Criminal Victimization in Bangladesh: A Study on Two Agencies Practicing Restorative Justice

Abstract

Criminal victimizations in any community destroy the regular community life and existing settings. Few people have been traumatized by victimizations and majority people have been affected to move freely and to enjoy normal life. The people with unfair intentions have been committed different anti-social activities to breakdown the social position of poor and target people. The anti-social behavioral actions and involvement by any person is called criminal victimizations. Criminal victimizations of any country like Bangladesh has been committed for different causes and grounds. The livelihood patterns of the community people have been influenced by various social subjects to make relationship and to be integrated for own benefits and for the interest of community as well. According to lifestyle and routine activities, few people have been insisted by different factors to violate the existing rules and regulations. People with criminal intentions have been socialized by faulty approach and being habited to commit criminal victimizations. The social system of any country like Bangladesh operates following two types of obligations as like legal obligations and community-based regulations. The law enforcement agencies have been imposed the punishments for the violations of legal subjects. The people with criminality know the obligations which has been written in the legal documents. Insisting by the different causes, the people with bad intentions are being influenced to commit crimes for own interest and to present the arrogance and aristocracy locally. Historically, the social relationship among the community people in Bangladesh are maintaining with different challenges and complexities. The existing social discriminations among community people and differentiation by social status has influenced community people to think about the individual position within the community. The people with huge property and involve with power mechanisms have been guided by self-centered nature and promoted negative force to violate the community rules and customs which practiced by the majority people of the community. The people with criminal intentions and the powerful people by different aspects are not interested most of the time to follow the legal obligations and community manners. A general arrogance has been invented in the behaviors of powerful community people. The powerful people in the community don’t care about the community regulations and legal instructions. The people who violate the legislative order and community manners are considered as offenders. The offenders have been growing up through the unfair and faulty process and by bad companionships. Theoretically, it has been established that offenders have been learnt the criminal behaviors by the society and surroundings. It means that people become offenders by insisting on bad factors and atmosphere. People aren't born as offenders and have no interest in committing offences. A general statement has been established for offenders that people desire to expose the own power, status and authority. Most of the offenders have been committed criminal activities by welcoming the personal interest and desire. People have been influenced by the lifestyle patterns and routine activity which has been regularized in life settings. The unfair patterns of life insist the people to be arrogant and offenders by violating the existing rules and manners. Theoretically, people are learnt and influenced by the surroundings which have been made by the unlawful interventions of offence oriented people. People with bad intentions commit different criminal activities and make threats to the community and people who desire to live with peace and mutual understanding. The community settings of Bangladesh are controlled by complexity of social structure and by the bad intentions of few people. Different types of criminal victimizations have been happened daily within the community and violating the community discipline. The causes have been made within the community and people have been injured by criminal victimizations. The conducted study has been designed to know the criminal victimizations and to assess the role of restorative justice agencies to repair the criminal offences. Considering the purpose, the title of the conducted study has been determined of ‘Criminal Victimization in Bangladesh: A Study on Two Agencies Practicing Restorative Justice’. The community-based compoundable criminal victimizations have been resolved within the community settings by the interventions of restorative agency. The community people have been affected by different types of criminal victimizations in the daily life. Teasing, family conflicts, conjugal misunderstanding, disputes for property, status conflicts, community chaos for different interests, conflicts for return of loan and donation, juvenile delinquencies, assault by juvenile gangs, insults and honor killing, attack and vandalism, dowry related subjects, disputes for parental maintenance, conflicts for postdivorce life, disputes for personal interest, and conflicts for local aristocracy and power discriminations have been happened daily in different forms and nature. People are making relationship with community mates for different purposes and interests. When any misunderstanding and distance has been made within the community people, the disputes and behavioral deviancy have been committed by the people of bad intentions and interests. Most of the community people are injured directly and/or indirectly by the violation of rules and legal instructions. The concept of restorative justice has been practicing within the community of Bangladesh to repair the community disputes and unfair interventions. As a community-based justice approach, restorative justice has been welcomed by the different countries. The countries who believe in the communal solidarity and social justice in the community settings, the concept of restorative justice has been practiced and applied for restorating the compoundable criminal victimizations. The community people desire to solve the happened criminal victimizations within community by preserving the social position and status. Restorative justice works like a magic for solving the community-based disputes and misunderstanding among the community people and to re-gain the lost relationship with trust and happiness. Getting a sound composition of the identified subject, the study has been progressed by the following ways: Chapter one has been titled by introduction and background which reveals the historical grounds for selecting the conducted study with specific objectives and logical frame. Criminal victimizations within the community spoils the regularized community frame and settings. Criminal victimizations have been classified into two divisions as like compoundable and non-compoundable pattern. Criminal victimizations with compoundable nature have been solved within the community frame with the presence of community people and related persons of victimizations. The concept of Village Court has been operated in the local community for repairing the community disputes and unfair functions by the people with bad intentions. An inherent voice for the restorative care of committed criminal victimizations have been raised within the community by the community people. The committed criminal victimizations by nature has been solved within the community and restorative interventions demanded by the people for a professional platform for repairing the community disputes locally. In Bangladesh, village court, local government unit, community policing, and the community governance have been concerned about the restorative justice and local desire for restitute the happened criminal victimizations. A debate has been talked globally that most of the criminal victimizations may be repaired within the community by taking the legal supports from formal justice unit and related departments. The conducted study has been designed to know the committed criminal victimizations within the community settings and to assess the restorative roles to repair the disputes with confidence. The study has focused on the advance promotion of restorative justice within the community by taking the suggestions of related respondents. The conducted study has selected four types of respondents namely victims, offenders, restorative justice (RJ) practitioners, and the community to collect the required data about criminal victimizations and its reconciliations. The conducted study has been assumed that community regulations and manners reduce the repetition of criminal activities and motivated the people to follow the community resources and guided for bonding. The study has discussed the relevant conceptual frameworks to make clear the determined subject and to present a concrete conception about the conducted study. The following concepts have been clarified in chapter one as like crime and criminal victimizations, causal factors of criminal activities, social frame and existing relationship between society and people, community governance, restorative care, restorative justice, restorative movement and interventions, restorative agencies, and community solidarity. Chapter one has focused on the necessity of the conducted study with grounds and guided principles. The community-based criminal victimizations in Bangladesh have been transformed in different perspectives. The conducted study has emphasized on some assumptions which guided the study to know the situations of community regarding criminal victimizations. The community-based governance to rule the behavior of community people and the bonding of community people prevents the criminal behavior of anti-social people. The scarcity of crime prevention programs make scope to commit crimes by offenders and make an environment for opportunists to violate the community rules and legal instructions. Chapter one has clarified the primary concepts of the conducted study with a reasonable understanding. The conducted study has invented the sources of criminal victimizations by determining the assumed understanding and community-based orientations. Chapter two has been developed to explain the methodical discourse of the conducted study. The conducted study has been guided by the qualitative design and parameter. As a qualitative study, a systematic structure has been defined to conclude the study with a satisfied findings. Four types of respondents have been selected for getting a comprehensive ideas about criminal victimizations which committed within the community settings. The victim, offender, RJ practitioner, and the community stakeholders have been identified as respondents of study from two selected restorative agencies.