Victims’ Advocacy
Crime victims are offered assistance by victim advocates in the process of seeking justice and other support services. Some of the assistive services provided by victim advocates include information, advice, and filling of paperwork necessary for judicial proceedings. Victim advocates may work as independent individuals or as victim advocate groups. Victim advocates may decide to accompany victims to the court or offer other services such as sharing information that will aid the victims in their search for justice. Victim advocates are viewed as victim service providers, witness coordinators, or maybe witness specialists. One of the victims’ advocate groups is the Victim’s Service Unit and offers support services to victims and their families over the criminal justice process.
The Victim’s Service Unit (VSU) works under the argument that victims have rights and that the rights of the victims should be protected. The attorney general is tasked with protecting the rights of the victims presented before the courts (Grodin, Shanske & Salerno, 2016, n. p). The Victim’s Service Unit acknowledges the need and provides information and assistance to victims of crime and their families at the various stages of the criminal justice process. After a ruling is made concerning a case involving the victims, the Victim’s Service Unit is responsible for providing appeal notifications to the victims or their families. The appeal notifications are made irrespective of whether the cases are capital or non-capital. Generally, the Victim’s Service Unit ensures that victims can track the progress of appeals and other recusal cases. Also, the unit ensures that victims are not intimidated into giving up on the pursuance of justice. Therefore, the primary function of the Victim’s Service Unit is to provide support services to victims of crime in the search for justice.
Crime victims face several challenges, and the Victim’s Service Unit relies on its strengths to address the various challenges presented by victims. First, the unit operates independently from the judicial systems and is therefore not compromised in seeking justice for the victims (Gupta & Sharma, 2017, 20). Also, the unit is based on transparency, and victims are allowed total access to the information that they need in their pursuance of justice. Generally, the nature of services offered by the Victim’s Service Unit wins them loyalty from clients and continue to grow without much resistance. Therefore, the Victim’s Service Unit benefits from the fact that clients use the services of the unit on free will, and thus resistance is minimum. However, the Victim’s Service Unit is not safe from challenges and weaknesses.
The Victim’s Service Unit has weaknesses that may hinder its operations in some instances. First, the ability of the unit is limited to the decision given by a law court. Generally, the unit does little in changing the decision that the court finally makes. Unlike the USA Victim Assistance Program, the Victims Service Unit has fewer powers in impacting the judicial processes. Therefore, the unit only provides the necessary support and leaves the victim to go through the process on their own. Also, the Victim’s Service Unit suffers from financial constraints when victims are more than the available funds. Besides, criminal justice processes are expensive, and providing the services to victims sometimes becomes uneconomical. Generally, the Victim’s Service Unit is forced to operate against several challenges to achieve the primary goal of seeing all the victims of crime, enjoying the administration of justice.
Moreover, the services offered by Victim’s Service Unit can be improved to address more challenges faced by victims of crime. First, access by victims can be improved by introducing more toll-free numbers. Generally, victims fail to report cases due to a lack of resources as well as the unavailable contact numbers (Gupta, Ripberger & Wehde, 2018, 120). Also, the contact numbers should be assigned to more personnel to avoid cases of unanswered calls, as has been reported by several victims. Victims are always in a state of hurry and lack patience in terms of seeking help. When a victim does not receive information at the time, they need them, and they quickly give up on the desire to seek justice.
The Victim’s Service Unit may also enhance cooperation with the office of the attorney general to improve the provision of justice. If the Victim’s Service Unit enhances cooperation with the attorney general, the criminal justice process will not suffer from compromise. Victims will also have more trust in the unit since they will be guaranteed to receive justice at the end of the process.
In sum, the Victim’s Service Unit offers support services to victims and their families over the criminal justice process. The unit ensures that victims are not intimidated into giving up on the pursuance of justice. Generally, the Victim’s Service Unit benefits from the fact that clients use the services of the unit on freewill, and thus resistance is minimum. However, the Victim’s Service Unit is forced to operate against several challenges to achieve the primary goal of seeing all the victims of crime, enjoying the administration of justice. The services offered by the Victim’s Service Unit can be improved to address more challenges faced by victims of crime.
References
Grodin, J. R., Shanske, D., & Salerno, M. B. (2016). The California State Constitution. Oxford University Press, USA.
Gupta, K., Ripberger, J., & Wehde, W. (2018). Advocacy group messaging on social media: Using the narrative policy framework to study twitter messages about nuclear energy policy in the united states. Policy Studies Journal, 46(1), 119-136.
Gupta, M., & Sharma, A. (2017). Unit-16 Shelter for Victims. IGNOU.