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The Importance and Duties of a

Victim/Witness Advocate

By: Alejandro Colon

Written in May 2015

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When talking about victims and their right to know what is going on in the judicial

process, they should know everything. Over the years, law enforcement and prosecutors have

been working together to achieve this goal. It is hard to work toward a goal like this when there

is so much crime going on around us. Talking in more specific terms, the Springfield District

Court has one of the heaviest workloads of them all. People are constantly entering and

reentering the court system in the city of Springfield. The murder rate per 1,000 is 0.14 which is

more than three times higher than the rest of the United States at 0.04 (neighborhoodscout.com).

This makes Springfield safer than only 5% of the rest of the cities in the United States. Rape,

robbery, and assault are also way higher than the national average. This means there are more

victims in Springfield than there are in 95% of the rest of the cities in the United States. It is

important and necessary for the victims of these crime to be involved in the entire process.

Making sure they know if they have to be in court, if the defendant is released from jail, and if

there are any types of counseling or services they can take are some of the primary jobs of victim

advocates.

Law Enforcement Involvement

The judicial process starts with law enforcement. Police officers are the first to the scene

and they are the individuals who write the report about what happened. Parsons and Bergin

(2010) believe law enforcement should immediately address the needs of the victim including

emergency services, inform them of all their rights, explain the process for prosecuting a case,

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and make referrals to victim services. Maintaining a comfortable relationship with police officers

is the first step to recovery for the victims. A poor record of responding to victims’ needs,

especially in rape and domestic violence cases, can and has corroded the reputation of law

enforcement (Jordan, 2001, as cited in Parsons & Bergin, 2010). Police officers are faced with

several judgmental decisions every day. They choose what is important and what is to be left

alone. When it comes to violent crimes, it doesn’t matter what the scenario is, it should be

addressed effectively and correctly. Police officers’ decision to pursue or drop a case can be

influenced by factors such as the victim’s level of distress, their age, race, socioeconomic status,

and history with drugs and alcohol (Baldry, 1996; Brown, Hamilton & O’Neill, 2007; Campbell

& Raja, 1999; Frazier & Haney, 1996; Howerton, 2006; Rose & Randall, 1982, as cited in

Parson & Bergin, 2010). These factors should not matter because knowing how a person is really

feeling inside is impossible unless you talk to them or have another professional talk to them.

Using discretion in these situations tend to result in negative long-term opinions about law

enforcements as a whole, therefore it should no longer exist.

Prosecutor Involvement

Previous research shows that violent crimes are becoming more popular, but at the same

time, more sensitive to the public. The victim’s involvement in the criminal procedures was

scarce for a long time. Previous studies have shown that victims are often displeased with the

information they received from prosecutors on what to expect in court (Bennett, Goodman &

Dutton 1999; Frazier & Haney, 1996; Konradi, 1997, as cited in Parsons & Bergin, 2010).

Thanks to victims’ right advocates, efforts to give victims of violent crimes a voice within the

system has increased (Anderson, 2015). Goodrum (2013) claims that when she was first hired as

a prosecutor in the eighties, they didn’t spend a lot of time with the victims and their families.

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The focus was mainly on winning the case and not the emotional despair the families were going

through if it were a homicide case. Goodrum (2015) states that they are responsible for the case,

but the victims have rights and they have to make sure they are provided their rights. The victims

are just as involved with the case as the defendant and it is imperative that they feel this way. As

mentioned earlier, changes are being made to the system. The legal rights of victims of violent

and sexual assault crimes now include the right to be informed about the victims’ rights law, the

right to provide a victim witness impact statement, the right to have support of a victim advocate

during the interviews and trials, and the right to be informed about the final disposition of the

case (Anderson, 2015). Many times in court, the victim will be very upset about the situation. In

order to make them feel more involved in the process, we ask what they would like to see happen

with the verdict. Although this does not have an effect on the outcome, it is important for us as

advocate’s to forward this information to the prosecutor.

Impact Statement

The victim impact statement is a way for the victim to express how they really feel in

court. It gives them the opportunity to let all of their feelings out for the defendant, judge, jury,

and prosecutor to hear. They tell them how this experience has personally effected them

physically and emotionally. While this may seem like an extremely helpful and effective way to

get the victim’s point across, Erez, Roeger, and Morgan (1997) found no improvement in

victims’ satisfaction with the system following their participation in a victim impact statement.

