The Effects of Victim-Related Contextual Factors on the Criminal Justice System
ORCID
Haynes: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1408-9291
MSU Affiliation
College of Arts and Sciences; Department of Sociology
Creation Date
2026-06-01
Abstract
Despite numerous reforms designed to integrate the needs and concerns of crime victims into the criminal justice system, which include expanding programs for compensation and restitution, providing counseling and other services to victims, and increasing victims' involvement in the criminal justice process, critics have argued that these reforms have failed to produce any meaningful change. To investigate this claim, the current study examined how community contextual factors (i.e., characteristics of the economic, political, and social contexts) and victim-related contextual factors (i.e., the availability of victim resources, county-level indicators of justice, and victim participation in the criminal justice system) affected sentencing outcomes across the state of Pennsylvania. Analyses using sentencing information from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing for the years 1996 to 2006 and contextual information from the U.S. Census, the Uniform Crime Reports, and the Pennsylvania Office of Victims' Services indicated that the availability of victim resources and county-level indicators of justice increased victim participation and were associated with longer incarcerative sentences. © 2011 SAGE Publications.
Publication Date
7-1-2010
Publication Title
Crime and Delinquency
Publisher
SAGE Publications
First Page
298
Last Page
328
Rights
© 2005 Sage Publications
Recommended Citation
Hoskins Haynes, S. (2011). The Effects of Victim-Related Contextual Factors on the Criminal Justice System. Crime & Delinquency, 57(2), 298-328.
