Criminology Essay - Victims and their Rights
Introduction
CMS Funding was announced in June 1999 to "streamline the criminal justice system"(Chief Secretary, Alan Milburn, www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom, 1999), with a Ministerial Priority on Policing established (Rt Hon. Jack Straw, http://news.bbc.co.uk, 1999, March, 25). Following the publication of the Auld Report (www.criminal-courts-review.org.uk, 2001, September) a Government White Paper was published advocating a 'joined up system', echoing the "joined up Government in action" approach promoted by the Home Secretary in 1999 (Rt Hon. Jack Straw http://news.bbc.co.uk, 1999, March, 25). The remit of this White Paper was to identify a 'clear focus on fighting and reducing crime'(Justice for All, HMSO, http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk, 2002, July).
The rule of law should represent the ideal of a universal goodness exhibiting "no negative impact on any given society, and no negative characteristics that could apply to its nature', likening it to Bentham's 'good in-and-of-itself'" according to Thompson (Thompson, 1975, Page 266). Unfortunately, it appears to be this concept that has swung too far in the favour of society's miscreants to the detriment of their victims and the communities in which these offenders live, prompting the current debate on victims' rights and David Blunkett's intentions to re-address "the balance to deliver real justice to victims and the wider community" (Blunkett www.policesupers.com/police, 2002, July).
Discussion
Whilst all people might be considered equal according to classicist precepts, with governments created by those individuals to protect the people's rights through the recognition of a social contract (McCoubrey and White, 1999, Page 60 - 84), David Blunkett singles out a specific sector of society by suggesting that: "nearly three quarters of street crime offenders are under 17 and a hard core five per cent of juveniles are responsible for 60 per cent of offences for their age group" (Blunkett, www.publications.parliament.uk, 2002, November, 14)
Clearly, despite the introduction of innumerable projects designed to re-integrate offenders back into their communities, the growth in lawless behaviour has not diminished. Many measures to restrain unacceptable behaviour are now available, amongst which are Youth Offending Teams, Final Warning Schemes, Detention and Training Orders, Acceptable Behaviour Programmes, Parenting Orders, Reparation Orders and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Blunkett, www.publications.parliament.uk, 2002, November, 14) although, retrospectively, little appears to have improved.
In December 2003 Lord Falconer of Thoroton emphasised that this: "crime and anti-social behaviour corrupts communities, eating away at the fabric of the way we all want to live our lives" (Lord Falconer, www.dca.gov.uk2003, December 3).
An increasing lack of morality appears to be more prevalent within modern society, with Chief Superintendent of Greater Manchester Police describing these amoral youths as "feral" (The Times Newspaper, 2005, May, 18). Despite all the legislation at the disposal of the criminal justice system, however, the 'yob culture' appears to be endemic, with the vulnerable in society more at risk of becoming victims than ever before.
The media report lurid headlines on a daily basis: "Beaten to death on his doorstep" (Daily Mail, 2005, May 21); "Beaten up on Video Phone" (Daily Mail, 20/05/05); "Hoody ban eases shoppers' fear" (Daily Mail, 20/05/05, page 8). The edition on May 19th 2005 reported how 'thugs attack a funeral car' by launching an 8 foot length of wood through the windscreen of the car travelling immediately behind the hearse. It has been reported that "...some forces are not making good use of legislation and tackling the imitation firearm problem" (Green, Deputy Chief Constable, Greater Manchester in Daily Mail, 20/05/05, Page 8) when children, some as young as 13, routinely carry replica BB guns, which can cause serious injury to targets up to 30 yards away, around the streets.
In 2002 the Home Secretary intended: "to deliver real justice to victims and the wider community and strike a fair balance between the rights of victims and the accused" (Blunkett, www.policesupers.com, July 17).
Evidence of this can be seen in the introduction of Problem Orientated Policing which incorporates community initiatives, together with a number of other stakeholders within the criminal justice system and aims to introduce additional improvements to the youth justice system and establish "more effective justice for victims and the wider community" through "more effective punishment and rehabilitation..".(Leigh, Read and Tilley, 1996).
Protecting the community should be at "the heart of a stable and civilised society" and these changes to the criminal justice system should be in accordance to society's needs and expectations (Lord Chancellor, www.policesupers.com, 2002, July, 17). An example of which can be seen in South Africa which incorporates the ethos of restorative justice [known as 'Zwelethemba'] with the essence of maintaining peace in the community (Roche, 2004: 85). Money received from this programme is contributed back into the community to reduce poverty and unemployment and attempt to remove the need for 'draconian repressive measures' (Roche, 2004: 231).
Blakemore suggests that social policy should evaluate how policies impact on peoples' lives (Blakemore, 1998: 5). Acceptable behaviour is enforced through law and morality which is maintained through rules and principles: "the cement of society" (Devlin cited in Elliott and Quinn, 1998: 449). This 'cement' illustrates legal moralism that has been identified as 'socially significant' (Cotterrell, 1989: 1), providing an analysis of law's conceptual structures (1989, Page 3) and emphasising the importance of shared values, ultimately influencing individuals' behaviour (Pampel, 2000: 57) a decline, as the result of organic solidarity differentiating collective conscience, creating an environment for an increase in crime. This philosophy of inter-related support has been recognised as structural functionalism which, taken to extremes, acknowledges that poverty and crime are normal and natural functions within any healthy society (Pampel, 2000, Page 75).
