How does the interviewee view the role of the victim in the pursuit of criminal justice

No directly quoted material may be used in this project paper.
Project 2—Field Interview: Overview
As part of your role as a system-based advocate, you have been asked to assess the officers’ and other community based partners’ understanding of crime victims’ rights through conducting various surveys and individual interviews of cadets that have recently completed the academy.
For your Project 2 you will be interviewing one person in the allowable categories and providing a narrative summary of your analysis of the interviewee’s understanding of the crime victims’ rights movement and the history and evolution of this movement over time. This analysis will be provided in a paper that addresses the required questions and analysis below.
Project 2—Field Interview: Description
Allowable interviewee categories:
Representative of a victim service organization (can include a victim advocate, case manager, or crime victims’ rights attorney);
Prosecutor (within the civilian criminal justice system);
Law Enforcement (within the civilian criminal justice system);
Judicial Officer (requires that they oversee a criminal docket); or
Defense Attorney (within the civilian criminal justice system).
It is important that the candidate you select has enough consistent interaction with crime victims to offer you enough information for your analysis.
Following your interview, write a narrative paper that explains your assessment of the person’s work and perspective/knowledge of victims’ rights. Include analysis on where their perspective is victim centered or could be improved. A large part of this project is for you to see what service providers and system players do on a day-to day-basis and analyze how it impacts their perceptions of victims and/or changes their interactions with victims.
You must include at least five (5) citations to instructional course materials/reading assignments that you have accessed in the course. Incorporating these supportive references into your analysis is key to demonstrating what you are learning in the course and how it helped shaped your analysis during and after the interview.
Required information to be included in the paper:
Agency name
Contact information for the agency
Date the interview was conducted
Agency mission/goals
Name of person(s) interviewed
Type of agency, type/number of staff, and status, e.g., nonprofit, government, faith-based
Type of clients served
Geographic area served
General services provided by agency
Challenges the agency faces
The representative’s interaction with victims and the point at which she or he comes in contact with victims
Agency activities during a “normal day”
Required analysis to include in the paper:
The required information is offered for you to use as the starting point for your interview.
The following questions should be addresses somewhere in the analysis that you provide in your narrative:
How does the interviewee view the role of the victim in the pursuit of criminal justice
(use the specific crime topic you picked in your Project 1)
What is the interviewee’s opinion of the efficiency and effectiveness of the prevailing victims’ rights laws in their jurisdiction? If there are no codified provisions for victims’ rights by statute or court rule, why do they believe no such consideration exists?
To what does the interviewee attribute the absence or reluctance of victims to participate in the criminal justice processes?
What is the interviewee’s understanding of crime victims’ rights and the history of this movement?
Format Requirements
Paper must be double spaced, 11 or 12 pt font and 1” margins all around.
All APA 7th edition format requirements must be followed (cover page, in text citations, reference page). Refer to APA/ – learning resources found in the content page of this course.
You must have resources to support your thoughts/opinions/information. These must be cited both in text as well as at the end of the document. Your paper should not contain direct quotes, sourced material must be paraphrased.
Project #1
Project 1: Victims’ Rights Legislation Critique
Introduction
Dear Supervisor, I have reviewed sections 4 and 4.5 of the bills proposed in the jurisdiction of Virtual and offer a detailed analysis.
First, section 4 of the bill guarantees all victims the right to be notified of all proceedings in their case. The victims also have a right to hear their plea bargaining and to be granted an opportunity to be heard at all sentencing proceedings (Pugach et al., 2020). I believe this is a positive step that will help empower victims and ensure their voices are heard throughout the criminal justice process. Section 4.5 of the proposed bills provides victims with the right to restitution. I also believe this is a good move, as it will help victims recover some of the financial losses they have incurred as a result of the crime. Hence, as a system-based victim advocate, it would be my responsibility to ensure that victims are notified of all proceedings in their case, including plea bargaining, and that they are given the opportunity to be heard at all sentencing proceedings. I would work to ensure that victims are kept informed and involved throughout the criminal justice process and that their rights and needs are respected and met.
Based on the information provided in Sections 4 and 4.5 of the bills described in the jurisdiction of Virtual, it is evident that this bill is designed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities.
The bill would ensure that individuals with disabilities have the same rights and protections as those without disabilities (Klinkner et al., 2022). This bill would also provide for the establishment of an Advisory Council on Disability Issues, which would advise the government on issues related to disability rights. The bills would help ensure that the government considers the needs of victims with disabilities when crafting laws and policies. Therefore, for this legislation to work in practice, the relevant law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices would need to be made aware of the new bill and its provisions. Additionally, victims would need to be made aware of their rights under the new legislation.
The section seems to have clear ways to enforce the victims’ rights if violations occur. If a law enforcement agency or prosecutor’s office fails to notify victims of their rights under the bill, the victim can file a complaint with the appropriate authorities. Overall, I believe that the legislation is a positive step that will help protect and empower crime victims.
Some common victims’ rights that seem missing from the bill are the right to be free from intimidation and treated with respect and dignity. Additionally, the bill does not explicitly address the rights of vulnerable and special populations, such as domestic violence or sexual assault victims.
Possible consequences of these missing rights are that victims may not feel comfortable coming forward to report crimes and may not feel that they will be treated fairly by the criminal justice system. Similarly, vulnerable and special populations may not be given the specific protections they need and deserve (Klinkner et al., 2022). Liability for those who violate the rights of crime victims under this bill would likely be in the form of civil penalties. I recommend that the bill be amended to specifically state that those who violate the rights of crime victims under the bill will be subject to civil penalties.
Conclusion
The proposed bill in the jurisdiction of Virtual creates a victims’ rights task force and requires the task force to consider the needs of victims of crime, the rights of victims of crime, and the impact of crime on victims. The bill also requires the task force to consider the needs of victims of domestic violence, the rights of victims of domestic violence, and the impact of domestic violence on victims.
Additionally, the bill requires the task force to consider the needs of victims of sexual assault, the rights of victims of sexual assault, and the impact of sexual assault on victims. This bill is significant because it recognizes that victims of crime, domestic violence, and sexual assault have specific needs that must be considered to best provide for and protect their rights. The bill is essential in ensuring that victims’ rights are respected and protected by requiring the task force to study these needs and make recommendations to the legislature.
Currently, the bill does not specify any penalties for those violating victims’ rights. However, it is important to consider the appropriate penalties to deter future violations.
One possibility would be to require those violating victims’ rights to pay a fine. Another possibility would be to require those violating victims’ rights to perform community service. Thus, one way to strengthen enforcement in the bill would require the task force to report its findings and recommendations to the legislature within a specified timeframe. This would ensure that the task force is held accountable for its work and that the legislature has the information it needs to make informed decisions about victims’ rights.
References:
Pugach, D., & Tamir, M. (2020). Victims’ Rights in Plea Agreements Across Different Legal Systems. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Klinkner, M., & Smith, E. (2022). Victims’ Rights. In Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.