Goodrum (2013) adds that victim impact statements may not give victims the type of

involvement they want. On the contrary, in one survey, a large majority of victims who were

informed of their right to submit an impact statement chose to do so in order to feeling like they

have a symbolic value (Kilpatrick, Beatty & Howley, 1998, as cited in Parsons & Bergin, 2010).

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Hirsch (2008), as cited in Goodrum (2013), believes receiving recognition and support from

government officials is the best way to bring order to their sense of self. This seems to be a more

effective way to help someone because people who are vulnerable need to feel that type of

comfort. When you are feeling alone, a simple one to two minute statement is not going to bring

a solution to that feeling. Victim impact statements have not been around for a while because

some believe it could tamper with the system. Barker, 2007; Erez & Rogers, 1999; Herman,

2005, as cited in Anderson 2015, claims the legal system has previously minimized the victims

power and choice within the criminal justice system due to fears that victims’ desires for

vengeance will compromise the neutrality of the system and the protection of defendant’s

constitutional rights. This is definitely something to consider when talking about presenting a

victim impact statement to the jury or the judge. People who ultimately make the decision on the

case can make a biased decision based on being sympathetic for the victim. This would throw off

the balance that the court system bases their principles off of. If the statement was done more

privately, maybe it could still have an impact. My experience with victim impact statements is it

works well in some cases but not all. There was a case where the defendant, who was a female,

physically assaulted another female because of an ex-boyfriend problems. The victim read her

impact statement and she expressed how the experience has hurt her physically and emotionally.

While she was reading this, I was peaking over at the defendant to see her reaction of what the

victim was saying. The defendant was very angry and had both fists balled up like she wanted to

assault her again. The defendant was found guilty and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Although she

was sentenced, the defendant is still going to have that rage built up inside of her when she’s

released and possibly retaliate. In another case, the victim impact statement was very helpful. It

was a domestic violence case where the defendant was a male and the victim was a female. She

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was extremely hurt by the situation because this was the first time it had ever happened and she

loved him dearly. She expressed that he needs to stop drinking because he turns into a different

person when he does. The victim’s impact statement brought the defendant to tears and it was

easy to tell that he regretted what he did. He was found guilty and sentenced to 90 days in jail

along with drug and alcohol classes. It was nice to see the victim explain herself and for the

defendant to understand why she felt that way. This was definitely a relationship that could be

rebuild into what it was before the incident.

No-Drop Prosecution

As a victim advocate, you see many cases where the person does not want to press

charges on the defendant for a number of reasons. One of these could be they are scared when

they get out of jail/prison, they will seek revenge against the victim and harm them once again.

This is a very common fear for a person to have whether they know them or not. In domestic

violence situations, the couple might get into a fight and the neighbors end up calling the police.

Whether it was a man hitting a woman, or a woman hitting a man, the person that hit their spouse

must be arrested and brought to jail. After this occurs, the case is out of the victims hands.

Nichols (2014) explains the no-drop policy requires state prosecution of any perpetrator of

domestic violence, regardless of the survivor’s desire to prosecute. In other words, the defendant

is now in the hands of the commonwealth and has to defend him or herself against the state.

Woman advocates feel that this is a great way to stop domestic violence. They believe it helps

women prosecute domestic violence as a public crime against the state, rather than the victim,

and send a message to society that opposes violence against women (Cassidy, 2006; Hanna,

1996, as cited by Nichols, 2014). This takes away the intimidation factor that was mentioned

earlier about the victim not wanting to press charges because they were scared of retaliation. This

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can also spark a problem because it is common for obsessive men or women to hold a grudge

against the person that sent them to jail, even though it wasn’t actually them that did it.

Kruttschnitt (2008) believes we are a long way from an agreement on the correct way of

addressing this problem. A study that Kruttschnitt (2008) talked about that was conducted by

Davis, O’Sullivan, Farole, and Rempel (2008) explains the difference between Bronx and

Brooklyn court systems. Brooklyn has a strict no-drop prosecution policy and about 99% of the

domestic violence arrests are filed with the court (Kruttschnitt, 2008). While the Bronx does not

have a policy and about 20% of domestic violence cases are filed with their court. While the two

boroughs are extremely different when it comes to their domestic violence policies, the findings

show that they isn’t a significant difference in the rearrest rates (Kruttschnitt, 2008). Dixon

(2008), as cited in Kruttschnitt (2008), explains:

“Victim safety, offender accountability, and specific deterrence take a back seat to

the issue of the increasing intrusion of crime-control measures into the lives of

“socially marginal” populations who, Dixon argues, need a much wider range of

social services than domestic violence courts and police can provide.”

