the public representations and private understandings of victims of crime’. For instance, in Australia there are many organisations that help victims and their families of serious crimes. Although on the other hand, there are limited or no services available to victims of minor crimes.

A prosecutor looking for real justice, Adam Foss demonstrates just how effective rhetorical devices can be to persuade a population to defend the rights of others. When telling the story of how people end up in the criminal justice system, Foss tells “Even in our ‘worst.’ I saw...childhood trauma, victimization, poverty...interaction with the police…”(3:24) Many people tend to see people convicted of crimes as inhuman or lesser than us. However, Foss begins to humanize them. Moreover, he states that the reason these people commit crimes isn’t because of some violent, unfathomable reason, but rather because of their rough experiences earlier in life. To fix crime, people must step up and fix issues that cause crime, not throw people into a broken

The Criminal Justice System has undergone numerous, yet significant, changes within the last century. In fact, current research reflects the progressive movement from one of rehabilitation to that of punishment and retribution. Such transition reflects issues pertaining to the management and supervision and treatment of offenders. This study will, therefore, consider and evaluate dilemmas within the Criminal Justice System, as well as, issues that have transpired while trying to reduce crime through punishment. Furthermore, the Criminal Justice System will be discussed through a law perspective regarding supervision and management in order to understand the current challenges and issues involving crime.

Victims often complain about not having enough information about their case and confusion regarding what rights they are entitled to (McDonald & Grossman, 2014, p. 10). The reason victims feel this way is because they do not know how to access the programs set in place for them. Proper measures should be taken to allow clear communication between the Crown, victim, and lawyers. For instance, Mandi Gray, a sexual assault survivor, demanded eight thousand dollars in restitution money so she could hire a lawyer because she felt defenseless during the trial. Whereas, the national criminal lawyers’ association were not in favor of the offender paying such amount and argued that adequate support services are already available for victims (McGillivray, 2017). Incidences like these are likely to paint a negative picture of victim status in Canadian Justice System and decrease the number of victims accessing these resources. Moreover, it shows interest towards being more concerned about protecting the rights of an offender, rather than the victim who has been wronged. Also, if the information regarding these programs is easily available, it will likely increase the rate of victims making use of them. Therefore, to eliminate future issues like these, support services should expand their options available for victims and more counseling services should be provided to explain victims their rights beforehand. Information is the key towards getting rid of any confusion and suspicions regarding the fairness of the judicial

The American criminal justice system has been augmented since its founding with more stress on individual rights and increased requirements on those in the field of the administration of justice, including plaintiffs’

From small states to national legislation, the concept of victims’ rights has become a growing concern. The organization VALOR (Victim Assistance Legal Organization) was hard at work for 16 years before gaining national recognition. In 1995, The United States Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime awarded VALOR a grant to create the National Victim Assistance Academy. This academy would train individuals to deal with the emotional and legal needs of victims (VALOR, 2005). Programs such as those in Summit County, was the base for the legislation changes brought on in the 1980s. From that development, the county has evolved to teaching law makers, officers and representatives how to deal with victims rights. Considering in 1970 victims’ rights were nonexistent, the last three decades have been very impressive.

The Crime Victims’ Rights Act has had an incredible impact on the Justice Department and one at a time, on victims of federal crime. Ever since the CVRA’s passage, there has been a dramatic change in the role that the victims play within federal criminal cases. Victims are now participating in cases in larger numbers than they did before by, exercising their right to be heard, receiving notifications of

At the state level, Colorado has written and enacted its own Victims’ Rights Act ahead of federal mandates previously discussed. In the early 1990’s Colorado passed an amendment to the state constitution to provide crime victims with certain rights. The driving force behind the amendment was to ensure the victim in a crime has their rights pursued and enforced in the same manner as those of criminal defendants. It is necessary to understand when a crime occurs; victims’ lives and those of their families are forever changed through no fault of their own.

