Crime Victim Compensation Essay Example

Only a small number of crime victims obtain the benefits to which they are entitled, such as financial aid and mental health treatment. Based on the procedures of local criminal justice officials, victim response programs are executed unevenly and inconsistently. Victims can get help from the criminal court system to get the resources they need to start the healing process. Crime victims require a continual supply of timely care and services in order to recover from their traumas. Throughout the investigation, services such as prosecution, adjudication, and follow-up help must be provided. Opportunities should be maximized throughout the process, from the initial response to trial and sentenced to correctional decision-making. Medical attention, clothing, food, temporary housing, dependent care, transportation, counseling, vacation time, and barrier-free facilities and services should all be available.

Every year, millions of individuals become victims of crime. The way victims are handled in court and by criminal justice and social service employees can have a substantial impact on their recovery. These rules are governed by the criminal justice system. It ensures that those who breach the law are treated fairly and according to the law, as determined by constitutional decisions. This is a time-consuming technique that is occasionally compromised. These difficulties must be addressed by providing victims with proper treatment.

More than 30 years ago, the Modern Crime Victims' Rights Movement was created to reform the treatment of crime victims in the legal system. Since then, the Modern Crime Victims' Rights Movement has worked hard to establish a separate position for crime victims in criminal justice proceedings, establishing itself as one of the most successful civil rights movements in modern history. Victims who reported a new occurrence were more inclined to report less serious offenses, such as restraining order violations, rather than seeking help for a physical attack. The abuse had worsened, according to women who went to the police to report new attacks. Many experts neglected victims' sentiments and needs, according to Shapland (1984), and victims had no clearly defined role in case processing. Compensation programs have failed to meet the requests of victims. The system's assumptions regarding victim needs, on the whole, did not match the victims' expectations.

Victims who are unsatisfied with the criminal justice system and the persons who work inside it frequently express their dissatisfaction. They may employ too sympathetic victim-rights terminology or take part in protest vigils, letter-writing campaigns, or threatening phone calls. They might start lobbying the government and turn into outraged political activists (Derksen, 2009). Without first understanding the repercussions of crime on the victim, it is impossible to comprehend victims' reactions to the criminal justice system and society's attempts to help them. These ramifications go beyond the crime's immediate results, such as bodily hurt, shock, property loss, lost work time, and financial losses. They have the ability to penetrate practically every part of a victim's life, affecting connections with family, neighbors, friends, and employees.

I would prioritize restorative processes if I were in charge of victim aid programs. Despite the fact that laws provide essential rights to crime victims, problems linger and new ones emerge as a result of victimization. Unlike criminal justice, which focuses on the individual accused of committing a crime, restorative justice was created to satisfy the needs of crime victims and survivors while also giving them the power to seek emotional healing. Restorative justice is a collection of guiding principles, not a single ideology, that prioritizes the repair of harm and the restoration of relationships over retribution (Healing Justice, n.d.). At its most basic level, crime causes injury to the victim. As a result, one of the primary purposes of the criminal justice system should be to repair the harm inflicted by the crime and prevent further victimization by rehabilitating and punishing the offender. However, because criminal justice reform and debates are primarily centered on criminals and taxpayers, individual victims' needs are routinely disregarded (American Legislative Exchange Council, 2015).

Victims' needs and rights are regularly disregarded. Based on the procedures of local criminal justice officials, victim response programs are executed unevenly and inconsistently. Displacement of grief, time/memory distortion, identity disintegration, blame/guilt confusion, out-of-control rage, victim/offender, trauma, justice revictimization, and so on. These are only a few of the difficulties that victims face. The existing criminal justice system, which prioritizes determining guilt over the victim's desires for rehabilitation and vindication, frequently falls short of victims' expectations for a fair and transparent justice system.

Following a crime, the victim must begin the process of emotional, physical, and financial recovery. The government has no jurisdiction to tell a victim how to heal since it cannot restore the harm inflicted by crime. The criminal justice system, on the other hand, can assist victims in obtaining the resources they require to begin healing. We may begin to restore lives that have been affected by crime by protecting crime victims' rights and ensuring that they have access to the information they need to recover (American Legislative Exchange Council, 2015).

People's attitudes to being a victim of crime are mostly impacted by what happens right after the event. You are usually the first to approach victims as a law enforcement official. As a result, you're in a unique position to assist victims in both coping with the immediate shock of the crime and recovering control of their life. Victims frequently express concerns about their participation in criminal investigations and legal proceedings. They may also be afraid about negative publicity, medical bills, or property damage (Reno et al., 2000).

Victims require a continual supply of timely care and resources in order to heal from their traumas. From initial contact with first responders to final case settlement, and for as long as healing and restoration may take, participants, advocate the following core principles to design justice policies and practices and other agencies to preserve victim rights and cater to their basic needs. Regardless of gender, race, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, handicap, or sexual orientation, serving agencies must give the same degree of service to victims..

Furthermore, communities should take responsibility for ensuring that crime victims have a wide range of immediate and ongoing aid options in partnership with the judicial system, the business community, and service organizations. Throughout the investigation, prosecution, adjudication, and follow-up help, these services must be offered. Medical attention, clothing, food, temporary housing, dependent care, transportation, counseling, time off, and barrier-free facilities and services should all be provided (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2000).