VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT SEBAGAI UPAYA PERLINDUNGAN HUKUM TERHADAP PEREMPUAN KORBAN REVENGE PORN

<p>Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis faktor-faktor apakah yang menjadi penyebab terjadinya <em>revenge porn</em> dan bagaimanakah upaya perlindungan hukum terhadap perempuan korban <em>renvenge porn</em> dalam perspektif hak asasi manusia. Perkembangan kejahatan dengan pemanfaatan teknologi informasi salah satunya adalah perkembangan <em>cyberporn</em>. Jenis penelitian ini yuridis normatif, dengan data sekunder yang diperoleh dari studi kepustakaan dan studi dokumen yang dikuatkan dengan wawancara dan dianalisis secara kualitatif. Hasilnya bahwa muncul dinamika perkembangan kejahatan berupa <em>revenge porn.</em> <em>Revenge porn</em> atau balas dendam porno adalah “bentuk pemaksaan, ancaman terhadap seseorang, umumnya perempuan, untuk menyebarkan konten porno berupa foto atau video yang pernah dikirimkan kepada pelaku”. Perilaku ini bertujuan untuk mempermalukan, mengucilkan dan menghancurkan hidup korban. Pelaku bisa pacarnya, mantan pacar yang ingin kembali, atau orang yang tidak bisa diidentifikasi. <em>Victim impact statemens</em> dapat menjadi pertimbangan dalam <em>criminal juctice system</em> sebagai upaya untuk memberikan perlindungan terhadap korban <em>revenge porn</em>. Pelaku tidak cukup hanya dipidana penjara tetapi bagaimana upaya pelaku untuk memulihkan kembali korban karena masa depannya sudah hancur akibat penyebaran foto atau video korban yang melanggar nilai kesusilaan dan penyebabkan trauma bagi korban dan berdampak pada depresi yang dialami oleh korban. Korban juga perlu mendapatkan rehabilitasi berupa layanan psikologis, dan rehabilitasi psikososial untuk menghilangkan trauma bagi korban <em>revenge porn</em>.</p><p> </p>

Introducing Victim Impact Statement in India: Reconceptualizing Victim Status

The right to fair trial is inherent in the concept of due process of law, which now forms part of Article 21 of Indian Constitution after the Maneka Gandhi judgement. Pertinently attached with the same comes the responsibility of the criminal system to treat victims with increased awareness and sensitivity. However, the established convention shows that in planning and developing administration of criminal justice, proper attention is not given to the victims of crime in achieving goals of criminal justice; the major cause of it being that a victim is heard only as a witness not as a victim. A credible response to the said issue has emerged in the form of victim impact statement (VIS) in the modern legal system across the world. With that being said, the researchers through this article try to deduce the need for incorporating a VIS in India through the various jurisprudential understandings of what it means to be a victim, including the gap between the subjective experience of the sufferer and the interpretation of the same by others, and what restorative justice would mean to heal a victim. Establishing upon the same premise of victim status, the researchers try to suggest that the introduction of VIS, with the primary purpose of it being a therapeutic tool and not an instrument of changing the course of justice, will serve to make us reconsider our contours of a ‘victim’.

Factors Affecting Sexual Assault Case Processing: Charging Through Sentencing in a Large Southern County

Factors affecting prosecutorial decision-making represent one of the most understudied parts of the criminal justice system. Documenting these influences in relation to sexual assault cases is even more rare. The present study analyzed the complete prosecutorial case files of a large, southern district attorney’s office regarding all adult sexual assault cases received over a three-year period. Logistic regression and continuation ratio modeling were used to determine which factors were related to continued progression through the court system, from charging to sentencing. The findings indicate that cases with older or Latino defendants, as well as cases involving injury to the victim, were significantly more likely to be charged. A continuation ratio model of subsequent case outcomes indicated that factors such as DNA evidence, the use of a weapon, and the inclusion of a victim impact statement increased the likelihood of a case progressing to later stages of the system. The influence of criminal history and the amount of prosecutor contact with the victim, however, varied across outcomes. Namely, criminal history increased the odds of receiving a prison sentence while prosecutor contacts with the victim increased the odds of case indictment. These findings imply potential shifts in the treatment of these cases while also suggesting areas of improvement. Namely, prosecutors should strive to increase the amount of meaningful contacts with victims and encourage their participation in the court process. These findings also support the use of sexual assault packets by law enforcement to improve and standardize reporting practices for these cases.

