NCJ Number
159485
Date Published
1995
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This British study examined the police response to and the criminal justice system's processing of 93 assault cases to determine whether the management of the incidents corresponded to the offense-against-society model.
Abstract
The researchers had access to 93 assault victims in the autumn of 1990 and the spring of 1991 through the Accident and Emergency Department of the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Researchers approached patients either during their initial attendance at the medical facilities, while they received inpatient treatment, when they returned for subsequent outpatient treatment, or by letter. Following the initial contact and usually within a few days or weeks of the assault, researchers spent approximately 1 hour with each victim, discussing the circumstances of the assault, the victim's attitude toward the criminalization of the incident, and each victim's reflections on what had happened to them and its implications in the longer term. If the assault had been reported to the police, researchers interviewed the officer principally concerned; and if prosecution followed, researchers observed all court proceedings. The study found that in relation to this type of offense, the police do not respond so much to the crime itself as the complaints from the victim. If the victim is too fearful or for some other reason is reluctant to cooperate with the police and the prosecution effort, the case proceeds no further. Such a response to an incident that violates criminal law does not comply with the offense-against-society model of criminal justice advanced by academic commentators. Such a model requires that the police and prosecutors react to the crime as though society had been harmed, whether or not the victim consents to cooperate in the processing of the case. Alternative models for addressing citizen injuries inflicted by others are examined. 3 notes and 21 references