At the core of the vast majority criminal cases, there is a victim--sometimes more than one. Sometimes the victim is society as a whole. But every criminal act, large or small, leaves a victim in its wake.
Our criminal justice system works to protect society, hold offenders accountable, and seek justice. But it must also work to make victims as whole as possible following a criminal act. Victims must always have a place at the table and be central to the administration of fair and equitable justice.
As we enter Crime Victims' Rights Week (April 21-27th), we should remember that primary among those rights is the right to a criminal justice process that fully includes the victim and gives full weight to victim concerns.
There are very good reasons that the state, not the victim personally, is responsible for prosecuting crimes. Our system is intended to put the full weight of the state on the side of seeing that justice is done, and to avoid a revenge-based system that could lead to unfair results. But it is easy, in a system focused on respecting the rights of both victims and defendants, when penalties are imposed only for failing to ensure the rights of the latter, to give short shrift to the priorities of victims.
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