Victims and Crime: Role of Prosecutor, Defense Attorney, Criminal and Victim - Term Paper Example

 Victims and crime Abstract Justice is for everybody. That is why the prosecutor, defense attorney, criminal and victim rely on sentencing which is formulated based on the law to represent the welfare of the entire community. Violators of the law such as the criminals however are still provided with the opportunity to defend their side prior to the implementation of probable sentencing. This is evident from understanding the role of prosecutor, defense attorney, criminal and victim. Sentencing remarkably has goals associated with each of these roles. This is the reason why the court at some point may substantially result to embracing alternative sanctions as there are some cases in which it could not find exact decisions that would fit the circumstances of the crime, the victim and the offender. In this case, it is also important to consider remarkably the victim’s rights so as to come up with fair treatment and ensure efficient justice system. All of the above issues are specifically discussed in this paper. Role of prosecutor, defense attorney, criminal and victim Prosecutor represents the entire community and not the interest of private entity or an individual. In addition, it tries to assist the court to arrive at the truth not for the interest of few, but the entire community. Defense attorney’s role is to defend his or her clients. The whole process of defense involves presentation of remarkable information or evidences that have strong convincing power to substantially disprove the claims of prosecution. The criminal on the other hand would substantially rely on the entire capacity or capability of the defense attorney. Criminal should disclose the whole truth with his defense attorney in order to formulate arguments that substantially would apply the law, which at some point would lead to case dismissal or acquittal or simply reduction of the intensity or length of the sentence. Just like the criminal, the victim on the other hand would rely on the entire capacity of the prosecutor to represent the entire community and assist the court to arrive at the truth. In other words, the role also of the victim is to disclose all substantial evidences and the whole truth. This will allow the prosecutor to have remarkable stands and interpretations how the victim’s right shall be substantially addressed within the entire scope of law. The goals of sentencing associated with each role Generally, the goals of sentencing include promotion to respect the law, reflection of the seriousness of the offense, punishment, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation (Champion, 2008, p. 2). Mostly, criminal offenses when proven would result to punishment which clearly defines the bottom line about sentencing. Prosecutors primarily help the court in a way that the law will be enforced and applied in all cases. Thus, biases and other related problems should be entirely eliminated and the right sentencing should be implemented. This will also help ensure that the respect of the law is primarily addressed and by the nature of prosecutor’s role, the entire community and the interest of all should be the fundamental consideration. The prosecutor therefore should remarkably make it a point that the whole focus of the argument should be established on the ground of the whole truth, and nothing else. The defense attorney on the other hand would try to reflect on the seriousness of the offense if ever there is a positive association of it with the client’s case. In this way, the defense attorney would be able to claim for case acquittal or for reduction of the required sentence. For example, if the defense attorney will be able to prove that the seriousness of the offense does not need to be sentenced for life, then there is a great possibility of obtaining reduction of the required sentence. However, deterrence of punishment would be the ultimate goal of a defense attorney in as much as possible. Just like with defense attorney, the criminals in response to the case filed against them would want to appeal for deterrence of punishment and so it is their goal to have their entire case substantially be analyzed. Their entire concern would be avoidance of punishment in as much as possible and so they would set their goal on the analysis of the seriousness of their offenses. In this regard, they would be able to find ways and means on how deterrence would be applied in their case. Therefore, the goal of sentencing from the point of view of the criminal is about minimization or avoidance of possible punishment. The victim on the other hand would be too focused on the possible punishment that the law would apply on the culprit. Thus, the victims are looking forward that the entire goals of sentencing would be substantially applied just like with the prosecutors. In other words, promotion to respect the law, reflection of the seriousness of the offense, punishment, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation are what the victims would look forward from the sentencing in response to their cases. Goals of alternative sanctions Sentencing generally ends up either probation or incarceration. However, there are some cases in which the actual sentencing options cannot be satisfied in court due to not being able to fit the circumstances of the crime, the victim and the offender (Clear, Reisig & Cole, 2012). In this case, the ultimate goal of alternative sanctions is to apply varying alternative sanctions and even in combined forms that will address the above concerns. Furthermore, the alternative sanctions ensure that the appropriate sentence is appropriately employed on the culprit. In other words, alternative sanctions are the appropriate moves to be done on court especially if the judges are not satisfied with the available sentencing options in the court. However, with alternative sanctions, the goal of sentencing still remains towards promotion to respect the law, reflection of the seriousness of the offense, punishment, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation. Recommendations regarding victim’s rights Considering the varying goals of sentencing associated with the role of prosecutor, defense attorney, criminal and victim, it is important to understand that each one of them has substantial moves in order to obtain their individual objectives. Thus, in the case of the victims, it is therefore important that their rights to achieve justice should be substantially addressed. In this case, they should be well-informed about their constitutional and statutory rights (Davis, 2009). Furthermore, they should be given protection from intimidation, well-provided for the restitution in criminal cases, guidelines and expanded programs (Siegel, 2011). In other words, victims should have the right to know more all about their rights and this could be substantially implemented if the government should provide substantial efforts, budgets and strong political will to come up with efficient justice system. Conclusion The justice system clearly shows that justice is for everyone. However, given the opportunity that everyone is given the opportunity to defend their side prior to implementation of sentencing, reason is remarkably considered to be the best option in order to promote respect for the law, reflect the seriousness of the offense, punishment, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation. All these concerns are important to be considered as the primary goals of sentencing and because of them, prosecutor, defense attorney, criminal and the victim would usually claim their rights by potentially applying reasons. In other words, sentencing is the actual result of providing substantial reasons which are interpreted by the court with fair treatment for everybody as guided by the constitutional and statutory rights for everyone. Thus, as a final interpreter of the law, the court should be required to substantially protect the welfare of the concerns most especially the victims as they should be supported by the entire community. This is due to the fact that violating one’s right is also infringement of the entire community’s rights. References Champion, D. J. (2008). Sentencing: a reference handbook. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. Clear, T. R., Reisig, M. D., & Cole, G. F. (2012). American Corrections. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Siegel, L. J. (2011). Criminology (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Davis, R. C. (2009). Securing rights for victims: a process evaluation of the National Crime Victim Law Institute’s victims’ rights clinics. Pittsburgh, PA: Rand Corporation. Read More