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Master List of
New Directions Recommendations
Chapter 9
New
Directions from the Field:
Victims'
Rights and Services for the 21st Century
| Recommendations
for the Legal Community |
The recommendations below, which
appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted
for replication and distribution.
| Over the past 15 years, attorneys and bar associations have recognized they are important conduits to victim services. They have worked to improve access to the justice system for victims, developed programs that assist them, and explored legal options to provide victims with greater relief, particularly throughout the civil justice process. However, most members of the legal profession serve in positions outside the justice system, but frequently come into contact with crime victims in their work. These attorneys often lack an understanding of the dynamics of victimization or appropriate victim-related referral services. To initiate efforts to address these critical voids in victim support and service within the legal profession, the following recommendations are set forth by the field:
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- The legal community should expand
its commitment of resources to victims to ensure that the barriers to
meeting crime victims' needs are removed.
- Bar associations and members
of the legal community should produce and distribute informational materials,
including videotapes, to help crime victims understand court proceedings
and how to pursue their rights in the justice system.
- Bar associations and members
of the legal community should develop multidisciplinary alliances and
networks between attorneys and other service providers within the community
to identify and meet the needs of crime victims.
- Bar associations and members
of the legal community should develop information about victims' rights
and programs and disseminate it widely in the community.
- Legal professionals who serve
in the criminal, juvenile, and civil justice systems should work with
one another and with victim service providers to adequately inform crime
victims of all of their legal options, including civil litigation.
- Attorneys in the private sector
who, due to the nature of their practice, have frequent contact with
crime victims (for example, personal injury attorneys, insurance attorneys,
and premises liability attorneys) should be encouraged to develop or
join coalitions of attorneys who serve crime victims in the civil justice
process.
- Bar associations should establish
victims issues committees to address issues in the criminal and civil
justice systems, and they should ensure that the members of the committees
represent victims interests.
- Bar associations and law schools
should offer courses on victims' rights and issues, incorporating multidisciplinary
curricula.
- Bar associations and members
of the legal community should ensure adequate representation and involvement
of minority, multicultural, and multilingual attorneys in order to respond
more effectively to diverse populations victimized by crime.
- Publishers of case reporters,
legal compilations, and treatises should expand their issue coding and
indices to include crime victim-related categories.
| New Directions from the
Field:
Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century |
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The information on this page is archived and provided for reference purposes only.