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1.84 7 Court and the Legal System—Civil Forensics

governments generally pull from taxes and penalty assessments to fund their own

victim compensation programs (Greer. 1994).

Forensic Psychology and Policy Implications

Criminals vs. Victims: Where Should the Focus Be?

As noted at the beginning of this section, there is an ever-present relationship

between crime and victims, between crime and government, and, thus, between

victims and government. Were it not for crime, victims of crime would not exist.

If the government's attempts to decrease the rate of crime in the United States

were more successful, perhaps the need for victim assistance would cease to exist.

Nevertheless, crime is a reality^7 and victims of crime hold an equal place in the

present day debate. Where, then, should our efforts be focused? Have we reached

a point where we are willing to concede that there is no easy solution to crime

and, thus, contribute to victim assistance? Questions such as these have important

implications for policy.

The first criticism of some victims' rights advocates addresses the government's

efforts to combat the problem of crime in contemporary America. Congress has

created numerous laws to deter crime. The laws that have been implemented to

decrease the rate of crime, however, have generally focused on the offender. That

is to say, the goal of the government with regard to victims of crime seems to be to

reduce crime itself and, in the process, the problem of victimization. By the 1970s

the government began to implement law and policy that dealt directly with the

victim rather than merely the offender. Regardless of such changes, the majority of

activity at the governmental level, however, remains focused around the offender.

The question here becomes to what degree should the government contribute

valuable resources to assisting victims as opposed to fighting or preventing crime

itself? This is an important question at both state and federal levels. Given the

inadequacy of funding efforts for both preventing and combating crime, as well as

compensating victims of crime, resources become increasingly valuable.

Recalling the case of Regina, would the financial and human resources of the

state and the county have been better spent on compensating Regina for her losses

or, rather, on apprehending the offender before he had the opportunity to strike?

Like many issues injustice, there is no easy answer. The reality is that only a limited

amount ot resources are available and each of these problems requires far more than

what is currently being afforded them.

Are We Really Compensating Victims?

Despite all of the reform efforts over the past several decades, questions still linger as

to whether victims are really being compensated as they should. With the expansion

of policy-related activity on both state and federal levels, one would expect that

victims may finally be granted the attention they arguably deserve. This, however,