Idea of Victim Participation and Ideals of Sentencing

The position of victim was at higher pedestal before the birth of state as a regulator of crime.The role of victim had been sidelined due to the shift in the perception of crime from crime as a 'wrong against an individual victim' to that of crime as a 'wrong against state'.It made criminal trial a fight between adversaries rather than fight for justice to victim.Despite various legislative efforts the fair representation of victim is not fully achieved and the sense of detachment from criminal trial still exists for a victim. Criminal trial overemphasizes the role of accused persons and their rights at the cost of voice of victim for securing justice. In this context, it becomes necessary to analyze the phenomenon of victim participation and its relation with the process and values of sentencing. The present paper is an attempt to understand the concept of victim participation and its possible models for criminal trial with a particular focus on Victim Impact Statement as an example. It maintains the hypothesis that substantial participation of victim in a criminal trial contributes to higher level of confidence in criminal justice and Victim Impact Statement unravels the pathway for it. The paper seeks to relate such models of victim participation with the aims and values of sentencing with a view to understand that how victim participation can aid in the shaping of sentencing.