Crime Victim's Guide to Justice: For Any State

Excerpt from Chapter 1: The Victim in the Criminal Justice System The Rights of Victims In colonial times, when a person committed a crime, it was considered to be an injury to the victim and the victim was entitled to prosecute the case. This system favored wealthy victims, however, because poorer victims did not have the financial resources to seek justice. To make the process fairer, the government took over the responsibility of prosecuting a person accused of committing a crime. Crimes began to be considered public wrongs committed against the community, rather than private wrongs committed only against the individual victim. However, victims began to be considered a piece of evidence in the process, and they lost the ability to have meaningful participation in the process of justice. For example, even though the crime is committed against the victim, the victim is often seen by the criminal justice system as peripheral to the case. The victim is not a party to the case, and cannot force the prosecutor to act on his or her behalf. The law does not permit a victim to privately prosecute a criminal case. For many years, victims did not have any legal rights at all. They were expected to appear and give testimony, often without much preparation by the prosecutor. It may take months, even years, for a case to come to trial, and many victims just dropped out of the criminal court process. In the 1970s, the crime victims' rights movement sought changes in the system to increase the rights of crime victims. President Reagan commissioned a task force on victims that produced a scathing report about the treatment of victims in the system and suggested numerous reforms. Improvements over the last twenty years include: - rape evidence collection kits; - better training of medical personnel; - removal of victims' personal information from the public records; - notification of victims when the perpetrator of a crime is released on bail; - education of victims in court procedures; - safe waiting areas for victims; - limiting continuances; - victims not being required to testify as to their addresses; and, - assigning a single prosecutor for the entirety of the criminal case. Rape Evidence Collection Kits Before the presidential task force changed medical protocols, rape was not considered an injury by many hospitals. Rape evidence collection kits and the training of hospital staff are modifications that have improved the experiences of the victim. The kits standardized the type and quantity of evidence collected, so that all medical procedures and evidentiary requirements could be completed in most cases at the initial emergency room visit. Training of Medical Personnel The training of medical personnel improved the understanding of the dynamics of certain kinds of crimes, which resulted in more sensitive treatment of victims. For example, prior to training, some medical personnel blamed domestic violence victims for the crimes, asking, "Why didn't you leave, if this has happened before?" or "What were you two fighting about this time?" This made victims more reluctant to report the true nature of the injury. Some preferred to say that they had "fall en down stairs," or "bumped into a door," rather than be humiliated with questions or comments from medical staff. Training on the dynamics of domestic violence, including the cycle of violence often present in these cases, has improved the treatment of victims and made them more likely to report these types of crimes. Public Records Prior to the changes in the law, the victim's name and address were available as public records. As a result, victims were easily harassed by the media, insurance and security salesmen, and the perpetrators of the crimes. Today, the release of the victim's address on public records may be prohibited. Some states also provide victims with protection from the assaiBoland, Mary is the author of 'Crime Victim's Guide to Justice: For Any State', published 2008 under ISBN 9781572486553 and ISBN 1572486554.