Victims of Violence (From Insights Into Violence in Contemporary Canadian Society, P 312-315, 1987, James M MacLatchie, ed. -- See NCJ-122437)

• NCJ Number: 122476
• Author(s): G Rosenfeldt
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 4 pages
• Sale Source: John Howard Soc of Canada
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Canada
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This paper reviews the goals of victim organizations in Canada regarding violent offenders and violent crimes and suggests ways for preventing such crimes.

Abstract

Many in the criminal justice system view Canadian victim organizations as pressure groups designed to exact revenge against offenders on behalf of victims. Although some victims groups have advocated capital punishment and harsher sentencing for some crimes, they have also supported more effective offender treatment programs and alternatives to criminogenic prison environments. The primary concern of victim organizations is to encourage and facilitate a criminal justice system and a society more responsive to the needs of crime victims and their families. Clearly, the criminal justice system has typically ignored the victims' needs and concerns that victim advocates seek to remedy. Victim groups are also concerned with reduction of violent crime through, for example, the extended incapacitation of chronically violent offenders and the commitment of more resources to address the causes of violent behavior.