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15 Sri Lanka J. Int'l L. 139 (2003)
Restitution or Compensation to the Victim of Crime

handle is hein.journals/sljinl15 and id is 145 raw text is: (2003) 15 Sri Lanka JIL 139 RESTITUTION OR COMPENSATION TO THE VICTIM OF CRIME Jeeva Niriella* 1. INTRODUCTION The need to redress the victim of a crime does not receive adequate attention in criminal law. Moreover criminal justice systems more or less ignore victims of crime and concentrates on punishing or rehabilitating the offender.' The obligation to rehabilitate the criminal takes precedence over the need to look after the interest of victims of crime. A victim of crime has the freedom to initiate action in a civil court to recover damages. This procedure however, is long, cumbersome and expensive. A victim sometimes, may not recover his or her loss or damage in his or her lifetime. Although in criminal cases victims may be paid compensation out of fines imposed on the offender, as an ancillary order. This depends on the discretion of the courts. The purpose of this article is to discuss: first, jurisprudential basis of victim compensation; second, the developments of international standards in restituting and compensating victims of crime; third, the extent to which these standards have been incorporated into domestic law; and finally the importance of having State compensation programmes. REPARATION AS A MEANS OF RETRIBUTION Four main theories can be found in criminology to explain the need for punishment for criminal behaviour: they are, Retribution, Deterrence Incapacitation and Rehabili- tation.2 Retribution means recompense for evil done. It may mean vengeance or expia- tion, or more commonly referred to as giving the offender his just desert. The theory of deterrence envisages a situation where the punishment meted out discourages and prevents future crimes. Under the theory of deterrence, punishment deters not only the actual offender in the particular case but also acts as a warning to potential offenders in general. Incapacitation is the physical confinement of the offender so as to prevent him from engaging in further criminal behaviour. Rehabilitation, which is perhaps the most acceptable theory of punishment in modern times, recognizes the need to reform the offender and bring him back to society as a non-criminal. * LL.B (Hons) Colombo; M.Phil (Colombo); Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo. I System Response to Victims -file://C:Documents%20andsettings \; see also, Andrew Ashworth, Principles of Criminal Law, 2nd. edition, 1995, Clarendon Press, Oxford, p. 17 2 Clarkson, C.M.V and Keating, H.M., Criminal Law: Text and Materials, 1998, Sweet & Maxwell, London, pp. 26-36.

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