Priority Issues: Victims I. The Issue When a property crime or a
violent crime occurs, the primary aggrieved party is the
individual victim, not the government, and thus the compensation
should go primarily to the individual victim, not the
government. This idea has been around for centuries, and the
concept is found in the sacred texts of nearly every major
religion. In the modern world, however, we have drifted away
from this essential truth. A telling example is the “style” of
criminal cases, which are written as ‘Defendant v. [The State],’
rather than ‘Defendant v. [Victim.]’ The case styles reveal that
our system now focuses more on prosecuting defendants for the
harm they have done to society at large, rather than the harm
they have done to their victim. It is important to pay attention
to the effect crime has on society, but we must not neglect the
victim’s rights. In the investigation and prosecution of crimes,
victims must be included at every stage and meaningfully
empowered. Opportunities for more