Explain victims’ rights and challenges (see Right to Protection, Right to Speedy Trial, Rights Related to Evidence, Issues with Victims’ Rights, pp. 102 – 1

 Book: Leah E. Daigle and Lisa Muftić: Victimology – A Comprehensive Approach, Second Edition. ISBN 9781544344126. Sage Publishers. 

Please complete a 650 to 750-word (2) review of the assigned weekly readings.  Answer at least three questions below. You must select the questions from at least two different chapters! You will be graded for quality and a critical appraisal of the issue(s) in the chapters.

This class is oriented on a ‘Monday-Saturday’ schedule.  You should post your original weekly chapter review to the Discussion board no later than Friday at 11:59 p.m. Responses to your classmates may be made after your original post has been submitted. Responses to your classmates must be completed no later than Saturday at 11:59 p.m. each week a reading response assignment is due. Late submissions will not be graded. For each topic’s reading response, there are TWO due dates; the first due date is Friday when original posts are due, and the second due date is Saturday when all responses to peers are due. Each student must respond to at least one classmate but may respond to more than one if desired. You must submit your own weekly reviews before you can comment on your peers' weekly reviews. In your comment, you should address some critical issues raised by your colleague in a paragraph (three to four sentences). “I enjoyed reading your post,” is not a relevant comment! Your comments are worth 20 points.

Week 1: Questions (Chapters 6, 7, and 8): 

Answer three questions (below) from any chapter of your choice. You can write up to three pages (maximum) or one-and-a-half pages (minimum).

Chapter 6: Victims’ Rights and Remedies

Victims of crime suffer physically, emotionally, and financially. Are they left to recover on their own, or are there services available to them? Who has the responsibility to help crime victims? The federal and most state legislatures in the U.S. have passed victims’ rights laws to enhance victim privacy, protection, and participation (Garvin, 2010). Victims have some rights under the law in all states, ranging from the right to be notified of court and parole hearings, the right to be present and express opinions at sentencing hearings, the right to be consulted about plea agreements, the right to compensation and restitution, and the right to a speedy trial. However, victims of crime still face challenges in exercising their rights.

Questions:

1) Explain victims’ rights and challenges (see Right to Protection, Right to Speedy Trial, Rights Related to Evidence, Issues with Victims’ Rights, pp. 102 – 104).

2) Victims who suffer financial losses can apply for financial compensation from the state, receive restitution from the offender, or seek a civil remedy. Explain any two victim-compensation programs: victim compensation, restitution, and civil litigation (see pp 108 -111).

3) The restorative justice movement believes that reducing crime is not only by punishing the offender or following a strict adversarial system that sets the defendant against the state. Instead, all parties impacted by crime should dialogue to resolve crime and victimization issues. Discuss restorative justice (pp. 115-116) or Victim-Offender Mediation Programs (pp.117 – 118).

Chapter 7: Homicide Victimization

Homicide is defined as the killing of an individual by another. It is subdivided into excusable, justifiable, and criminal homicide. Excusable homicide involves an accidental or unintentional killing. Guilt is not a factor in this case. Justifiable homicide includes killings in defense of property or life. This situation applies to law enforcement and private citizens. Criminal homicide is the purposeful (intentional) or negligent killing of one human being by another. Criminal homicide can be divided into first-degree murder (premeditated and malicious), second-degree murder (malicious but not premeditated), felony murder (a homicide committed during the commission of a crime), and manslaughter (the unlawful unintentional killing of another human being). There are two classifications of manslaughter, voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary Manslaughter is killing with intent but without premeditation. Involuntary Manslaughter is causing a death unintentionally. Generally, this is the result of recklessness or criminal negligence.

First-degree murder or homicide is the most severe crime that one can commit.

Questions:

1) Explain at least three types of homicide victimization: Filicide, Eldercide, Intimate Partner Homicide, Femicide, and Honor Killings (see pp. 136 – 141).

2) Discuss the legal and community responses to homicide victimization (see Police Responses, Court Responses, and Community Responses (pp. 146 – 148).

Chapter 8: Sexual Victimization

Sexual victimization involves sexual behavior committed against an individual. Sexual assault includes forcible rape, drug or alcohol-facilitated rape, incapacitated rape, statutory rape, sexual coercion, unwanted sexual contact with force, and visual and verbal abuse. According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), almost 1 in 5 women had been raped in their lifetime. Men also experienced rape but at a lower level. One in 71 men (or 1.4%) have been raped during their lifetime. Other agencies that measure sexual assault in the U.S. include the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)/National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) by the FBI, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) by the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS), the National College Women Victimization Survey (NCWSV), the National Study of Drug or Alcohol Facilitated, Incapacitated, and Forcible Rape, and the Association of  American Universities Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct.

Questions:

1) Certain risk factors place a person at higher risk of sexual victimization. Females are more likely to be sexually victimized than are males. Age, socioeconomic status, where a person lives, and lifestyle/routine activities theory relate to sexual victimization. Discuss. (See Risk Factors and Characteristics of Sexual Victimization, pp. 162 – 163).

2) There are many physical, emotional, psychological, behavioral, and relationship effects caused by rape and sexual victimization. There are also financial costs associated with rape. Discuss. (See Consequences of Sexual Victimization, pp. 168 -169).

3) Explain programs that can be designed to reduce the occurrence of rape and sexual victimization (see Prevention and Intervention, p. 180).