Victim Witness Goals

Victim witness programs are used by the government in order to provide support and assistance to those who fall victim to a crime. According to Victim Witness Program, the primary goals of such programs, include but are not limited to, encouraging victims to participate in any parole and supervised release processes of their offender, notify and facilitate victims in participation of any hearing or release dates in regards to their offender, provide options for supportive services, and advocate for crime victims (2015, para.1). The organization under which the victim-witness program is located is under a system, which has many internal constituencies, thus creating competing and conflicting purposes. The goals of the victim-witness program are quite simple and seek out to give the victim the right to be represented during the processing of the offender, however, given the multiple roles the court, for example, must serve, the goals of the victim-witness program can be both complex and conflicting. A complex goal, according to Stojkovic, Kalinich, and Klofas, is “A situation in which an organization faces many competing and conflicting

For example, the parole and supervised release committee must take into consideration the victims opinion when considering a offenders release, thus limiting the boards ability to use it’s discretion on what they may be a more appropriate release date. The goals of the victim-witness program could also potentially limit the prosecutions ability to prosecute the offender for a longer sentence. For example, a victim could potentially want to forgive the offender for the harm they have been cause, therefore, seeking for a more lenient sentence then the prosecution may be seeking, thus constricting the prosecutions