She believes although the findings may show one thing, there are many other things that we need

to consider. She also believes there needs to be more domestic violence programs that are

available for those who need it.

Restorative Justice

Restorative justice gives the victim and the defendant an opportunity to talk under the

supervision of the court. The aims are to lessen the victim’s fear and tension toward the

defendant, for the victim to explain how the crime has affected them, for the offended to admit

his wrongdoing and apologize, and for the offended to possibly make up for what they did

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(Fawley and Daly, 2005). Parsons and Bergin (2010) believe restorative justice is possibly the

most widely researched alternative to adversarial court hearings. Restorative justice provides a

great opportunity for the victim to participate more in mediation and sentencing than the

traditional adversarial model because it allows them to confront the offender in a controlled

environment that is free from the court room (Umbreit, 1998, as cited in Parsons and Bergin,

2008). As for domestic violence cases, Astor (1991) as cited by Fawley and Daly (2005),

believes restorative justice is counterproductive. The reason for this is because she believes

restorative justice is a type of mediation, and to her, mediation in domestic violence cases does

not work. All it does is bring up the facts that the victim already knows, but presents it to a larger

crowd of people (Astor, 1991, as cited in Fawley and Daly, 2005). Restorative justice also occurs

when the victim is deceased because of the offender. This happens a lot when a mourning family

wants to talk to the person who killed their loved one. It helps with the grieving process because

the defendant can explain why it happened. Fawley and Daly (2005) believe it encourages a

more holistic understanding of the offense, rather than one confined to legal relevancies. Overall,

restorative justice gives the victim a better understanding of the legal process as a whole. The

main goal of this kind of mediation is to provide comfort to the victim and ensure them that they

are not the one to blame in the situation. It also helps the offender express their feelings which

might provide closure for the both of them.

Effects

Being a victim of any type of crime can have a huge impact on someone’s life. As a

victim advocate, you see victims of all types of crimes every single day. Therefore, it could be

common to not show sympathy to every victim because you have dealt with this type of crime

before. This is where you have to stay focused and keep in mind that this may be the victim’s

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first time experiencing something like this and making sure they are fine is the main priority.

This is important especially when the crime involves some sort of physical force being brought

upon the victim. Campbell and Raja (1999) as cited by Parson and Bergin (2010) believes that a

negative interaction with the legal system is a direct important predictor of post rape traumatic

stress symptoms. After completing an entire summer as an advocate, I learned that

communicating with the victim’s is the first step to their recovery. When something like a rape

or an assault occurs, the victim can feel lonely and possibly have self-esteem problems. These set

backs are extremely common with these types of crimes. You could never know exactly how a

person feels or what they have been through so it is important to try to understand as much as

you can. The only way of doing this is gaining the trust of the victim so you can ensure them that

they will be safe. Remaining focused throughout the entire court process is also important

because many court cases take months to resolve. A victim may think they are over the situation

because it happened months ago. This is until they have to see the defendant, responding police

officer/ambulance, etc. all over again which will cause them to relive the experience. Observing

the victim’s behavior after this has happened is necessary so you know if they reacted well or

not.

Conclusion

After completing a summer internship and conducting research on other courts, I’ve

learned that victim advocates are very important in the rehabilitation process. Although they are

not really powerful lawyers or judges and barely ever get recognized, they are extremely

important to the victim and their rights. As mentioned before, the victim’s advocate does not

come in contact with them until the crime is already going through the court process. First

responders are also very important to the victim and the rehabilitation process because they are

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the first people the victim talks to. I think we need to make it a requirement for law enforcement

and EMT to provide the victim with a step by step guide that will let them know what is going to

happen in the next few days or weeks. This would change the opinion about law enforcement

and first responders much more because they victim will leave the scene feeling much more

informed. Being a victim advocate is a tough job because you never know how the person is

going to react to their situation. Staying open minded and understanding is the best way to

approach each and every victim.

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