NCJ Number
237142
Journal
Criminology & Criminal Justice Volume: 11 Issue: 4 Dated: September 2011 Pages: 345-366
Date Published
September 2011
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined the influence that one contact with Victim Support (VS) might have on a victim's opinion on the Criminal Justice System.
Abstract
Public confidence in the criminal justice system (CJS) is a topic of perennial concern across the United Kingdom, particularly in light of the relatively low levels of confidence reported in the British Crime Survey (BCS) and elsewhere. Recent work on policing has stressed that the experience of procedural fairness is an important influence on 'user-satisfaction', trust and legitimacy. Yet it is unclear whether this emphasis on fairness applies to the CJS as a whole, which many might see as primarily there to manage and punish offenders as efficiently as possible. This article reports on analysis of the BCS that suggests contact with Victim Support is linked to more favorable views of the fairness of the CJS and to higher levels of confidence in its effectiveness. By providing victims with voice and a sense that someone is listening to and taking their concerns seriously, contact with VS seems to be linked to more favorable overall assessments of the CJS. A space is therefore opened up for approaches to enhancing public confidence that do not rely on ever more punitive policies, or on the arguably Sisyphean task of convincing the public that extant policies are punitive enough. (Published Abstract)