Victim And Crime Evaluation
Victims and Crime Evaluation
CJA/343
A crime is committed when another individual breaks the law. Some crimes can involve property, and some crimes can involve people directly. Regardless of the who's the what's the when' and the where's there is usually a victim of that crime. In the instance where a crime is committed against property, the victim would be the property owner, in crimes that are committed against a person the victim is the individual it was committed against. The victim in both situations is the individual who is directly affected by the crime weather it be their property that was damaged or their body that was hurt, they are in essence the victim.
There are several different definition for the word “victim”, according …show more content…
to the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act a victim would be someone against whom an offense was committed. However the Federal Bureau of Prisons states that a victim is any individual who suffered or was threatened with physical, emotional, or financial harm as a result of another crime.
The term victim is essential to criminal justice because without a victim we don’t have a crime.
Victims go way back in history to even before AD 400 in ancient times and was then referred to as the Golden Age of the Victim. This era is when victims took on a very active role in determining the fate of their offender. This allowed them to get revenge and feel justified for the acts committed against them.
Later on in history however crimes were not viewed as an offense against a person directly, they were seen as a crime against society. This too place for a long time from 400 AD all the way through the 1960's. In this view point called the Kings Peace the victim was less involved and the focus was more so upon state centered justice. Now we are in more modern times and have been so since the 1960's when victims again have a voice. Victims now have multiple rights and receive compensation for the crimes committed against …show more content…
them.
Research has indicate that victims generally will experience hardships do to the crime committed against them. Because of these experience and hardships several different victim assistance programs were founded. In 1982 the Federal Victim and Witness Protection Act was founded and in 1984 the VOCA Victims of Crime Act came about. The VOCA actually provides funds for victims to assist in paying their medical bills. Victims rights are now represented, they have the right to be protected from the accused to an extent. They have the right to be heard in the cases as far as the proceeding, the sentencing and even the parole hearings.
Victims are even protected as far as their offender not being allowed to profit off them by selling their stories.
This was enacted in 1977 and is called the Son of Sam Law. Generally this law allows the profits from the stories to be seized and then given to the victim as compensation. Another form of compensation to a victim is restoration. This is when the court will order you to pay back the damage that you have caused to the victim as well as to the state. This is called restorative justice and it focuses on the needs of the victim as opposed to simply punishing the criminal. Traditional criminal justice is all about what laws were broken, by whom, and what punishment fits the crime. Restorative justice however is about who has been harmed? What are their needs? And who is the one responsible for making them right??Problem solving courts came about in the 1990's as a way to accommodate offenders with special needs and circumstances that cant be addressed properly in a traditional court of law. Problem solving courts want positive outcomes for the victim and society as well, they are not just out to benefit the
offender.
Victims everywhere have been inflicted with pain, distress, property and financial loss as well. These victims have rights and they are being heard throughout federal and state courts everywhere.
Weather you be made whole by receiving restitution, or other compensation the law in today’s society is out to protect you the victim and not just to punish the offender.
Paul Mitchell,Landmark Cases in the Law of Restitution (Hart, 2006),
N.Y. Executive Law (McKinney 2005).
Saltzman, Jonathan.January 3, 2007.
Smith, Carol., February 25, 2010.
Friedman, Jaclyn (March 14, 2010). Retrieved July 18, 2010.
CJA/343
A crime is committed when another individual breaks the law. Some crimes can involve property, and some crimes can involve people directly. Regardless of the who's the what's the when' and the where's there is usually a victim of that crime. In the instance where a crime is committed against property, the victim would be the property owner, in crimes that are committed against a person the victim is the individual it was committed against. The victim in both situations is the individual who is directly affected by the crime weather it be their property that was damaged or their body that was hurt, they are in essence the victim.
There are several different definition for the word “victim”, according …show more content…
to the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act a victim would be someone against whom an offense was committed. However the Federal Bureau of Prisons states that a victim is any individual who suffered or was threatened with physical, emotional, or financial harm as a result of another crime.
The term victim is essential to criminal justice because without a victim we don’t have a crime.
Victims go way back in history to even before AD 400 in ancient times and was then referred to as the Golden Age of the Victim. This era is when victims took on a very active role in determining the fate of their offender. This allowed them to get revenge and feel justified for the acts committed against them.
Later on in history however crimes were not viewed as an offense against a person directly, they were seen as a crime against society. This too place for a long time from 400 AD all the way through the 1960's. In this view point called the Kings Peace the victim was less involved and the focus was more so upon state centered justice. Now we are in more modern times and have been so since the 1960's when victims again have a voice. Victims now have multiple rights and receive compensation for the crimes committed against …show more content…
them.
Research has indicate that victims generally will experience hardships do to the crime committed against them. Because of these experience and hardships several different victim assistance programs were founded. In 1982 the Federal Victim and Witness Protection Act was founded and in 1984 the VOCA Victims of Crime Act came about. The VOCA actually provides funds for victims to assist in paying their medical bills. Victims rights are now represented, they have the right to be protected from the accused to an extent. They have the right to be heard in the cases as far as the proceeding, the sentencing and even the parole hearings.
Victims are even protected as far as their offender not being allowed to profit off them by selling their stories.
This was enacted in 1977 and is called the Son of Sam Law. Generally this law allows the profits from the stories to be seized and then given to the victim as compensation. Another form of compensation to a victim is restoration. This is when the court will order you to pay back the damage that you have caused to the victim as well as to the state. This is called restorative justice and it focuses on the needs of the victim as opposed to simply punishing the criminal. Traditional criminal justice is all about what laws were broken, by whom, and what punishment fits the crime. Restorative justice however is about who has been harmed? What are their needs? And who is the one responsible for making them right??Problem solving courts came about in the 1990's as a way to accommodate offenders with special needs and circumstances that cant be addressed properly in a traditional court of law. Problem solving courts want positive outcomes for the victim and society as well, they are not just out to benefit the
offender.
Victims everywhere have been inflicted with pain, distress, property and financial loss as well. These victims have rights and they are being heard throughout federal and state courts everywhere.
Weather you be made whole by receiving restitution, or other compensation the law in today’s society is out to protect you the victim and not just to punish the offender.
Paul Mitchell,Landmark Cases in the Law of Restitution (Hart, 2006),
N.Y. Executive Law (McKinney 2005).
Saltzman, Jonathan.January 3, 2007.
Smith, Carol., February 25, 2010.
Friedman, Jaclyn (March 14, 2010). Retrieved July 18, 2010.