The Struggle for ‘‘Ownership of Conflict’’: An Exploration of Victim Participation and Voice in the Criminal Justice System

• Author: Christine M. Englebrecht
• Published date: 01 June 2011
• Date: 01 June 2011
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016811399419
• Subject Matter: Articles

Articles

The Struggle for

‘‘Ownership of Conflict’’:

An Exploration of Victim

Participation and Voice in

the Criminal Justice System

Christine M. Englebrecht

1

Abstract

In the past several decades, the victims’ rights movement has advocatedfor a more inclusive criminal

justice system, one that would allow victims greater voice. In response, states have created

opportunities for victims to participate in the various stages of the justice process. One example of

this inclusion is the victim impact statement that allows victims the opportunity to share their

stories and victimization experiences with the court. And, while there is an abundance of research

examining the effects of these statements on certain outcomes (e.g., sentencing), few studies have

explored how the victim’s role in the justice process is created in relation to, or perhaps in conflict

with, criminaljustice workers. The current study used in-depth interviewswith criminal justice officials

and families of homicide victims to uncover views of victimparticipation. Results indicated that while

most members of the courtroomworkgroup felt victims should have a role in the justice process, they

believed that role should be limited. Conversely, advocates and crime victims sought a more pro-

nounced role for victims in the justice process.These disparate views caused conflict between these

groups and raised questions about the nature of the role for victims in the justice process.

Keywords

victim participation, victims’ rights movement, victim impact statement, qualitative research

Introduction

In the United States, the criminal justice system is the organizational complex through which

punishments are meted out against those who commit crimes. While the state seeks redress for the

entire community through its sentencing of offenders, this corrective system has historically

excluded individual crime victims from this response. In part due to this omission, the victims’ rights

1

Bowling Green State University, USA

Corresponding Author:

Christine M. Englebrecht, Bowling Green State University, Criminal Justice Program, 223 Health Center, Bowling Green,

OH 43403, USA

E-mail: cengleb@bgsu.edu

Criminal Justice Review

36(2) 129-151

ª2011 Georgia State University

Reprints and permission:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/0734016811399419

http://cjr.sagepub.com

movement emerged promoting greater participation and voice for victims of crime. The evolution of

this movement has been marked by an increase in legislated ‘‘rights’’ for crime victims. And whileit

has become more common for victims to participate in the criminal justice process, the allowance of

victims’ voices in the criminal justice system was not an automatic, especially when it came to

victims expressing how they were wronged in capital cases.

In the past several decades, the Supreme Court has debated whether victims should have a voice

in capital cases.

1

In the landmark case Payne v. Tennessee (1991), the highest court ruled that the

inclusion of victims’ voices during capital cases was permissible, but not mandated, leaving the

decision with individual states. Today, the majority of states that retain capital punishment allow

victims the opportunity to present victim impact evidence (Blume, 2003). And while the Payne deci-

sion furthered the momentum gained by the victims’ rights movement, many state legislatures had

made provisions for victims to speak even before Payne (McLeod, 1986).

The opportunity for victims to be heard within the justice process, through the creation and deliv-

ery of a victim impact statement, allows victims a chance to describe to the court how their life has

been affected by the actions of the offender. Currently, all states allow victims to create, and under

certain circumstances, deliver an impact statement at the time of sentencing (Johnson & Morgan,

2008).

2

This inclusion provides victims with the opportunity to make a potentially significant, albeit

small, claim to ownership over their conflict (Christie, 1977).

As new participants in the justice process, crime victims enter the criminal justice system and step

inside the halls of complex organizations mandated by society to correct and set things straight. And

while there has been an increase in opportunities to promote victim participation, it remains unclear

how criminal justice personnel, including members of the courtroom workgroup (Eisenstein &

Jacob, 1977), view the addition of victims and their voices. Research reports instances when crim-

inal justice actors (i.e., judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys) viewed the presence of crime vic-

tims as an intrusion on the work of the state (Davis, Kunreuther, & Connick, 1984; Erez & Rogers,

1999). With regard to the victim impact statement, Erez and Laster (1999) document the tendency of

criminal justice officials to ‘‘neutralize’’ or sanitize the input and statements made by victims,

thereby negating the potential impact of this participation. With respect to system personnel then,

it is important to examine how criminal justice actors perceive victims’ rights, including the role

of the victim in the justice process, as well as how those working in the criminal justice system

attempt to promote or perhaps exclude victim input from the broader legal narrative.

The current study examined the views of criminal justice personnel and victims regarding victim

participation. Based on interviews with these groups, this study explored how criminal justice actors

and victims themselves conceptualized the role of the victim in the criminal justice process. Atten-

tion was given to the quality of interactions between victims and those working in the system,

including how victim input was solicited and considered. With an increase in victims’ rights and

opportunities for victims to provide input and participate in the justice process, it is important to

understand how victims and their voices are incorporated into the criminal justice system.

Prior Research

With the advent of victims’ rights and subsequent policies to promote the inclusion of victims in

the justice process, numerous studies have emerged, which explore the impact of victim participa-

tion on the criminal justice system. In particular, there is a substantial body of empirical work

exploring the effects of victim impact statements on sentencing decisions. And with debates sur-

rounding the appropriateness of victim participation, including predictions that a victim’s presence

and voice in court would only increase sentencing severity for offenders (Ashworth, 1993; Erez,

1994; Henderson, 1985), it is important to understand if the inclusion of a victim impact statement

has an impact on sentences for offenders.

130 Criminal Justice Review 36(2)