Journal of Victimology and Victim Justice

Tourism has three sides: the good, the bad and the ugly. The good side is it generates employment and brings in investment. Tourism earns the state an average Rs 4,000 crore annually. 23 lakh tourists visit Goa; this income contributes to 15 per cent of India’s foreign exchange. The bad side is everything has become commercial in a state like Goa, where employment opportunities are few and everyone wants to ride the bus of tourism. They want to set up hotels, rent their homes, bikes and cars or start some business to facilitate tourism. In this process, the beautiful scenic Goa has become a commercial hub. The ugly side is tourism not only brings tourists but also their culture, culture which views children as sex objects or views sex with a child as normal behaviour. This has made Goa the sex capital of India. Many Indian and foreign tourists come in search of child sex in Goa. Goa is also openly advertised as a state with free and liberal values. This has made our children vulnerable. There are various ways in which the sex offenders get access to children. Some approach the children directly on the beach, while others offer them a drink or a meal before taking them back their hotel rooms. Many contact children through their social media platforms. After making friends and chatting with them for a considerable period of time, they fix a meeting with them only to exploit them. Many people function as agents who are involved in supplying children to these men who come in search of them. This article discusses the evil effects of tourism on children such as sale of children, child sexual abuse, child pornography, child prostitution and paedophilia. Abuse and exploitation of children in tourism can have severe impact on children; it can also affect the tourist destination. The article will discuss ethical methods, which can be adopted to encourage tourism and keep the children of Goa safe.

It is evident from the daily lives of cross sections of the urban society that most working women choose to opt for public transportation. Regrettably, during the course of their commute, they are susceptible to verbal, physical, psychological and financial harassment at the hands of their fellow travellers and bus operators. Underreporting ensures that cases of this kind do not surface in mainstream media. In the recent past, to the best of the knowledge of the researcher, very few studies have been conducted around the world on this subject in general, and in India in particular. Hence, the present research assumes significance. In this connection, an attempt has been made to measure the prevalence and nature of harassment suffered by women using public transportation in Chennai city in victimological perspective. A convenience sample of 530 women riding public transportation was identified and data was collected from them using a self-reported questionnaire. The findings revealed that around 35 per cent of all young women have been harassed in one of the forms mentioned above in the last six months. Further results and implications are discussed in the article.

The theme of Quranic commands is promoting collective goodness and virtuous qualities in human beings and providing preventive and precautionary measures to minimize the commission of crimes. However, in the event of happening of crimes, fair and unbiased justice has been awarded the prime importance in the Islamic law, derived mainly from the Holy Quran, Hadith and compilations of Islamic jurisprudence. The Islamic law has deeply embedded elements of what we call today as the restorative system; an alternative paradigm being advocated globally since the 1970s for tackling the trend of rising crimes and relatively low efficacy of the conventional retributive form of justice and the preventive theory of punishment. The law of Qisas (retaliation), the practices of conciliation or Suluh, restitution or compensation (Diyya, meaning blood money), isolation, forgiveness, community service, warning, fining and reintegration are all components of the Islamic law which are very much analogous to the concept of restorative justice. In all these matters, the role of the victim is dominant and central, a mandatory precondition of contemporary restorative practices.

It is particularly relevant to discuss about the provisions under Diyya; a unique concept of the Islamic criminal justice system which is the payment of money to the victim of a violent crime and is very much analogous to the attributes of restorative justice. Diyya is not just limited to homicide; its provisions are applicable for any injury or incident resulting in bodily harm, intentional or unintentional, caused by another person. The payment can be made in substitution for the Qisas penalty at the request of the victim or it can be imposed if any of the procedural or substantive requirements for the imposition of Qisas have failed.

It needs to be pointed out here that Diyya is translated as ‘blood money’, a negative connotation, undermining the virtues of this concept. It should better be seen as one of the best examples of restorative justice in the criminal justice systems of the world in the form of restitution to the victim paid by the guilty offender. There are numerous examples of implementation of Diyya in Islamic countries, where not only the lives of those who had been awarded death penalties were saved but also the families of victims were paid Diyya to help them rehabilitate and restore their place in the society.

The procedures under Qisas and Diyya being victim-centric, the final option that victims have in a case of intentional homicide or wounding is to forgo both the penalty and restitution and forgive the offender; an act which has been highly appreciated in the Holy Quran and Hadith.

