Exam 18: Victims, Criminal Justice and Restorative Justice

Correct Answer:

Verified

Responses could include:
-Access to health and welfare support services
-Access to formal complaints mechanisms
-Provisions to make it easier for sexual assault victims to give evidence (e.g.CCTV and restrictions on cross-examination).

Correct Answer:

Verified

Responses could include:
• Individuals and collectives of people harmed through acts or omissions that are in violation of criminal laws
• Primary victims – directly affected by an offence
• Secondary victims – someone with a relationship with the primary victim who feels the impact of the crime (emotionally or financially)
• Tertiary victims – those whose lifestyles have been inconvenienced by crime through fear and those who bear the cost to society of crime.

Correct Answer:

Verified

Responses could include:
-2100 BC victims in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean societies were supported by laws and systems that entitled them compensation if victimised.This victim-focused approach was lost when those societies collapsed
-600 AD provided victims with similar entitlements and these were important in avoiding blood feuds based on revenge.Offenders not only paid compensation, but the costs of the process of determining injury and cost
-The Norman England times (early 1000s) turned private injury to a public wrong (crime).The focus moved from the victim to the state.Victims became witnesses in a state-driven process and their personal needs resulting from the harm were no longer the centre of decision making
-This system continues and victims today report a lack of satisfaction when they find themselves part of the criminal justice system
-The current criminal justice system is far removed from the victim justice system of much earlier times.