1. C H A P T E R F O U R T E N

2. THE VICTIM: Helping Those in Need
Photo © Gordon M. Armstrong, used with permission.

3. D E F I N T O S
VICTIM: Someone who suffers direct or threatened physical, emotional, or financial harm as the result of the commission of a crime. The term victim also includes the immediate family of a minor or homicide victim.
VICTIMS’ RIGHTS: The fundamental rights of victims to be represented equitably throughout the criminal justice process.

4. VICTIMS’ RIGHTS • Until the 1970s, victims had little or no
status within the justice system, and
victims’ rights were virtually
nonexistent.
• The first state-level victims’ rights bill,
Wisconsin’s Victims’ Bill of Rights
(1980), launched an era of dramatic
progress in the victims’ rights
movement.

5. VICTIMS’ RIGHTS • Few movements in American history
have achieved as much success in
prompting legislative response as did
victims’ rights activists’ campaigns
through the 1980s and 1990s.
• Despite the advances in victims’ rights
legislation, however, there remain
serious deficiencies in those laws and
in their implementation.

6. KEY FEDERAL LEGISLATION
• The Victim and Witness Protection Act, 1982
• Victims of Crime Act, 1984
• The Victims’ Rights and Restitution Act, 1990
• The Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act, 1994
• The Community Notification Act (Megan’s
Law), 1996
• Mandatory Victim Restitution Act, 1996
• The Victims’ Rights Clarification Act, 1997
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7. D E F I N T O
BEST EFFORTS STANDARD: A requirement of the federal Victims’ Rights and Restitution Act of 1990 (also known as the Victims’ Rights Act) which mandates that federal law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and corrections officials use their best efforts to ensure that victims receive basic rights and services during their encounter with the criminal justice system.

8. AN INCONGRUITY
It is noteworthy that the best efforts standard of the Victims’ Rights and Restitution Act of 1990 rendered that federal law weaker than many state victims’ rights laws in which provisions for victims’ rights and services is mandatory.

9. PROPOSALS for a FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Since 1982, victims’ advocacy groups have aggressively pursued adoption of a federal constitutional amendment guaranteeing specific rights to crime victims.
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10. D E F I N T O S
TANGIBLE LOSSES: Costs such as medical expenses, lost wages, and property losses that accrue to crime victims as a result of their victimization.
INTANGIBLE LOSSES: Costs such as fear, pain, suffering, and reduced quality of life that accrue to crime victims as a result of their victimization.
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11. COSTS of VICTIMIZATION
• The annual cost of crime in the U.S. is
approximately $450 billion.
• Tangible losses for medical and mental
health care are approximately $18 billion.
• Tangible losses for damaged or lost
property and lost productivity are about
$87 billion.
• Intangible losses for pain, suffering, and
reduced quality of life are approximately
$345 billion.
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12. D E F I N T O S
VICTIM NOTIFICATION: Notification to victims of the release or pending release of convicted offenders who have harmed them.
COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION: Notification to the community of the release or pending release of convicted offenders.
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13. VICTIM and COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION
The federal Bureau of Prisons has created one of the nation’s first comprehensive victim notification programs, which has served as a model to the states for over a decade.

14. VICTIM and COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION
Additionally, technological advances such as automated voice notification systems and corrections agency Internet web sites facilitate dissemination of timely information on offender status to interested parties .
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15. VICTIM and WITNESS PROTECTION
Every day in the United States, victims and witnesses are harassed, intimidated, and retaliated against by incarcerated offenders, through intimidating phone calls, mail, or threatened visits from friends and associates.

16. VICTIM and WITNESS PROTECTION
Many correctional agencies have responded creatively to this problem by:
 Revoking offending inmates’ privileges.
 Transferring inmates to more restrictive
incarceration levels.
 Filing new criminal charges.
 Enhancing the inmate’s sentence.
 Annotating the inmate’s case file to
apprise parole boards of the offense.

17. CRIME IMPACT CLASSES • Educational programs in correctional
institutions involving offenders and victims.
• The programs seek to help offenders
understand the devastating impact their
crimes have on:
○ victims, their families, and their friends;
○ the community;
○ their own families and friends; and
○ themselves.
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18. VICTIM-OFFENDER DIALOGUE
• Primarily used in property crime cases.
• Gives victims an opportunity to engage
in structured talks with their offenders.
• Offenders have already admitted guilt
or have been convicted/adjudicated.
• Can be very effective in helping victims
overcome feelings of trauma and loss.
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19. • Victims generally have three options for
• VICTIM COMPENSATION: A form of victim
assistance in which state-funded payments
are made to victims to help them recover
financial losses due to crime.
• Victims generally have three options for
recovering crime-related financial losses:
 state-sponsored compensation
programs;
 court-ordered restitution; or
 civil remedies.

20. VICTIM COMPENSATION • The first victim compensation programs
were established in New Zealand and
Great Britain in 1964, based on a
concept suggested by British Magistrate
Margery Fry in the late 1950s.
• California created the first U.S. victim
compensation program in 1965.
• Today, programs exist in all 50 states,
Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands.

21. RESTITUTION
As a significant remedy for crime victims, restitution was first imposed by the Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982, which required federal judges to order full restitution in criminal cases …
or state on the record their reasons for not doing so.

22. RESTITUTION All states have enacted restitution
statutes, most styled after the federal
model.
 Despite existing legislation, restitution
is an underenforced victims’ right in
terms of ordering and monitoring,
collecting, and disbursing payments.

23. RESTITUTION
Many correctional agencies encourage inmates to fulfill restitution obligations by offering incentives (such as increased privileges or priority enrollment in educational or vocational programs) for compliance, and denying privileges for failure or refusal to pay.
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24. D E F I N T O
VICTIM ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: An organized program that offers services to victims of crime in the areas of crisis intervention and follow-up counseling and that helps victims secure their rights under the law.

25. D E F I N T O
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT: An assertion—by a victim and/or friends or relatives of the victim—about the crime’s impact on the victim and the victim’s family.
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26. D E F I N T O
RIGHT OF ALLOCUTION: A statutory provision permitting crime victims to speak at the sentencing of convicted offenders. A federal right of allocution was established for victims of federal violent and sex crimes under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.

27. VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS
Tally the physical, financial, emotional,
and psychological impact of a crime.
• Provide information for the court’s use
in assessing the human and social
cost of the crime.
• Provide a way for the victim to take
part in the justice process.