“Visible” and “Invisible” Victims in the Criminal Justice System

This chapter outlines the “conflict” and “peace-keeping” victim-oriented justice paradigms. The latter empowers the victims of crime, putting them at the center of an encounter and using interindividual mediation or collective circles to address conflict resolution. Two models are critically discussed in the conflict victim-oriented justice paradigm. The European continental “visible victim” model structures the role of the victim as a full-fledged processual party together with the public prosecutor and offender. In this model, the victim has the same rights and powers of the defendant. The “invisible victim” common law model views the victim as a trial witness, participating, for example, through a victim impact statement (in the United States) or victim personal statement (in the United Kingdom) at the sentencing stage. The visible victim conflict paradigm model enhances a victim's role and involvement in the criminal justice system, offering a solution to existing controversial and critical common law system issues.

What Is Wrong with Empirical-Legal Research into Victimhood? A Critical Analysis of the Ordered Apology and the Victim Impact Statement

The central question in this article is whether an empirical-legal approach to victimhood and victim rights could offer a sufficient basis for proposals for reform of the legal system. In this article, we choose a normative-critical approach and raise some objections to the way in which part of such research is currently taking place, on the basis of two examples of research in this field, one dealing with compelled apologies as a remedy within civil law and the other with the victim impact statement within criminal law. In both cases, we argue, the strong focus on the measurable needs of victims can lead to a relatively instrumental view of the legal system. The legal system must then increasingly be tailored to the wishes and needs of victims. Within this legal-empirical, victim-oriented approach, there is little regard for the general normative principles of liberal democratic legal systems, in which an equal and respectful treatment of each human being as a free and responsible legal subject is a central value. We argue that results of empirical-legal research should not too easily or too quickly be translated into proposals for legal reform, but first become part of a hermeneutical discussion about norms and legal principles, specific to the normative character of law and legal science.

Legal Standing of Victims in Criminal Proceedings: Wickham v Magistrate, Stellenbosch 2017 1 BCLR 121 (CC)

In late 2016, the Constitutional Court delivered judgment in a case, Wickham v Magistrate, Stellenbosch 2017 1 BCLR 121 (CC), involving Wayne Anthony Wickham (an aggrieved father and applicant in this case), who appealed against the decision of the Magistrate's Court in which he was denied the opportunity to hand up a victim impact statement. The thrust of his application was that his rights, as a victim of the crime in which his son was negligently killed by the fourth respondent, had been violated, and that this raised an arguable point of law of general public importance. The respondents, however, argued that the applicant lacked standing as the dominus litis in culpable homicide cases is the public prosecutor, and not the relatives of the deceased, or the victim. The case turned on whether the exercise of discretion by the Magistrate in denying Wickham the right to be heard was performed correctly; and whether a non-party to criminal proceedings could make an application for the review of the Magistrate's conduct. The article seeks to interrogate the rights of victims in criminal proceedings and aptly poses the following question: Do victims of crimes have a locus standi to be part of criminal proceedings?

Victim Impact Statement Model in Criminal Justice System in Restorative Justice Perspective

Practice of restorative justice is the handling of criminal acts that are not only seen from the perspective of the law, but also related to moral, social, economic, religious and customary aspects. Local customs, as well as various other restorative considerations will deal with the perpetrators, victims, and stakeholders in the community, in collective problem solving, the purpose of which is to repair damage, restore the quality of relationships and facilitate the reintegration of the parties involved and related. This study uses research methods with a normative juridical research approach. Restorative Justice, namely the punishment imposed by the court is a punishment aimed at maximizing the condition of the victim as before the criminal incident befell the victim. The issue of justice and respect for human rights does not only apply to criminals but also victims of crime who must get a sense of justice so that the objective of the criminal justice system can be achieved with a sense of justice for the victims and perpetrators. It is very important to immediately make efforts to reform the criminal law that puts forward the substantial justice of victims and perpetrators.