Witness involvement in the criminal justice system and intention to cooperate in future prosecutions

Victim cooperation and the prosecution of domestic violence in a specialized court

“…The responsiveness of criminal justice personnel to victims' needs is an important predictor of cooperation for victims of crime: victims who do not receive sufficient information, or who are not recognized as a party to the process, may disengage or cease to cooperate (Norton 1983;Sebba 1996;Shapland, Willmore, and Duff 1985).…”

“…This literature suggests that the victim's decision to cooperate is constrained by concern for her physical, emotional, and financial well-being, and is conditioned by her experiences in the criminal justice system. Furthermore, these concerns are not limited to victims of domestic violence, but often are expressed by crime victims generally (see, e.g., Davis 1983;Norton 1983).…”

The victim in the system: The influence of police responsiveness on victim alienation

“…Research designed to determine why some victims are willing to report while others are not has diverged into person-characteristic explana-tions vs. situational-specific explanations. Norton (1983) and Tsitsoura (1985) have demonstrated the importance of personal characteristics by showing that the likelihood of reporting a crime depends on the victim's attitudes, knowledge, expectations, and confidence in the criminal justice system. Conversely, other researchers hold that the most important factors are situationally specific, such as the seriousness of the crime, the relationship of the victim to the perpetrator, whether or not injuries were sustained, and the value of property loss (Sparks et al, 1977;Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1990).…”

“…The most frequent finding in the existing empirical literature is that the attitudes exhibited by criminal justice system personnel are a major determinant of victim satisfaction (Shapland, 1984;Norton, 1983). The manner of the police and whether they appeared to take the case seriously have been found to be important determinants of victim satisfaction (Ma- guire, 1984;Shapland, 1985).…”

“…In summary, the studies on victims' perceptions of the criminal justice system have produced mixed findings. Some writers have alluded to the alienating consequences of the system (Erez, 1990), the general impersonality of the system (Norton, 1983), the lack of sympathy toward victims (Elias, 1984;Ziegenhagen, 1976), and lack of information (Shapland et af., 1985). Yet others have reported high levels of satisfaction with police performance (e.g., Skogan, 1989).…”