WHAT DO VICTIMS WANT?

PUNISHMENT? 

TREATMENT OF THE OFFENDER?

RESTITUTION FROM THE OFFENDER?

Here are some examples of these options that are outlined at the start of Ch. 6. on p. 204 of the Tenth Edition.

 

MAXIMUM PUNISHMENT –   OR NOT?

 

VICTIMS CALL FOR RETRIBUTION

It is easy to find statements by victims or their relatives demanding retribution.

A distraught mother whose son was murdered in a drug deal gone bad demands vengeance here.

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The widow of an innocent man murdered on a mobster’s orders is informed that her husband’s killer has been beaten to death in prison. She observes, “What goes around comes around” in this interview.

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Shortly after graduating college, a 21 year-old was kidnapped and murdered in 1986. For years, her brother has pressured the state government to execute her killer. Now his wish is about to take place, as described here.

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BUT SOME VICTIMS DO NOT SEEK VENGEANCE

175 Relatives of Murder Victims Sign Letters Opposing Te Restoration Of Capital Punishment on the Federal Level

When Attorney General Barr announced that the Trump Administration planned to resume executions in 2019, after a 15 year hiatus, current and former law enforcement officials and judges made their opposition known, along with a surprisingly large number of murder victims’ relatives, as described here.

Parents Oppose Capital Punishment For Their Son’s Killer

The parents of a young man who was murdered during a robbery produce a video that tells the judge, “We have never been in favor of the death penalty…An execution will not bring closure to us…It will bring us more pain.” Find out what the prosecutor did and what happened to the killer here.

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A Survivor of a Serious Assault By Reckless Teenagers Is Remembered

A victim who suffered terribly but believed in leniency and offender rehabilitation, as recounted on page 258 of Chapter 7 in the Tenth Edition, has died

A woman who was severely injured by a thoughtless prank committed by a teenager made headlines when she urged the judge to show mercy when sentencing him. Read her obituary here. 

TREATMENT

A congressman is brutally beaten by his grown son. But the severely injured victim views his assailant as mentally disturbed and wanted him to receive treatment rather than punishment, according to this interview.  After the attempted murder of his father, the college student son committed suicide, as explained here.

A survey of crime victims turned up some surprising results. It appears that most do not seek punishment, retribution, vengeance, retaliation, and are not asking the criminal justice system to make the offender suffer in their behalf. By a considerable margin, victims would prefer that the system try to rehabilitate the offender by providing opportunities for treatment, self-improvement, and job opportunities. The survey’s findings are illustrated by an infographic put out by the advocacy group that sponsored the study; view it here.

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VICTIMS RIGHTS

WITHIN THE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

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A Detailed Timeline About Victims Gaining Rights

This timeline goes into greater depth than the timeline appearing in Box 2.1 on p. 45  of the Tenth Edition

A listing of major events and important legal developments compiled by the Office of Victims of Crime is presented here.

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VICTIMS AND THE POLICE

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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICE

Advocates of procedural justice believe that this approach can build trust between victims and the police, and consequently should improve victims’ willingness to share their problems with the authorities, Procedural justice for those suffering IPV is examined here.

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POLICE OFFICERS CAN BE TRAUMATIZED BY WITNESSING FIRST-HAND THE SUFFERING OF VICTIMS

Illustrates the emotional toll suffered by first repsonders as cited on p. 174 of Ch. 6.

Officers who responded to the massacre of elementary school children and their teachers in Newtown Connecticut in 2012 and experienced close-up the gruesome carnage reveal the stress and grief that burdens their personal and family lives. Read about the suffering of first responders here.

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MOTHER OF MURDER VICTIM FAVORS MORE DNA TESTING OF ARRESTEES

Illustrates the possibility of victims’ rights gained at the expense of suspects, as listed in Ch. 13; also connects with cold case squads solving old murders, as described in the real-life example in Ch. 6..

A greater number of files in a DNA database might enable the police to solve more cases, and consequently more victims will feel that “justice was done” in their cases. But adding the DNA of suspects – not convicts – raises civil liberties concerns. View one mother’s view here.

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POLICE AND KIDNAP VICTIMS

Examines issues connected to the police responding quickly, and handling the victim with care, as discussed in Ch. 6.

A man held for ransom for a month was saved when the police raided a warehouse and arrested his guard, as described here.

But when four college students were held at gunpoint by a robber who barged into their off-campus residence, a veteran policeman entered the premises and found the home invader holding a gun to a young woman’s head. The highly decorated officer fired a volley of 8 bullets, killing the hostage-taker, but also accidently shooting the victim in the head. She died from “friendly fire” as recounted here. Ideally, police are trained to call for back-up and a supervisor with hostage negotiators, but if a confrontation suddenly unfolds, it can go terribly wrong in a split-second, as discussed here. The family of the slain 21 year-old junior has decided to sue the county police, as summarized here, but the officer won’t be charged or reprimanded, as discussed here.

