Victim Satisfaction With the Criminal Justice System and Emotional Recovery

Abstract

The current study systematically and critically reviewed the empirical literature to evaluate the association between satisfaction with the criminal justice system and adult crime victims' emotional recovery. Despite the widely accepted notion that involvement in the criminal justice system may impact recovery from crime victimization--either beneficially or maliciously--a systematic review of empirical studies that addresses this topic has never been conducted. Electronic literature databases (ISI Web of Knowledge [including Web of Science and MEDLINE], EBSCO host [including PsychInfo, CINAHL, Criminal Justice Abstracts, ERIC, PsychARTICLES, and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection], and ProQuest [including PILOTS, Social Services Abstracts, and Sociological Abstracts]) were searched to identify relevant quantitative studies. The Cambridge Quality Checklists were used to evaluate the quality of selected studies. These checklists can be used to assess the quality of risk and protective factors in criminal justice research. In this study they were used to explore the impact of victim satisfaction on crime victims' emotional and cognitive states post-victimization. The review process revealed mixed results, with some studies suggesting a healing impact of victim satisfaction and others not. More consistent were findings regarding the existence of an association between victim satisfaction and (alterations in) positive cognitions. However, since the majority of studies suffered from severe methodological shortcomings, definite conclusions cannot be drawn yet.

Examining the Effectiveness of Restorative Justice in Reducing Victims’ Post-Traumatic Stress

“…To date, there have been no reviews that examine whether RJ produces any psychological benefit to victims compared with customary justice procedures. While previous reviews have found victims are typically satisfied with their experiences of RJ (Latimer et al 2005;Strang et al 2013), there has been mixed results regarding the relationship between self-reported victim satisfaction in criminal justice and cognitive or emotional states post-victimisation (Kunst et al 2014). Therefore, although victims may express greater satisfaction with RJ, it cannot be inferred that this leads to more positive psychological outcomes.…”

The reporting and help‐seeking behaviors of domestic violence victims with criminal backgrounds

“…Second, the criminal justice system must make certain that all criminal justice practitioners (e.g., law enforcement and prosecutors) recognize that the differential treatment of victims based on their criminal history can cause significant harm, potentially compounding the secondary victimization many victims of domestic violence already experience at the hands of the criminal justice system (Kunst et al, ). Criminal justice practitioners, particularly law enforcement officers, must understand that a victim's prior status as “offender” does not negate her (or his) current status as “victim.” Victims of domestic violence who do not meet the standards of an “ideal” victim still deserve fair and equal treatment and support from criminal justice personnel (Erez & King, ; Raeder, ; Riger et al, ).…”

Knowing from where to start: a plea for more and better systematic literature reviews about the effectiveness of legal rights for crime victims

“…Prior systematic literature reviews have often searched for studies that used victims´satisfaction with the criminal justice system as an indicator of effectiveness (e.g. Laxminarayan, Bosmans, Porter, & Sosa, 2013;Kunst, Popelier, & Varekamp, 2015;Wedlock & Tapley, 2016), but satisfaction, due to its generic meaning, is not an appropriate outcome measure to assess legal rights´effectiveness (cf. Biffi et al, 2016).…”