On The Plights, Reasons And Trends Of The Criminal Victim Protection

In history, the victim, who used to play a leading role in the criminal justice system, could influence the whole process of the criminal justice process. However, with the introduction of modern legal philosophy in the West, such as "Presumption of Innocence" and "Statutory Crime", the right to punish criminals was taken over by the state. Criminal suspects or defendants became the center of the criminal justice system, whose rights were protected to achieve the purpose of equipping them equally as with the National Public Prosecution. The victim was gradually moved out of the criminal litigation procedure. As a result, litigation was more and more marginalized or even became just a tool. The victim almost became an "outcast" of modern judicial system.In the1960s and1970s, the victim-protecting campaign was spread like a storm in the West. Since then, countries with a quite mature legal system, such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, have formed a more complete victim protection system both inside and outside of the procedure. What’s more, with the shortcomings of the traditional criminal justice system being highlighted, the concept of restorative justice has held a place in the criminal justice community and this brings a big shock to the traditional concept. In our country, the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China in1996clearly stipulates the principal status of the victim. The newly amended Code of Criminal Procedure, which will be enacted on January1,2013, also legitimizes criminal reconciliation, showing that the positive role of the victim is being recognized. However, the situation of victim protection is still very tough. The victims have not gained the status that they should have deserved. In today’s society, with the high crime rate and the increasing number of victims, if the problem of virtualizing the right of the victim cannot be solved in the long run, the confidence in law of the victim or of the Chinese people will be shaken. So, the issue of victim protection should not be underestimated.Many law professionals have already engaged themselves either in the theoretical study or practice of victim protection and have achieved good results. But this is far from enough. The victim, who is still out of litigation, has to accept the final result and their right cannot be protected effectively. Why is this so? To find the deep-rooted reasons, the author, after having studied the victim-protecting campaign in the West and having reflected on and questioned the basic concept of the modern criminal justice system, has explained why the situation in China is so embarrassing. As concluded by the author, a crime really damages the interests of the victim. The hypothesis that the state is the victim is just a legal fiction. The state prosecution system based on this hypothesis has a problem of reasonableness. We cannot deny the positive meaning of National Public Prosecution, but the involvement of the state must be appropriate. The right of individuals should not be covered by that of the state. As for how to get out of the embarrassing situation, the author has offered some solutions and believes that the victim will return to the criminal litigation procedure in which they will play a critical role as well.