The efficiency of the alternative penalties under the perspective of the victims

Abstract

This research aimed at evaluating, under the perspective of the victims of robbery and theft, the application of penalties and measures that do not suppress freedom considering the rights of the victim and the interests of the society. Penalties and alternative measures are criminal sanctions different from the private freedom penalty applied on condemnatory criminal sentence or through penal transaction. The instruments were interview and focal group. Eight people were interviewed, five men and three women, with ages between 39 and 66 years old. Five men participated in the focal group, three with age between 30 and 40 years old and two with age over 65 years old. Four interpretation nucleus were construed: Right to reparation; Interest of the victim in the penal persecution; Treatment given to the victim by the penal justice system and The trauma. The judiciary culture still do not recognize the penal process that guarantee the reparation of the losses suffered by the victim. The victim sees a situation in which she was harmed and searches who can act on her behalf. The penal system sees the conflict as a work to be done just to punish the accused.