An Appraisal of the Existing Law for Victim Justice in the Administration of Criminal Justice in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Victim Justice is an attractive topic in the field of criminal justice. Victim justice is a method through which the victim can seek justice from a court of law, ensure that their rights are protected in the criminal justice system, permit them to participate actively in the justice process and to entitle to receive compensation. Many jurisdictions follow an offender-oriented process, where State has the responsibility and power to prosecute and punish the convict for the crime committed. The power vested in the State in this regard is enormous, leading to a power imbalance between the State and the alleged offender in the criminal justice process. However, criminal law has been later developed to protect the human rights of the accused to minimize this power imbalance, leading to an imbalance between the rights of the accused and the rights of the victim. In this system, the victim is required to be satisfied with the punishment imposed on the offender. Criminal justice systems worldwide slowly adopted reforms to ensure that the victims get the justice they deserve, including protection of their rights. Sri Lanka also understood that the concept of victim rights is often disregarded as the major focus is shifted to the accused rather than the victim and introduced some laws to ensure the rights of the victims. However, still, the victims do not fully receive what they deserve as justice. This article seeks to investigate the adequacy of the laws in Sri Lanka that were introduced to ensure the concept of victim justice. To reach the main objective, the laws in Sri Lanka are evaluated with a comparative jurisdictional analysis with special reference to India, England and USA, and relevant international standards. This is a doctrinal study that employs the qualitative method using secondary resources.