✅ Unit 1 of this subject is free to read: open Unit 1 → · 🛒 order the package →
Unit 5: Crime Victims Justice System
5.1 Concept of Crime Victim Justice System
A victim justice system is the criminal justice system re-imagined from the victim’s seat: the victim as rights-holder and participant, not mere evidence. Its pillars:
- Recognition — the harm and the victim are officially acknowledged.
- Participation — information, voice, and presence through the process.
- Reparation — restitution, compensation, and rehabilitation as justice’s outputs.
- Non-repetition — guarantees that the victimization stops (protection; structural prevention).
The contrast with the classic model: classic justice asks what law was broken and what punishment follows; victim justice adds what harm was done, to whom, and what repair follows. Nepal’s constitutional uptake: Article 21’s trio (information, rehabilitation, compensation) is a victim-justice clause inside a classic constitution.
5.2 Concept and Role of Restorative Justice
Restorative justice (RJ): the process where victim, offender, and community jointly address the harm’s consequences and its future repair — justice as restoration rather than retribution alone. Core ideas:
- Crime is a violation of people and relationships (not only of the state).
- Justice must repair harms and rebuild where possible.
- Dialogue and consent are the method — the victim’s participation is voluntary, never forced; the offender’s acknowledgement is the entry fee.
- Outcomes: apology, restitution, service, and agreement — the reintegrative approach to offenders (shame rebuilt as responsibility — Braithwaite’s idea, studied by name).
RJ forms: victim-offender mediation; family group conferencing; circle processes; community panels; and truth-and-reconciliation commissions (RJ’s macro form for mass victimization).
Role in a victim justice system: RJ supplies what punishment cannot — the victim’s answers (what happened, why), the offender’s acknowledgement, and a repair plan — while the classic system supplies what RJ cannot — deterrence’s public message and protection from the unwilling. The systems are complements, not rivals.
This is a preview. The complete Victimology notes — full unit, Exam Focus box and model questions — are in the PDF / full version. Get the complete notes →