The victims of crime suffer tremendous losses. Some suffer the loss of their names, such as in identity theft. This often takes years and expensive court cases to regain their identity. Others suffer the loss of priceless personal items, such as family heirloom jewels, or a wedding and engagement ring. These are tangible things. Even the loss of one’s identity can be considered tangible because the gaining of financial credit is associated with it. The recent massive breaches at Target and Home Depot indicate this; the loss of a person’s identifiers created a tremendous financial loss (Forbes, 2014).
By all means, the greatest loss of an intangible item that one suffers is the loss of trust and faith in humanity. One can eventually straighten out the horrors of a breached credit card. However, what it causes for many is a sense of frustration and cynicism with regards to society. One may question why individuals engage in illegal activity that hurts so many people. Obviously, the answer is money. But there is something more than that. One must wonder about the lack of ethics and upbringing in people. This is where people lose their faith in humanity. This is difficult to bring back.
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The next part of the discussion asks if the system has responded adequately to these intangible losses. I am not sure that there is a systematic way that this could ever occur. The “system” in criminal justice is the courts, the laws, the people who make up these institutions and the other aspects of it. The aspect that caused a breach in trust is the lack of ethics and morality in some individuals. One cannot legislate or dictate ethics and morality. Most individuals believe that we should all behave in an ethical and legal manner; otherwise, society cannot function (Queens borough Community College, 2011).
However, while we can change the laws to address issues, we cannot force ethics on individuals. What we can do is to attempt to respond to the concerns of those who have been victims of crime. We should listen to them in an empathetic manner. In this way, they will realize that some members of society do care about them.
