Expanding the Victim's Role in the Criminal Court Dispositional Process: The Results of an Experiment

Abstract

In colonial America, the criminal justice system functioned without either effective police forces or public prosecutors. Instead, victims paid for warrants, did their own investigative work, and retained a private attorney to write an indictment and prosecute the offender. Restitution was emphasized over incarceration. In short, the victim was both a key decisionmaker in, and a direct beneficiary of, the criminal justice system.1 During the nineteenth century, the goals of the criminal justice system changed from restitution to deterrence and punishment, as a distinction was drawn between offenses against the social order (crimes) and offenses between individuals (civil wrongs). The powers and responsibilities that victims previously held were assumed by public prosecutors as society's advocates. Today, public prosecutors decide whether * This research was conducted by the Victim Services Agency under a grant from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. Special acknowledgment is due to Lucy N. Friedman, Executive Director of the Victim Services Agency, for her guidance and support throughout the study, and to the Kings County District Attorney's Office for their cooperation in carrying out this research. The views contained herein are solely those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Division of Criminal Justice Services or the Kings County District Attorney's Office.