Characteristics of the type of victimization

Impact of Hate Crime Victimization

According to Gerstenfeld (2013), hate crime victimization is a problem because it comprises of offenses that show signs of prejudging people based on their race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, level of disability, or culture. Because it frequently results from the victim’s membership in that group, tyranny motivated by hate can therefore be committed by anyone. Crime and unjust treatment are commonplace in society because these occurrences take place frequently every day and around the world. The community, or the minority group, is impacted by the oppression of hate crimes on a social level. Turpin-Petrosino (2015) suggests that hate crime victimization essentially have the tendency to pose a more harmful threat to the social aspect of the society as it aims at separating various groups and members of the society. The effects of crime abuse often entail post-traumatic stress among the victims and their close relatives. The other effects are an increase in the level of fear, especially among the immigrants on matters associated with personal safety and that of their families. Victims of hate crime experience heightened levels of psychological distress. The results of discrimination among victims essentially leads to negative results among those involved.

Characteristics of Hate Crime Victimization

From the above paragraph, it is apparent that the aforementioned type of victimization usually takes place among the minority group members. Some the minority groups in this regard are the immigrants, gay, African Americans and the Latinos as well. The crime ill-treatment entity often takes place in every state because the process often consists of demeaning the minor group (Antonopoulos, 2016). The individuals associated with victimizing the minority group are the advantaged and majority group in the society. The minority group and advantaged often takes part in crime victimization as a way of pleasing their ego and making the other party suffer innocently. Therefore, the characteristics of crime victimization are interchangeability, capacity for secondary discrimination and hindering the critical function of envisaging the consequence of hate crime victims.

The Criminal Justice “Response” to Hate Crime Victimization

The criminal justice “response” to crime victimization has changed over time based on the presence of new laws and new unfair treatment approaches in the modern society. Laws on the issue have also changed to meet with the modern approach of crime ill-treatment. Hall (2013) shows that in 1982, President Ronald Reagan undertook the task of creating a Task Force on Victims Crime. The Task Force came up with the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 whose objective was to assess policies and programs affecting crime victims, so as to improve efforts to help and protect them (Hall, 2013). The changes in the law on crime victims took place twenty years later where President Bush, came up with the Crime Victim’s Right in 2004. The Law established the victims’ rights of crime in federal criminal proceedings and offers strategies for victims to enforce their rights. Therefore, the changes made in the Act is victims are offered a greater function in the criminal justice process and, thus affects the way Department of Justice employees communicates with crime victims.

Sentencing and Rights of Crime Victims

In instances where offenders are found guilty of the crime, they are often punished as per the law. The move is usually practiced to ascertain that the safety of the victims and their rights is undertaken to generate harmony in the society. It is very true to say that every state has its laws on crime victimization. The rationale is based on the perspective that each state has their own jurisdictions with the desire to ascertain that the rights of crime victims in the state are offered the best and right protection rights. According to Daigle (2011), sentencing guidelines of crime victims are often affected by lack of rights to be present, informed and heard. The mentioned challenges often affect the victims as they are not heard, and as a result, the contents of the guidelines can be perceived that they do not favor the needs of the victims on matters related to their presence.

Role of the Criminal Justice System for Crime Victims

The function of the criminal justice system among crime victims is to prevent and prevent crime via the prostration and recuperation processes. They are also tasked with the objective of delivering justice for the victims in the courts. Furthermore, they help in convicting and punishing crime offenders, thus making the life of the victims manageable in the society. Therefore, the criminal justice system offers an essential, effective, responsible and fair justice entity for the victims (Perry, 2012). Reimbursement is often instigated to the criminal justice system via the government as they need to be paid to motivate their work. The victims’ advocates usually play the role of advising and enumerating to the party concerned what is happening and the possible results of the event in question. The advocates act as an intermediary between the victims and the criminal justice system in matters associated with interpreting the contents of the case in a layman’s language.

Victim Impact Statement and Offender Release

According to Perry (2009), the impact statement is often utilized to permit crime victims to describe to the court what transpired during the event of discrimination. The move often helps the crime justice system to make the right decision during the ruling process. Crime victims are usually not included in the crime trial, so as to ascertain that the ruling of the case is based on honesty and in regards to the law. When it comes to the release of the offender, the victim is usually notified in advance to associate him and the possibility of him or her meeting with the offender (Perry, 2009). The move also helps the victim to prepare both mentally and psychologically to counter possible fears of encountering the crime offender. Victims are not permitted to contribute towards the decision-making of the court, as they do not hold the legal framework of the court. Additionally, they are not permitted as the final decision rests with the courts involved in making the judgment.

Response of the Criminal Justice System to Crime Victims

Iganski & Levin (2015), enumerate that the criminal justice system responds to the crime victims by offering preventive future measures against such acts like discrimination and biasness. The responses often consist of creating counseling process and family support. The response of the criminal justice system towards the victims of crime is often based on several attributes in society. Depending on the type of offense undertaken on the victim, the response will be based on socioeconomic, location, gender, and race consecutively. The move is undertaken to make certain that each individual is comfortable with the strategy utilized to help him or her counter the problem being countered (Zaykowski, 2008). Crime victims are suffering globally, but with the presence of more crime justice systems in place, better rights are bound to be made to help victims. Furthermore, engaging in community programs is likely to teach the society the relevance of engaging in building their state as a preferred option as opposed to fighting each other.

References

Antonopoulos, J. (2016). Racist Victimization: International Reflections and Perspectives, Routledge.

Daigle, L. (2011). Victimology: A Text/Reader, SAGE.

Gerstenfeld, P. (2013). Hate Crimes: Causes, Controls, and Controversies: Edition 3, SAGE Publication.

Hall, N. (2013). Hate Crime, Routledge.

Iganski, P., & Levin, J. (2015). Hate Crime: A Global Perspective, Routledge.

Perry, B. (2012). Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader, Routledge.

Perry, B. (2009). Hate Crimes, Greenwood Publishing Group.

Turpin-Petrosino, C. (2015). Understanding Hate Crimes: Acts, Motives, Offenders, Victims, and Justice, Routledge.

Zaykowski, H. (2008). Predicting Hate Crime Reporting to Police: Insights from the National Crime Victimization Survey, ProQuest.