Victim And Crime Research Paper

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Victims and Crime Evaluation
All over the world, people are pronged to become victims of an offense against themselves or their property violating them. Most of the time people decided not to report the offense to a police officer for many reasons fear of their lives, embarrassment, loved one hurt him or her, and are not citizens. While not reporting the offense to the police department it only creates more numbers for the National Crime Victimization Survey department to report instead of the Uniform Crime Report that the police department provide at the end of every year. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 stated that the word victim “means any individual against whom an offense has been committed” and the best
term to use for a victim in the criminal system is “crime victim” (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, p548 2010). Means any one can become a victim at any place, time, and needs to be educated on the victim’s assistance programs and victim’s right when an offense occurs to them.
Concept of a “Victim” According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) it portraits that male, the poor, racial minorities, and young adults are most likely to be victimized that of others. A victim is “any individual against whom an offense has been committed or for certain procedural purposes, a parent, or legal guardian if a victim is below the age of eighteen years or incompetent , and one or more family members or relatives designated by the court if the victim is deceased or incapacitated” (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, p 548 2010). In every state the definition of victim may be different based on their model penal code. Alaska for example states a victim to be someone who an offense has been perpetrated, a minor, the family of the minor, the person who is incapacitated, and any other interested person as may be designed by a person
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having authority in law to do so.
History of the Victim Throughout early history, humans who became victims of an offense had few if any official support mechanism. In ancient times (AD400) the victims were able to take the law into their own hands and find the perpetrator to punish them for their offenses. This can be described as the Golden Age of the Victim because they victim lent a sense of closure to the victimization experience and had the effect of making the victim or victims feel “whole again” (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, p 549 2010.) The golden age finished because some of the victims were not able to find the perpetrator and punish them for their offense. Eventually crimes became and offense against society and the needs of the victim were largely forgotten. (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, p 548 2010.) Eventually in the middle ages (400-1960’s AD) England emerged the concept of “King Peace” under which all offenses were seen as violations of laws decreed by the monarch. The victims where no longer made felt whole and instead they where only used for the sole purpose of testifying against the perpetrator and provide evidence. Once the victim had provided the evidence, the local officials, sheriffs and constables would decide in the sentence of the perpetrator based on the offense committed. During this era, society’s moral responsibility toward making the victim or victims “whole again” was largely forgotten (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, p 548 2010.) The “King Peace” was used right up to 1960’s when the Modern Times once again took interest in making the victim whole again and not used them as a mere token role to target criminal activity. From 1963 to the present Criminal Compensation Act was adopted all over the
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world and put into practice. California passed the first American Legislation intended to assist victims of crime. There after New York also created “good Samaritan” statue designed to protect the victims and many states after decided to join the victim compensation bandwagon. In the compensation act the victim in some way would receive financial compensate for their losses such as medical assistance, burial fees, and lost wages for needy, council, and job training. This modern program for the victims makes it easier for them to get assistance and see that their offender gets the accurate sentence for his crime (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, 2010.)
Purpose of Victim Program Some of the reason why the world needs to have programs available for the victims is as follows strict liability theory: compensation is due to the victim because society failed to safeguard the victim. A second reason why the victim needs assistance is because the government failed to protect them from harm and they are now entitling for compensation. A third reason is the negligence theory where society was negligent and allowed someone to hurt them and now they need to be compensated. Fourth reason is the Equal protection theory that
Compensate owed to ameliorate different crime risk in US. Humanitarian Theory: victim compensation is the “right thing to do”. Social Welfare Theory: persons in need should be compensated by society. Crime Prevention Theory: programs encourage crime reports, effective law enforcement. Political Motives Theory: politicians seeking reelection will support ideas “in vogues” ( Russell Galbreath, MPA.) We also believe that victims need to be helped for the
Following reason protection from intimidation and harm, be informed about the criminal justice system, reparations, reservation of property and employment; be treated with dignity, respect

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Explain court process to victim, make referrals to other agencies who may assist, help victims complete forms, provide transportation to & accompany victim in court, inform of case progress, retrieve property used as evidence, assist with restitution, and provide community education about victims need ( Russell Galbreath, MPA.)
Types and Functions of the Victim’s Assistance Program We have several programs that provide the victim with information as well with assistance depending on the nature of the offense.
The National Victim Assistant program (nova 1975) provides information to victims who have suffered an offense. The National center for victims of crime (ncvc) 1985 reports any crimes the where not reported in the UCR. It also provides LA County witness assistance program (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, 2010.) The program Voca (1984) victim’s crime act and 1994 Crime Control Act & Law enforcement act 1994 provided information and prohibited violence against women. Now Justice for all acts 2004 Federal side was the first to provide many rights to the victims such as notice of court proceeding, not to be excluded from the court proceedings, speak at sentencing, conference with the prosecutor, no unreasonable delays in court hearings and restitution (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, 2010.) The Son of Sam laws that prohibited any criminal to make a book on the offense they had committed and sale it for profit. If the perpetrator sold the story of his crime the victim would be able to sue for the profit amount and get restitution back for the crime that was done against them (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, 2010.)California still prohibits felon from selling and profiting money from the victim’s expense. The last right that victim has in to do a victims statement at the trial of the criminal perpetrator to let the jury know of what he or she has been trough and of the crime that they were victims of (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski,
2010.)
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Problem Solving Court (Restorative Courts
Problem solving courts are the same as restorative courts such as family court, drug court, traffic court, divorce courts and so forth. The judicial system’s response to COPS a partnership between the community & police to identify and address the causes of crime and quality of life issues to effect a lasting solution (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, 2010.)The courts deal with the following offenses such as, drug Abuse provides substance abuse counseling/programs, domestic Violence that deal with issues causing abuse, juvenile Offenders with issues of delinquency, mental illness that addresses mental disease that leads to crime, providing restitution to victims by teaching the offenders that actions have consequences, and provide restitution to victims. The court normally dismisses the criminal charges as long as the offender meets their guidelines such as going to drug counseling, mental illness counseling, and so forth. These programs benefit the victim as well as the society because it holds the defendant accountable for his or her actions, provide better deterrence for future crimes, saves money, rehabilitation is less expensive than incarceration, provides closure or assistance to victims, and sometimes requires defendant to give back or repay society (victim) (Schmalleger, Hall, & Dolatowski, 2010.)
Conclusion
In conclusion we saw the different types of victim assistance programs available to us and also how the government has different types of courts that will prosecute the perpetrator based on the offense committed. From the early centuries we saw that victims were not really cared about because they were determined to put the offender in prison and give them their punishment to make examples of them. We are fortunate now to have all these victim programs
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available to us and to know that we are safe from harm because the government tries its best to protect its citizens from any harm. I personally like the programs and would not change anything and instead I would volunteer to make this world a better and safer place to live.

References
Schmalleger, F., Hall, D. E., & Dolatowski, J. J. (2010). Justifications as Defenses. Available from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader.aspx?assetMetaId=5289a941-1d7c-4e14-9a34-b2d134d2bca9&assetDataId=a5d37004-c123-4d2f-a0e4-32bcde26bcba&assetpdfdataid=cc7da1a9-cac2-4aab-b7e2-5f225f92aee4#gloss01_017

Crime bill http://www.rkba.org/nra/crime_bill_text