scholarly journals VICTIM-IMPACT STATEMENTS AT THE SENTENCING STAGE: GIVING CRIME VICTIMS A VOICE

Obiter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
PN Makiwane
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
The State ◽  
Crime Victim ◽  
Competing Interests ◽  
Victim Impact Statements ◽  
Principle Of Proportionality

The principle of proportionality seeks to limit, as far as possible, arbitrary punishment, and to achieve a balance by requiring courts to consider the sometimes competing interests of the state and the accused person. These competing interests have a missing link – the interests of the crime victim. Unless all relevant information is placed before court, including that of crime victims, the court will not arrive at a just punishment. There can be justice only when the interests of not only the offender and the state, but of the victim as well, are considered and balanced against one another. The introduction of victim-impact statements is one of the means by which the said balance may be achieved. Some of the established democracies have recognized the value of introducing victim-impact statements before the sentencing of offenders: South Africa might do well to follow in their footsteps. I believe that the use of thesestatements at appropriate stages of the trial would contribute to positive public perceptions about our criminal-justice system, and promote victim satisfaction with the criminal justice which is perceived by some to be heavily biased in favour of accused persons.This paper seeks to highlight the plight of the crime victim within South Africa’s criminal-justice system, and to add a voice to calls for the introduction of victim-impact statements during the sentencing stage in a criminal trial.

scholarly journals RESTORATIVE JUSTICE: BRINGING JUSTICE FOR CRIME VICTIMS?

Obiter ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
PN Makiwane
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
The State ◽  
Therapeutic Jurisprudence ◽  
Crime Victim ◽  
Meaningful Participation ◽  
Administration Of Justice

To date, South Africa’s criminal justice system has been about crime and the punishment of offenders, and not about redress for crime victims. This can be ascribed to the nature of a criminal system that perceives crime to be a matter between the State and the accused, with the victim playing the marginal role of a witness. The retributive nature of our criminal justice has played a crucial role in the marginalization of the very person who was victimized, namely the crime victim. A number of countries have recently developed practices of restorative justice and therapeutic jurisprudence that have introduced an all-inclusive justice system that allows for participation by offenders, crime victims, their family members, the community and the State. Sadly, our country has been but tentative in its acceptance of restorative justice processes, with only a few thousands of individuals having benefitted from it since its inception. Although restorative justice is acclaimed as a system that allows for meaningful participation of victims in criminal processes, the author argues that the system favours mostly offenders, young offenders in particular, and is applied in respect of minor offences. For serious crimes, courts have been reluctant to embrace restorative justice processes, preferring to revert to the retributive system which is believed to have failed in reducing the crime rate in any country. In this article the author develops the idea that a lukewarm reception of restorative processes is detrimental to the administration of justice. It defeats the very purpose of victim involvement in the criminal justice system, and deprives the crime victim of the very benefits restorative justice is acclaimed for, namely healing and satisfaction.

scholarly journals Victims’ rights are human rights: The importance of recognizing victims as persons

Temida ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo-Anne Wemmers
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
The State ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
Criminal Justice Process ◽  
The Right

In this paper the author argues that victims? rights are human rights. Criminal law typically views victims as witnesses to a crime against the state, thus shutting them out of the criminal justice process and only allowing them in when they are needed to testify. This is a major source of dissatisfaction for victims who seek validation in the criminal justice system. Victims are persons with rights and privileges. Crimes constitute violations of their rights as well as acts against society or the state. While human rights instruments, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, do not mention crime victims specifically, a number of rights are identified, which can be viewed from the victim?s perspective. As individuals with dignity, victims have the right to recognition as persons before the law. However, such rights are only meaningful if they can be enforced.

Victims’ role in the criminal justice system

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis D Boateng ◽  
Gassan Abess
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Comparative Assessment ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
Crime Victim ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms ◽  
The Right ◽  
Limited Scope

In theory, crime victims have several rights and privileges—ranging from the rights to be heard to the right to confer with the prosecution. However, they are still considered as the forgotten individuals in the system because of underlying issues associated with the implementation of victims’ rights laws. Today, most states do not have any effective mechanisms of implementing legislation guaranteeing the rights of victims. The primary purpose of this article is to offer a comparative assessment of victims’ rights legislation in USA and to discuss some of the issues inherent in the implementation of these laws. Issues such as the lack of professional knowledge, the lack of enforcement mechanisms, strict eligibility criteria for compensation, varying definitions of victim across jurisdictions, and the limited scope of most crime victim legislation are discussed. The article also discusses ways to address the issues identified.

Victims, the Forgotten Party in the Criminal Justices System: The Perception and Experiences of Crime Victims in Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-128
Author(s):  
Kwadwo Ofori-Dua ◽  
Nachinaab John Onzaberigu ◽  
Richard Kofi Nimako
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
Sampling Techniques ◽  
Crime Victim ◽  
Violent Crimes ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Qualitative Technique ◽  
Medical Bills

Crime victims are an integral part of the criminal justice system. There has been recurrent consensus of opinion that without crime victims there can be no effective prosecution. Nevertheless, most studies have been crime-offender-centred. This research explored the experiences of the crime victim in the criminal justice system. Methodologically, this study employed a qualitative technique, face-to-face interviews to collect data. Purposive, snowball, expert sampling techniques were used to select respondents. The study revealed that although most crime victims were satisfied at the reporting stage, they were dissatisfied getting to the end of the criminal justice system process. Victims of offences as robbery and defrauding wanted their monies back after the imprisonment of offender whilst victims of violent crimes like rape, assault and murder want compensation to foot medical bills and other losses they incurred. Victims generally perceive that prosecution and conviction given to perpetrators were not deterring enough. The findings showed that crime victims felt re-victimised by CJS officials; especially because they were not treated with human dignity and the victims had many interesting conceptions of ‘being treated with dignity’ and ‘not being treated with dignity. The study concluded that the CJS should administer justice expeditiously and should be more inclusive.

