The Hypocrisy of Victim's Rights
I was in court recently and observed a plea in a sexual assault case. The plea was for a low sentence - which is unusual. Before accepting it, the judge asked the prosecutor if the victim and their family had been consulted, and made sure they agreed with the recommendation. I'm not sure what would happen if they had not been, but obviously the judge wanted to make sure the victim was satisfied with the outcome.
Others have written about this (you'll have to find them on your own), and have expressed the issues this raises far more eloquently than I can. All I can do is rant. The fact is, the criminal justice system is not in the business of making people happy. There certainly is no concern for defendants. Why should victims be any different. They have a personal interest in the case, and those closely connected anything are the worst persons to consult. There is no way they can be objective, and trying to cater to their interest is often impossible.
What bothered me about this though is the hypocrisy in such concern. Perhaps the judge was truly concerned about the victim. Perhaps he simply wanted to appear concerned, since that is what judges are supposed to do. The fact is that judges and prosecutors are only concerned about victims when it fits their agenda. How many times have people been prosecuted over the objections of the victim. In this case what if the victim had been consulted and told the judge they didn't agree with what was happening – they thought the case should be dismissed. Do you think those concerns would have been honored?
The fact is prosecutors and judges have to run for election (at least in Texas). No one gets elected by catering to defendant's. Instead everyone wants to be as hard on criminals as possible. That system is designed to fail. Maybe I'm being overly cynical, and I concede the possibility. After all, judges and prosecutors do see terrible things every day - and terrible. It's easy to stereotype, and assume everyone is the same. Criminal defense lawyers are not immune from that. It's a struggle to evaluate each case, and each defendant, on their own, and not burden them with the misdeeds of others.
So what's the answer? I don't have it. But a good start would be doing away with the concept of "victim's rights" unless you truly want to apply it across the board.
