Sytuacja prawna ofiary przestępstwa w postępowaniu wykonawczym w perspektywie sprawiedliwości naprawczej

The article is devoted to the legal situation of a crime victim in the course of executive penal proceedings. The starting point for the considerations was the statement that Goffman’s concept of total institutions and the resulting negative consequences, such as the effects of deculturation or deprivation affecting inmates, are still valid in relation to Polish penitentiary units. It is considered that restorative justice can be an effective instrument for the transition from a total institution to its negation, that is, a permeable institution, especially insofar as it promotes tools for victim and community activation in criminal proceedings. Therefore, the situation of the victim in the current model of executive proceedings was analyzed from the perspective of the possibility of implementing the idea of restorative justice. The subject matter of the article is not limited only to a synthesis of the victim’s rights under the current Executive Penal Code. The provisions normalizing the rights of the victim were analyzed in the context of the whole Code regulation and with reference to the earlier stages of criminal proceedings. In this way a complete and actual picture of the victim’s situation at this stage of criminal proceedings was presented, which was then compared with the standard of restorative justice. The critical analysis made it possible to identify the shortcomings in the current regulation of the victim’s legal situation and to outline the direction in which the legislator should proceed in order to achieve the standard of restorative justice, which will make it possible to increase the permeability of penitentiary units and thus minimize their total character.

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

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.

DESISTANCE AND VICTIM PROTECTION IN ROMANIA: COLLABORATION BETWEEN PROBATION AND PRISON FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME ‘REDUCING THE RISK OF RELAPSE’

Criminologically, the psychosocial and educational perspectives on the person who commits acts of aggressiveness, including sexual abuse, are based on several theoretical models of intervention, which are included in the bio-pathological, psychological and sociocultural perspectives. This is the very premise of the assisted desistance as a succession of stages developed within the criminal trial, and taking risk management as the fundamental principle applied in the custodial and probation system. Firstly, this article starts from a case study conducted in the Romanian probation system, which is presented at the “Fifth International Conference Multidisciplinary Perspectives in the Quasi-Coercive Treatment of Offenders. Probation as a field of study and research: From person to society” (2016). Secondly, it reflects the collaboration between prison and probation in the primary and secondary desistance using the programme ‘Reducing the Risk of Relapse’ (RRR) after prison, which uses the complementary ‘risk, needs and responsivity’ (RNR) model with the “Good Life Model” (GLM) based on combining the principle of individual responsiveness with that of social responsibility. Our arguments are – in the sense of highlighting the importance of individualizing the sanction – focusing on the contextualized narrative identity, from secondary desistance to ensure the continuity of the post-sentence rehabilitation and the protection of the crime victim.

Methodological Issues in the International Study of Victimization

Victimization studies, which became popular in the 1970s, are largely based on surveys of the population. As of the late 1980s, the potential for internationally comparable surveys emerged with the first round of the International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS). Starting from early international studies and using the ICVS as a prominent example, an examination of the characteristics of victimization surveys is given, both in terms of content and methodology, their potential and limits, which make them suitable for international use. Multi-country surveys can provide indications from different countries about major crime problems, the most vulnerable population groups at risk of victimization, and perceptions and opinions about fear of crime and the performance of delegated authorities. Victimization surveys initially covered several types of conventional crime directly experienced by respondents and progressively expanded and specialized to measure bribery and corruption, both among individuals and businesses, as well as violence against women through dedicated surveys. Considering that surveys are an effective tool to measure crime and victims’ perceptions where institutional capacity is weak, the possibility to bridge knowledge gaps and engage developing countries has been identified as a major potential. Despite some methodological challenges, further use and expansion of victimization surveys is in progress (e.g., for measuring some indicators for Sustainable Development Goals [SDG]).