Historically, victims of different crimes were accorded key position in criminal proceedings whereby they are the ones who controlled the whole process of apprehending, charging, and eventual prosecution of offenders. However, the criminal justice system in the contemporary society does not accord victims such privileges. Instead victims are downgraded to mere witnesses whose testimonies can be easily discredited (Beloof, 2012). Evidently, there exist a number of concerns raised by witnesses regarding their participation in criminal justice processes. Above all, the rights of criminal defendants have been expanded significantly by the constitution. Such an expansion of defendants rights makes it relatively challenging for judges to accommodate the concerns if the victims. As a result, victims are not reserved any place nor opinion in the court rooms. From this analysis accordance of more rights to criminal defendants occurs as one of the concerns raised by victims of crimes with regards to their relegation by the criminal justice system.
Another notable concern raised by victims aligns with the fact that during the trial of criminal offenders, the defendants are permitted to be in attendance. On the contrary, the victims are not entitled to be present in the cases that they are involved in. Many at times, victims are prompted to leave court rooms and only await the final verdict on the cases in which their criminal offenders are being tried. Certainly, this results in ignorance of tangible evidence from the victims that would have strengthened trial of the criminal offenders. Overall, the absolute power vested on the victims regarding the execution of criminal offenders has diminished over time (Beloof, 2012). As such, reports put forward by victims regarding the offenses levied against them are often disregarded. Deductively, there is the need for stringent amendments on the constitution, which will afford higher protection and limit ignorance of crime victims.
Reference
Beloof, D. E. (2012). Victims' rights: A documentary and reference guide. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.
