The victim's involvment is essential in defining the harm done by the crime and identifying how to make things right. The community is encouraged to accept personal responsibility for the actions and to make things right. The community supports the vicitm, mentors offenders, and enforce community standards of behavior. Throughout the United States the criminal justice system is in a state of crisis. The public is fearful and angry.
Practitioners are weary and frustrated.
Criminal justice policy is driven more by anecdote than systematic information. Costs of current policies are not sustainable over long periods. Victims are often re-victimized in the process. This widespread sense of dissatisfaction has caused a fundamental rethinking of our criminal justice system and the formulation of an alternate approach to criminal justice called restorative justice. The secondary victims are others impacted by the crime and might include family members, friends, witnesses, criminal justice officials, community, etc. 5.