After a family abduction of a 5 year old gilr by an on-again, off-again abusive boyfriend, the police engage in a high speed chase. They catch up with the abductor, and a shoot-out ensues. The boyfriend is wounded and captured, but the little girl is found shot to death in the vehicle. The question arises, “whose bullets killed her – the kidnapper or the two police officers trying to rescue her,” as examined here.

HOSTAGE NEGOTIATORS: COPS WHO SPECIALIZE IN RESCUING VICTIMS

Adds to a discussion about police quickly responding and handling victims with care in Ch. 6.

Police departments can pursue two intervention strategies to secure the release of a person held hostage during a siege. The first is to send in a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team to storm the barricaded location, unleash overwhelming force against the hostage-taker and hopefully rescue the victim alive. The second is to try to persuade the captor to surrender and release the captive unharmed after prolonged negotiations. See a video about the NYPD’s hostage negotiation team and an interview with a store owner they saved from armed robbers 40 years ago here.

A documentary about the grisly rapes and murders in Cheshire, Connecticut that were so outrageous and rekindled public support for the death penalty, raises the possibility that the local police could have rescued the victims before they perished, as reviewed here and in a TV interview here.

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POLICE AND RAPE VICTIMS: DETECTIVES TAKING TOO LONG TO ARRIVE AT THE HOSPITAL

When detectives take up to several hours to get to the hospital to interview the victim, she suffers needlessly and the collection of forensic evidence by a sexual assault nurse examiner is delayed. Now a big city police department has pledged to adopt protocols to cut this “non-emergency” response time, as described here.

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CASES OF INDIVIDUALS WHO MAKE FALSE ALLEGATIONS

OF VICTIMIZATION TO THE POLICE

These situations cause the police to be skeptical about the accounts of genuine victims, as noted on p. of Chapter 6.

WOMAN WHO CLAIMED SHE WAS RAPED WHEN A TEENAGER HAS TO PAY OFF A JUDGMENT TO THE MAN SHE FALSELY ACCUSED

In the mid 1980s, a black teenager insisted she was gang raped by a group of white men with criminal justice affiliations. An investigation by a special prosecutor concluded that she lied. She and her three advisors, who were civil rights activists, were sued in civil court. Decades later, she is beginning to repay one of the men she defamed. Read the latest developments in her case here, and then find out how she lost her job where her wages were being garnished  after a newspaper tracked her down here.

WIFE DROPS ACCUSATIONS AGAINST HUSBAND

A wife flees to a shelter for battered women and claims her husband kept her enslaved for years and punched her in the stomach to make her lose her developing baby. But after he is arrested, she recants her very serious charges against him, as described here.

TEEN ALLEGEDLY DISBELIEVED BY THE NYPD, THEN GETS SHOT

A teenager fleeing a gunman sought refuge in a  police station. But his tale is not believed and he is ordered to leave, and then is shot to death right outside, according to a lawsuit by relatives, as described here.

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VICTIMS AND MEDICAL EXAMINERS’ OFFICES

 

The backlog in processing the evidence in rape kits is well known (see the page on sexual assaults on this website). But sometimes a medical examiner’s office (called the coroner’s office in some locales) also is unable to process cases, and a backlog develops. For the police, prosecutors, and the next of kin of the deceased, a lengthy delay in determining the exact cause of death could mean that some murders go undetected and eventually unprosecuted, as discussed here.

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VICTIMS AND PROSECUTORS

 

NO PROSECUTION WITHOUT COMPLAINANT COOPERATION

Connects to the discussion of prosecutors screening out cases on p. 197 in Ch. 7.

In one of New York City’s boroughs, the district attorney’s (county prosecutor’s) office has adopted a policy that leads to a dropping of charges against arrestees in a substantial percent of cases: If the victim does not come forward to be interviewed within 24 hours, the case is considered to be weak. Read the pro’s and con’s of this policy here.

VICTIMS AND JUDGES

VICTIM URGES LENIENCY BUT JUDGE IMPOSES HARSH PRISON TERM

Illustrates the issue of what victims want: punishment, treatment, or restitution on p. 164 of Ch.6; also, victim imput into sentencing, on p. 204 of Ch. 7.

A woman was shot by a teenager aiming at a member of a rival gang. Given his age at the time, 16, she wrote a letter stating her opinion, urging the judge to show him leniency. But the judge did not follow her recommendation, and imposed a stiff penalty of 18 years. Read about the case here.

VICTIM SPEAKS OUT AT A SENTENCING HEARING AGAINST THE ABDUCTOR WHO KEPT HER CHAINED AS A “SEX SLAVE” FOR YEARS

A young woman who was one of three captives repeatedly raped by a Cleveland man describes her ordeal in court at a sentencing hearing.  The rapist, who caused miscarriages when his victim became pregnant, is given a life in sentence with no chance of parole by the judge. View the video from the courtroom here.

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