The Criminal Justice System in Transition: Assisting Victims of Crime

The movement to call attention to and assist victims of crime in the United States was closely tied in with other movements such as the civil rights movement and women’s movement. Until the 1950s, the victims of crime were chiefly viewed in terms of being witnesses for the prosecution who were called to testify against persons charged with crimes against them. As the mass media drew attention to the inequalities of the justice system, the needs of minorities, women, and victims drawn into the system received more attention. Federal legislation passed in the 1970s provided funding for the establishment of victim services agencies. Gradually, state legislators enacted laws that benefited victims of crime in terms of offering compensation and other types of assistance to those physically or materially harmed by criminal activity. The justice system followed suit by involving the victims in the judicial component through victim impact statements and creating dispositions that would protect the victims from future victimization by convicted offenders.