NCJ Number
124014
Date Published
Unknown
Length
167 pages
Annotation
This study analyzes the impact of victims' rights legislation on victims and practitioners responsible for its implementation.
Abstract
Specific provisions of victims' rights legislation are analyzed to discover its impact on the practices, policies, opinions, and procedures of prosecutors, judges, probation officials, and victim witness advocates. Eighty-four prosecutors, 77 probation officials, 74 judges, and 43 victim witness advocates were interviewed by telephone. These practitioners were selected randomly throughout the 36 states that were represented in the study. Practitioners were asked their opinions on the effectiveness of legislation that was supposed to guarantee the victim's right to such procedures as notice of forthcoming proceedings, consultation with officials regarding how cases are handled, notice of major decisions in cases, opportunity to make crime impact statements to the court, information about protection against intimidation, information about coping strategies, and return of property held as evidence. Results of the surveys included a high level of practitioner satisfaction with victims' rights legislation; States that have such legislation and adequate funds are very likely to implement the legislation. Finally, victims were also interviewed to compare their responses with those of the practitioners. Although the victims shared many of the same attitudes regarding the implementation of the legislation, victims were more likely to see room for improvement. The researchers conclude that the main area for improvement would be in applying the legislation to more victims. 1 appendix.