Judiciary The final report of the President's Task Force on Victims of Crime recognized the important role of judges in ensuring the rights of victims as well as defendants. According to a focus group of judges and judicial administrators from diverse regions of the Nation, many judges find it difficult to view victims as having a legitimate role in the justice process when they are not official parties to the criminal proceedings.
Judges are also sometimes unaware of the specific services to which victims are entitled.
This bulletin emphasizes that as community leaders, judges can be catalysts for coordinating the delivery of services to both victims and offenders and ensuring the legal rights of both. This bulletin documents the findings of a project that examined the role of crime victims in the juvenile justice system. Crime victims and juvenile court judges gathered in focus groups to discuss the problems victims experience in juvenile court processes. The groups also explored concerns of juvenile court judges in responding to needs and perceived rights of victims in the juvenile court system. The bulletin examines restorative justice principles and how to apply them to improve the responses of courts, judges, and the entire juvenile justice system to crime victims.