NCJ Number
211795
Date Published
2005
Length
20 pages
Annotation
In addition to describing reforms in Great Britain that have enhanced the involvement of and focus on crime victims in criminal justice procedures, this chapter explores the meaning of community justice from a victim's perspective.
Abstract
The relatively recent focus on the needs of and services for crime victims is due largely to well-organized groups established to assist or campaign on behalf of crime victims. Such groups have spearheaded what has been called the "victims' movement." The shift of focus from offenders to victims was further fueled by a simultaneous mistrust of the effectiveness of interventions with offenders, such that priorities were transferred from treating the offender to remedying the harms the offender caused the victim while holding the offender accountable. Research on victims' experiences due to the crimes against them and the subsequent criminal justice processing further emphasized the importance of focusing resources and services on crime victims. Addressing the needs of victims and witnesses is now routinely recognized as a central objective of the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom. This chapter describes specific policy and legislative efforts in this regard. Recent research, however, has indicated that despite a battery of initiatives for improving the services offered to crime victims, they still feel unsupported and alienated by criminal justice processing. In order to ensure that community justice is achieved from a victim's perspective, an improved criminal justice response is required, supported by sufficient resources and provided by a range of agencies within the criminal justice system and the wider community. Although the necessary statutory framework outlines agencies' responsibilities to crime victims and witnesses, a significant change is required in the professional cultures of criminal justice personnel. This requires continual monitoring and evaluation. 78 references