Essay On The Victims Movement

According to the operations of the victims’ right movement, there are three important elements to consider. The movement is first interested in seeing to it that every crime victim receives the right to a criminal proceeding. That provision helps in providing the victim with an opportunity to consult with the relevant legal advisors on what course of action to take in the course of answering to the charges. The second primary objective is securing financial services as well as benefits for the crime victims. The above aim also seeks to obtain additional services such as support services and shelters for certain groups of victims. Lastly, the movement also at times gets allied to the prosecution and political forces in support of the law-and-order agenda. The above prevails with the movement’s efforts in securing harsher and certain legal punishments for some perpetrators.
Essentially, the concept of the Victims’ Movement came to life quite a couple of decades ago. Since then, the legal and justice system has undergone quite tremendous changes. The system has taken huge steps in the creation of optimal legal assistance and rights programs with respect to some of the viable concepts brought forth by the Victims’ Movement . It is clear that the justice sought by the movement have significantly influenced the ways and methods of handling victims by federal authorities. However, even after such noticeable success with respect to the implementation of most of the initial agendas of the movement, there are still some features that the movement is yet to handle. Over the time, there have been several amendments to the constitution warranting the necessity for the movement to concentrate on several other key elements in the criminal justice administration. Some of the changes in the constitution require a closer look at the law due to the better provisions for the treatment of victims in the current structure than it was when the movement started (Christie 115).
One thing the movement could concentrate on in its pursuit to seek justice for criminal victims is focusing on their treatment as suspects. The movement tends to focus more of the proceedings happening after the arrest of victims. However, with respect to a couple of cases in the past, following the rights of the victim in the courts of law means nothing. In some cases, the pre-trial rights of the victims may have been violated. The criminal law finds a basis in several sections of the Constitution. Since its inception, the Victims’ Movement concentration has been on the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution. That is the section that focuses on the treatment of victims once they are arrested and aligned in the courts of law. However, that is not enough. The movement should consider taking a step further and dig out on the pre-alignment proceedings.
The Constitution stipulates on the treatment of criminal suspects in the Fourth and Fifth Amendments (Cornell University of Law 1). The Fifth Amendment gives the provisions on how the suspects should be arrested legally while the Fourth Amendment gives rules on the respect of privacy accorded to all the citizens, including the alleged victims. It is important for the Victims’ Movement to extend its concern at this stage of the victim’s life under the law. There are various cases where the rights stipulated under the above two amendments are broken, and yet the victims still get aligned in courts of law. The rights of victims extend beyond one section of the constitution. As a result, the Victims’ Movement should ensure total constitutional compliance even to the pre-alignment proceedings for the criminals as well.

Works Cited

Christie, Nils. "Victim movements at a crossroad." Punishment & Society 12.2 (2010): 115-122.
Cornell University of Law. "Fourth Amendment | Wex Legal Dictionary / Encyclopedia." LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Karmen, Andrew. Crime victims: An introduction to victimology. Cengage Learning, 2012.