Mandatory Compensation Orders for Crime Victims and the Rhetoric of Restorative Justice

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Warner ◽  
Jenny Gawlik
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
Property Damage ◽  
Victims Of Crime ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Legislative Measures

Increased recognition of the need for victims of crime to be integrated into the criminal justice system and to receive adequate reparation has led, in a number of jurisdictions, to legislative measures to encourage the greater use of compensation orders. The Sentencing Act 1997 (Tas) (which came into force on 1 August 1998) went further and made compensation orders compulsory for property damage or loss resulting from certain crimes. This article shows that this measure has failed victims and argues that they have been used in the service of other ends. Mandatory compensation orders are a token gesture repackaged as restorative justice to gain public support for the administration of the criminal justice system.Ways in which compensation orders could be made more effective and the possibilities of accommodating restorative compensation into a conventional criminal justice system are explored.

scholarly journals Constitutional Protection For Crime Victims And Witnesses In Indonesia And Its Problems

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-62
Author(s):  
John Kenedi
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Crime Victims ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Constitutional Protection ◽  
Unfair Treatment ◽  
Criminal Offenses ◽  
Constitutional Protections

The constitutional protections toward crime witnesses in Indonesia are indisputably inevitable. As an effort to uphold justice, Indonesia relies on the formal mechanism of criminal law known as the criminal justice system. The system starts from reports by the police, prosecution by the prosecutor, to the stage of a trial in a court, and execution in a prison. Throughout its development, the criminal justice system seemed to focus more on protecting criminal offenses (criminal oriented) rather than paying attention to the rights of witnesses and victims (witness and victim-oriented). Therefore, the studies that concern the rights of witnesses and victims are highly needed in order to figure out ways to balance the treatment between the suspects/defendants and the witnesses and victims. Through the use of the statue approach and conceptual approach, the positions and the rights of legal protection for witnesses and victims are thoroughly captured and described in this current research. Besides, the factors causing uneven attention and unfair treatment toward crime victims are also specifically identified.

scholarly journals TINJAUAN YURIDIS EKSISTENSI HAKIM PENGAWAS DAN PENGAMAT DALAM SISTEM PERADILAN PIDANA INDONESIA

FIAT JUSTISIA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maroni Maroni
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The State ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Procedural Law

Monitoring and observation of court decisions made by judges is a new institution in the criminal procedural law in Indonesia. Through monitoring and observation of expected gaps (gap) between what the judge decided and reality implementation of the criminal in prison can be bridged. Judges will be brought closer to the prosecutors and corrections officials so that judges can follow the development of the state of the convict. Keywords: Judge, Supervisor and Observer, the Criminal Justice System

West Belfast

The Hoods ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Hamill
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Irish Republican Army

This chapter argues that, from the early days of the political conflict in the 1970s the conditions were such that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) adopted some of the functions of the state, namely the provision of policing and punishment of ordinary crime. The hostility of the statutory criminal justice system, particularly the police, toward the working-class Catholic community dramatically increased the costs of using state services. The high levels of disaffection and aggression among working-class Catholics toward the police meant that the state could no longer fulfill its function and police the community in any “normal” way. A demand for policing therefore existed. Simultaneously, this demand was met and fostered by the IRA, which had the motivation, the manpower, and the monopoly on the use of violence necessary to carry out this role.

Criminology in the Arab World: Misconceptions, Nuances and Future Prospects

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-536
Author(s):  
Nabil Ouassini ◽  
Anwar Ouassini
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Violence ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
Comparative Criminology

Abstract In the protests that occurred throughout the Arab world, the criminal justice system has been the focal contention between citizens and the state. However, the notoriety of Arab regimes has compelled academics to devote their endeavours to political/religious violence, economic development/stagnation and the durability of undemocratic systems that has inhibited the production of criminological scholarship. The study of criminology in the Arab world is critical and necessitates special attention. The following article propounds the establishment of an Arab criminology sub-field that highlights strategies in research in the region, evaluates the current approaches, addresses the challenges and examines its implications on southern, international and comparative criminology.

‘Coercive confinement’: An idea whose time has come?

Incarceration ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 263266632093644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian O’Donnell ◽  
Eoin O’Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitals ◽  
The State ◽  
Carceral State ◽  
National Programme

This article argues in favour of ‘coercive confinement’ as a useful addition to the criminological lexicon. It suggests that to properly understand a country’s level of punitiveness requires consideration of a range of institutions that fall outside the remit of the formal criminal justice system. It also requires a generous longitudinal focus. Using Ireland as a case study, such an approach reveals that since the foundation of the state, the prison has gradually become ascendant. This might be read to imply a punitive turn. But when a broader view is taken to include involuntary detention in psychiatric hospitals, confinement in Magdalen homes and mother and baby homes, and detention in industrial and reformatory schools, the trajectory is strongly downward. This might be read to imply a national programme of decarceration. (In recent years, asylum seekers have been held in congregate settings that are experienced as prison-like and they must be factored into the analysis.) While some of these institutions may have been used with peculiar enthusiasm in Ireland, none are Irish inventions. It would be profitable to extend the idea of ‘coercive confinement’ to other nations with a view to adding some necessary nuance to our understanding of the reach and grip of the carceral state.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document