The past forty years have been marked by a dramatic increase in awareness, education, specialized services, and system reform for crime victims, all of which promote healing and justice. The victim rights movement was informed and influenced by the Women’s Rights and Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s, a confluence of issues and activism that sought to address oppression, dominance, power, control, and inequity.
Since then, victim rights and services have become institutionalized in laws and professional practice in the fields of law enforcement, medicine, social services, law, and victim advocacy. Although there have been notable advancements in the field of victim services over the decades, funding, research, and best practices continue to be areas of focus and advocacy on the state, national, and international levels.
In ancient cultures around the world and in pre-independence America, victims played a central role in the system of justice. With crimes being viewed as wrongs against individuals, the focus was largely on retribution and reparation to the victim. The victim played a primary role in decision making, and addressing the needs of the victim was paramount. The concepts of restitution and compensation were intended to make the victim whole again and to recognize the dramatic and traumatic impact of violent crimes and property crimes on the individual victims involved.
In post-independence America and after the signing of the Constitution, a more formal criminal justice system was established. No longer were victims the moving parties in a criminal action; crimes became recognized as violations against the public order and cases were thereafter brought and prosecuted by the government on behalf of “the people.” The consequence of this historical change was that victims lost their central role; they were no longer empowered to make decisions, as the system was refocused on punishment and rehabilitation of the offender rather than reparation for the victim. For almost the next two centuries, victims were increasingly relegated to the role of a mere “witness” for the government in proving its case against the alleged offender. Victims rather quickly became invisible, neglected, and forgotten in the criminal justice system, compounding their sense of powerlessness and humiliation from the victimization itself.
Early victimization studies in the late 1960s and early 1970s highlighted what survivors of crime already knew—that an astounding proportion of crimes were never reported to the police because victims feared becoming involved with law enforcement and the criminal justice system. When victims did report, however, they were so distressed by the police response and their court experience, and fearful of retaliation by the offender, that they refused to testify. At that time, the criminal justice system noted significant failures in its abilities to apprehend suspects and secure their convictions, the largest cause of these failures being the loss of cooperative victims and witnesses who were often surprised that their opinions mattered little and their needs were rarely considered.
An enormous amount of credit is owed to those truly at the forefront of the victim rights movement—survivors of rape and domestic violence whose courage and powerful activism raised awareness and initiated a new societal response to victims. These individuals brought to light the harmful effects of the insensitive treatment of victims and witnesses by police, prosecutors, and judges. Through their efforts, survivors and their supporters highlighted the fact that victims were revictimized in the criminal justice system. Victims often turned to other victims for support and assistance, leading to the creation of the first rape crisis centers and battered women’s shelters, and other survivor organizations such as Parents of Murdered Children (POMC) and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
The noteworthy efforts of survivors, buoyed by the failures revealed through victimization studies, caused criminal justice and government officials to focus more intently on the concerns and experiences of victims and witnesses. Grassroots organizations began meeting with criminal justice personnel. With the leadership of the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA), founded in 1975, the system began to develop strategies to address the needs of victims, including the creation of victim assistance programs within the criminal justice system.
The first law enforcement-based victim assistance programs were funded by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) of the U.S. Department of Justice in the mid-1970s. Crime victim issues gained even greater national prominence with President Reagan’s declaration of Crime Victim Rights Week in 1981 and the establishment of the President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime in 1982. This task force, one of the most compelling milestones in the victim rights movement, reviewed research on criminal victimization and held hearings around the country to obtain testimony from crime victims, victim service providers, and other allied professionals of diverse disciplines regarding the experiences and needs of crime victims. The task force report outlined sixty-eight recommendations for the criminal justice system and other organizations (for example, hospitals, clergy, schools, mental health community, media) and has served as a blueprint for comprehensive change during the past two decades. In fact, almost all of the recommendations have resulted in significant changes in policy and practice at the federal, state, and local levels.
The task force’s recommendations, coinciding with the elimination of federal LEAA funding for victim services, resulted in action by Congress and a majority of state legislatures. Among its recommendations was the need for victim witness units in prosecutors’ offices to provide notification of rights and case status, information about the court process, and the right to be present and heard at various junctures in the system. Wisconsin was the first state to pass a Victim Bill of Rights in 1980 with other states following in the ensuing years. In addition, Congress passed the Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982, which provided for victim restitution, victim impact statements at sentencing in federal courts, and redress for intimidation or retaliation against victims by their offenders. The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) within the U.S. Department of Justice was established in 1983. The Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA), which funds victim services and victim compensation through fines levied against convicted federal offenders, was passed in 1984 and continues to be a notable part of the foundation for victim services on the federal and state level. A decade later, in 1995, the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was passed providing funding and enhanced services for survivors of family violence and for specialized training for criminal justice professionals.
Today, all fifty states and the District of Columbia have crime victim compensation programs and victim bills of rights, and thirty-three states have successfully passed victim rights amendments to their state constitutions. Although it was among the recommendations of the President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime, a federal constitutional amendment has yet to come to fruition. However, the Justice for All Act, which was passed in 2004, enhances rights for victims of crime on the federal level and addresses the need for accountability and enforcement.
Victim rights have become institutionalized within the criminal justice system to a noteworthy degree. The changes that have come about from victim rights laws are best exemplified by survivors. A remarkable woman in Massachusetts, a survivor of her son’s murder and a subsequent leader in the victim rights movement on the state and national levels, described the impact of victim rights best from her own experience. She and her family participated in the system twice after the murder, the first time before the passage of the state victim rights law, and the second time, several years after its enactment. Speaking at the 20th Anniversary of the Massachusetts Victim Bill of Rights Event at the Massachusetts State House in Boston in 2004, she describes:
The conviction of my son’s murderer was overturned and a victim advocate from the DA’s Office contacted me to ensure that I did not hear the news on the radio or TV first. The prosecutor and victim advocate met with me and explained the process, sought my input, and answered my questions. . . . This time I would have a different experience. The Victim Bill of Rights said I was a victim and entitled to services. As horrible as it was, I felt that I was not alone; there was someone in the courtroom who cared about me, explained the court proceedings every step of the way and kept us informed. The best thing about this second trial was that I finally got a chance to speak to the court, to let them know what my son meant to me and the impact of his murder on my life. The cruel twist of fate in having to endure a second trial was that I, as an early victim rights activist, was forced to experience the fruits of my labors.
During the past decade, new innovative programs and practices have been established and the breadth of victim issues has notably increased. The future of victim rights, however, requires constant vigilance, accountability and enforcement, and specialized training and education for many professionals and advocates, including law enforcement. It is through all of these efforts that law enforcement officers earn greater respect from victims and witnesses, and are more effective and efficient in their pursuit of justice.
See also: Conflict Management; Crime, Serious Violent; Criminal Investigation; Domestic (or Intimate Partner) Violence and the Police; Drunk Driving; Fear of Crime; Hate Crime; Identity Theft; Mental Illness: Improved Law Enforcement Response; Victims’ Attitudes toward the Police.