It is pertinent to record here that the credibility of the concept of Diyya, its utilitarian nature and its restorative character are unambiguous, not only because it is a component of the Divine Law of Islam but also because of the fact that systems like Diyya are in practice in countries such as Japan and Korea and had been prevalent in many parts of Europe just about the time when Diyya was included as a tenet of the Islamic law. The concept of Diyya convincingly illustrates as to how restorative justice could have an edge over retributive and retaliatory justice.

Supporting families and friends of homicide victims (‘survivors’) requires understanding how homicide impacts on survivors. Although recent work has examined how the loss of a loved one and events following a homicide—such as media coverage, the criminal justice processes and the perpetrator’s sentence—affects survivors, there has been little consideration of how final ‘case conclusions’ (other than the perpetrator’s sentence)—such as homicide–suicide, cold-case homicide or perpetrator declared permanently unfit for trial or acquitted of murder or manslaughter—impacts on survivors. This article examines existing literature about how different final case conclusions, other than the perpetrator’s sentence, impact on survivors. A novel conceptual framework—the ‘Homicide Case Pathway’—is presented to organize these efforts. There are shared and diverse effects of final case conclusions on survivors, centred on five key themes—emotions and feelings, denial of justice, lack of closure, belief in the system and hope. There is a clear need to conduct further research into the effect of final case conclusions on survivors, in order to better understand survivors’ experiences, and subsequently identify and implement suitably tailored victim support strategies for survivors.

Acid attacks on women have become the most burning area and are considered to be the most nastiest and the most atrocious kind of violence committed on weaker sex. It is the thoughtful and pre-mediated use of acid on another human being for no blunder on her part. Reasons could be easy accessibility of acid, male-domineering and male-dictating society, antagonism, scorned and disdained lovers, etc., to name a few. Cases on acid attacks are mounting, swelling and escalating like anything. The perpetrators do not realize the consequences of such menacing, ominous and looming attacks on innocent victims and throw acids on them, distorting their face, limbs and different parts of body. It is high time now. Something stringent needs to be done to curb this evil in our society. Otherwise it will be too late, and innocent creatures on this earth will continue to suffer for no fault of theirs. The authors would be dealing with various facades, legal remedies and compensations dealing with acid attacks in the present society.

The study was conducted to explore the determinants of target victim selection by criminals, mode of operations adopted by criminals and the factors considered in the selection of victims by criminals. The study adopted a qualitative approach where simple random and purposively sampling techniques were used to select a sample size of 50 inmates in the Gambaga prisons. Interview guide was the main tool used for the data collection for this study. The study found that victimization influences criminal intentions and behaviour of an individual. The inmates noted that they like to attack victims in isolation and in dark places, especially at night. The study further found that criminals operated in gangs, in areas with darkness and in the night using caps and tattered dresses that anonymized them. They also used fear to traumatize their victims, monitor their victims, as well as operated with guns and knives and under special requests of other individuals in society.

The tail-end of the criminal justice system is the prison. In the era of mass incarceration a question arises how can a prisoner be restored to live a successful life after incarceration? The architecture of restoration of prisoners to begin the movement the prisoner placed under the authority of prison officials.

Restoration is not a soft option, as many prisoners find it extremely difficult to face up to the impact of their crimes. The entire prison environment and the stakeholders of the prison department shall be involved in the restorative process.

Restoration is the shift from retribution and vengeance to a more human approach. Hence restorative processes shall focus on physical, behavioral, emotional and restoration of dignity. The transition from prison to re-integration into the society after being incarcerated for number of years is the most difficult task for the prisoner. Therefore perseverance of restoration in prisons shall be a continuous process which would be a great investment to everyone.

Research and studies across the world reveals that the scale of victimization among the prisons is very high and at time most devasting and India is not an exception. Adoption of restorative restoration approaches and practices in prison setting will not only successfully navigate reentry both into the family and society but also a realistic future and an effectiveness and positive impact outside the prison world. If prison officials want to reduce recidivism it is vital that they ensure effective and humane restoration of prisoners.

This paper takes the stock of the current context and aims to bring greater clarity pertinent to the thematic area of concerns regarding effective and humane restoration of prisoners with special reference to India.

In this case note, I analyse the judgement of the Supreme Court of India in Z v. State of Bihar. I focus on the important contribution that the case makes in the context of reproductive health rights of women, and in particular, victims of rape. I argue that the case provides a foundation for further development of the law on various issues of reproductive rights and compensation jurisprudence for state failures in guaranteeing statutory and constitutional rights of women, including victims of rape. I further argue that the case also provides a framework for adjudication of cases in the criminal justice system, which involve pregnant women.