Steven Briggs - Criminology For Dummies

Option to refuse to be interviewed by the defense attorney or investigator: Although in most states anyone can refuse to be interviewed, victims can make this declaration early in the process and, theoretically, not be bothered at all by the defendant’s representatives.

Opportunity to give a statement at sentencing: One of the most important victims’ rights is known as the victim impact statement, which means that, at the time of sentencing, the victim gets to tell the judge how the crime impacted her. The victim can address the court directly or have the prosecutor read a statement.

Restitution: If a victim suffered financial loss, she has a right to a court order that requires the defendant to pay the money back. Typically, the defendant makes monthly payments to the court, which then distributes the money back to the victim.

What happens when someone in the justice system violates one of these rights? In many states, the answer is nothing. Victims’ rights often don’t have any teeth. However, a number of states have begun to enact laws to give victims some recourse in the event that they believe their rights have been violated. Even so, protecting victims’ rights can quickly become complicated.

Picture this scenario: A victim is notified that the defendant who attacked her is about to be arraigned. She doesn’t attend the hearing because the victim advocate told her that nothing significant usually happens at an arraignment. But at the arraignment, the defendant receives the plea offer and decides to take the deal and be sentenced. The victim clearly hasn’t been notified of the sentencing proceeding.

Should the judge go forward with the case? Or should the judge slow down the whole system and schedule a new hearing so that the victim can be notified and given the right to be present? The judge faces a choice between achieving greater efficiency and notifying the victim. In an overburdened system, the temptation to quickly resolve the case is great. If the judge decides to go forward with the case, the victim doesn’t have much recourse.

A few states, however, have created mechanisms through which victims can file complaints about violations of rights. For example, for certain serious crimes in Colorado, if a victim feels her rights were violated, she can file a complaint with a committee responsible for enforcing victims’ rights. The committee may conduct a hearing to assess the facts. If it determines that a violation occurred, it may issue recommendations to resolve the complaint. For instance, if a prosecutor failed to notify a victim of an important hearing, the prosecutor’s office may be required to create a formal policy for victim notification and to train its staff on how to notify victims. Although these kinds of repercussions may not do an individual victim much good, they do help to improve the overall system.

Although almost everyone in the criminal justice system is in favor of protecting victims, in reality, the system sometimes sees victims as complicating factors. After all, they can slow down the process and create extra political pressure on judges and prosecutors. However, given the fact that victims were ignored for so long, the fact that they now have some power in the courtroom is a great step forward. After all, an innocent victim who is forced into the criminal justice system against her will is entitled to have the system slow down a little to make sure she receives justice.

Part 2

IN THIS PART …

Discover the different types of homicide, from first degree murder to manslaughter to vehicular homicide.

Learn about different types of violent crime.

Identify the many types of theft and other property crimes.

Understand white-collar crime and why proving it is so difficult.

Dive in to organized crime; how it is so much more than the mafia.

Learn how to deal with dopers, getting down and dirty in the narcotics trade.

Recognize the different types of terrorist threats and figure out what to do about them.

Chapter 5

IN THIS CHAPTER

Labeling various types of homicide

Looking at other violent crimes, including assault, rape, robbery, and kidnapping

Considering some causes of violence

Ever since Cain snuck up behind his brother Abel, violence has been a part of the human condition. This fact isn’t exactly a source of pride, but you can’t deny it — any more than you can deny the fact that, as humans, you and I experience anger, jealousy, acne, and bad breath.

No human character trait has caused more misery and grief than mankind’s propensity for violence. In this chapter, I show you how violence manifests itself in criminal activity, and I walk you through the most common causes of that violence.

When one person physically harms another, that person’s violent conduct is generally (but not always) punishable as a crime. Through laws enacted by state legislatures and Congress, society uses the following criteria to rank the seriousness of violent crimes:

The type of violence

The severity of the violence

The harm the violence caused

Whether the offender intended to cause harm

In the following sections, I offer an overview of various types of violent crimes, including what each crime entails, who’s most likely to commit each crime, and how severe the punishment for each crime is.

The most serious type of violent crime is homicide, which is the killing of one human being by another. But not all homicides are equal. There’s a big difference, for example, between capital murder and assisted suicide. Here, I explain the labels that the law uses to characterize homicides, and I note the circumstances in which each label is applied.

Homicide tends to be a young man’s crime. Persons between the ages of 18 and 24 have been much more likely to commit homicide than any other age group, and men are about seven times more likely than women to commit homicide.

Murder is a type of homicide that most states once defined as the killing of another human being with “malice aforethought.” Because that’s such a tough phrase to crack, many states have nixed it from their laws. Hence, murder is now more commonly defined as the intentional killing of another human being.

Some states require proof of premeditation or deliberation to convict someone of murder. Premeditation means that the killer not only intended to kill the victim, but also made a cool-headed, thoughtful decision to do so. A typical sentence for murder may be anywhere from 20 years to life in prison.

Although the word murder is more specific than homicide, it often isn’t specific enough for today’s criminal justice system. Thus, you hear terms like first-degree murder and capital murder. Keep reading to find out how the law distinguishes between the different types of murder.