The Role Of Victims In The Criminal Justice System

825 Words4 Pages
Provide an analysis of the dilemmas faced by the criminal justice system in balancing the rights of victims with those of offenders. The continuing dilemma of balancing the rights of victims against those of offenders is vast. There are several considerations that reveal issues faced by the criminal justice system in this balancing act. Victim impact statements are an important document in the criminal justice system as they allow for victims of crime to tell their story within court (Commissioner for Victim’s Rights 2015). Erez, Roeger & Morgan (1994) discuss the importance of victim input inside the justice system. They disclose that victim participation allows for the victim to give their side of the story, showing the prosecutors that there is a person with interest in the resolution of the case. On the other hand impact statements can affect the outcome for offenders (Wevodau, Cramer, Kehn & Clark 2014).…show more content…
Restorative justice works through processes such as youth justice conferences aimed at collectively resolving issues to benefit the offender and victim (Hayes & Daly 2003). For offenders conferencing allows a chance to account for their behaviour and offer remorse (O’Connel & Hayes 2015). Yet this is not always achieved, leaving victims less satisfied with the outcome. As a result of culture and colonisation restorative justice is also used with Indigenous Australian offenders where often they can be seen as both offenders and victims (Strang 2010). In the Criminal Justice System unfortunately 59% of juvenile offenders are Indigenous Australians (Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) 2015). To curb this programs have been set up to similar to conferencing where Indigenous Australians are faced with their community elders in an attempt to connect community to the justice system (Strang 2001). Thus improving trust and co-operation with the
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