Continual support to victims of crime is a necessary service in any just society; this support is especially needed in the event that a convicted offender is exonerated. In the United States when a crime is committed the state, not the victim, owns and prosecutes the case so historically the victims’ rights have been neglected. In the modern era victims’ rights are being improved during the trial and sentencing phases of the criminal justice process; however in the event of an exoneration the victim is routinely revictimized and this problem needs to be corrected.

The victim’s movement’s in the United States of America was as a result of the rising social consequences as from the 1960s that brought out the energies of an idealistic generation in that decade and the one that followed. In my opinion, the victim’s movement has not yet reached its full potential. This is because just like any other form of legislature or government; they still require continued advocacy and action. Moreover, there still some dangerous challenges they have to overcome before the victims can be very sure of a fair and compassionate response to their plight. For instance, some states have amended the constitution to address crime the victim’s rights legislation and the movement must ensure that any other state do the same and

Millions of Americans are victims of crime every year. Victims of crimes have rights which entitle them to special benefits and help as a result of a crime.

Criminology has evolved over history into becoming a discipline all its own, along the way it grew and developed from a multiple sources of disciplines to become an integration of various theories. Reasons that seek to explain crime and deviant behaviors has mirrored the time in which research was being conducted and as time continues to change it is to be expected more theories will arise to incorporate past theories to become ever more inclusive. It is important to understand this development from the formulation of theories, the evolution of, the determining factors in testing, particular process such as social learning that are upheld as strong empirically sound theories in order for scholars to continue to advance further studies. But

A person who experiences a traumatic event may be expected to experience a range of psychological effects, and, for many years, it was assumed that these psychological effects would be the same regardless of the cause of the injury. However, a growing body of knowledge is demonstrating that the impact of criminal victimization is different than the impact of other types of injuries because the intent element makes a difference in how the victim perceives the harm. In addition, victims of different crimes may respond differently to victimization. The psychological effects of victimization are important because they can help guide the criminal justice system for how to interact with victims and how to make the process more victim-appropriate. For example, victims of violent crimes, like sexual assaults, may benefit more from a victim-centered criminal justice approach than victims of other types of crimes (Resick, 1987). However, one of the problems with the traditional approach to victimology is that it has distinguished between different groups of victims. Emerging research suggest that victim needs are similar across the entire spectrum of crime, particularly the victims' needs for information about the crime and the needs for financial restitution to make them whole (ten Boom & Kuijpers, 2012).

Victims of crime, particularly those violent in nature, have their rights violated and experience exceedingly high level of trauma and stress (Appendix B, 2015). It is surprising then, that Criminal Justice Systems (CJS) around the world forgo many victims’ rights and provided limited space for them to interact with the system (Sarre, 1999). Rather systems are built around balancing the rights of offenders against the greater safety and need of the community whilst neglecting individual justice needs of the victims (Sarre, 1999). With limited rights and minimal involvement a victim often becomes a disposable utensil to the CJS (Clark, 2010). They are used by the courts to determine the ultimate truth so justice may be served, with no care for the damage that may be caused in the process and then disposed of the case is concluded (Braun, 2014). In 2011-2012 a victimisation survey revealed that 1.2 million Australians were victims of personal crimes, such as assault, robbery and sexual assault (Australian Institution of Criminology, 2013). Of these victims, only half of the crimes were reported to the police (Australian Institution of Criminology, 2013). Such low reporting rates have been contributed in part to this notion of imbalance offender VS victims’ rights (Braun, 2014). Due to the sensitive nature of sexual crimes, the limited available evidence and victim rights, these crimes tend to carry the lowest reporting rates (Braun, 2014). During the latest Australian

The history of victimology travels further back in time than most would realize. The concept of the victim emerged from the many attempts of many societies and peoples to explain both the reasons behind victimization and the appropriate action to be taken as a result of it (Burgess et al., 2013). As a concept, it can be difficult to define victimology, since each individual defines the term differently. According to the text utilized for this class, victimology is defined as being the study of the victim, including the offender and society. It is also seen as being a social-structural way of viewing the relationships between crime and the law as well as the criminal and the victim (Burgess et al, 2013)..