Grace, the chief attorney (CA), asks you to draft a report that she will use in her presentation to the county commission. Her goal is to keep the victim witness assistant positions, which currently exist and increase the number of these positions in the future. She knows that providing victim advocacy is a relatively new concept to the criminal justice system and that the commissioners are not familiar with the concept that the criminal justice system should take a more active role with victims.
Grace needs you to provide information including:
- a definition of victimology
- its history and how it has developed
- explain how its different from criminology, sociology, or psychology
- Who established the first safe houses for battered women, as well as where and when these safe-houses were established?
- Who established the first rape crisis centers, as well as where and when these centers were established?
- How has the civil rights movement contributed to anti-discrimination efforts and the establishment of hate crime legislation and policy?
- the role children’s rights groups have played in highlighting the problems child victims face in the criminal justice system
- which organizations she might contact that provide specific advocacy for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and homicide
- what services are not provided by government crime compensation
In 4-6 paragraphs
Often, it is media attention that draws us to the plight of certain crime victims that in turn leads to changes in social policies that benefit those victims. For example, clergy abuse is a relatively new term used to describe the physical or sexual abuse of children by clergy in certain situations. In the past, these cases often went unreported to law enforcement, even when superiors and supervisors knew of the abuse. In addition to costly civil suits brought by victims of this abuse, after much media coverage, some clergy have been charged and successfully prosecuted in criminal court.
Rules of evidence have changed to accommodate the type of evidence required to prosecute these cases. Even so, many states still do not require mandatory reporting of this type of child abuse by clergy because of the long-held notion that clergy should enjoy complete confidentiality even if a supervisor becomes aware that a priest is sexually abusing a child.
Answer the following questions:
- Explain the need for all states to require mandatory reporting of child abuse by clergy.
- How can the media be used to affect change in states that do not yet require mandatory reporting?
- Research the clergy abuse in a state of your choice.
- If mandatory reporting exists, how long has this been a requirement? What organizations are involved in tracking and helping the victims with this type of abuse?
- If mandatory reporting does not exist, what alternative processes exist for reporting clergy abuse?
