Prevention of Crime Victimization

Criminal Justice

Prevention of Crime Victimization

Whether or not there should be government sponsored crime victimization programs is a debate that has been going on for a long time. Those who are in favor of such programs think that people who are innocent victims of crimes should be aided to recover from what has happened to them. Those who oppose these programs feel that individuals should be responsible for making sure that they don't become a victim of a crime and then there would be no need for such programs.

Research shows that the aftermaths of victimization touch not only the victim but also the victim's direct family and relatives, neighbors and friends. This holds true for the emotional as well as the financial costs, and the effects can last for years or even a lifetime. The effects of victimization strike particularly hard at the poor, the powerless, the disabled and the socially isolated. Research shows that those already affected by prior victimization are particularly susceptible to subsequent victimization by the same or other forms of crime (Handbook on Justice for Victims, 1999).

Those who oppose crime victimization programs feel that people should be more responsible to make sure that they don't become the victim of a crime. These people feel that the government can't afford crime victimization programs and thus the reasonability should be shifted to individual people. The rationale that is people where more responsible about where they were and who they were hanging out with then the number of crime victims would go down. And this in turn would lower the need for crime victimization programs.

Crime victimization programs are a needed entity in order to aid people who are victims of crime to put their lives back together and once again live as productive citizens.

At the time of a crime, or upon discovering that a crime has taken place, victims are likely to experience a number of physical reactions to the event. Some of these physical reactions may not occur until after the danger has passed or they may take place at a later stage when the memory of the crime returns. Such reactions may persist for some time after the crime has occurred, making it nearly impossible for these people to function everyday (Handbook on Justice for Victims, 1999). In some cases it is many years before crime victims recover and sometimes they never do.

There should be government sponsored programs in place to help those who are victims of crime deal with the after affects. Everything possible should be done to return these people to the life that they had before they were victimized. Innocent victims of crime did not ask for what happened to them and thus should not be punished for being a victim of circumstances. Programs should be well organized, have clearly defined goals and be appropriately staffed so that they can do the best job possible to help these people. These people are not looking for handouts but they are looking for a place to turn in order to get the help they need, whether that is financial or otherwise.