Defense-Based Victim Outreach: Restorative Justice in Capital Cases

Source: (2003) Capital Defense Journal. 15:315.

In this paper, Grunewald and Nath explore the principles and practical implications of defense-based victim outreach. They begin with a summary of a series of brutal murders in California in the late 1990s. Through a letter to the federal government, the family of one of the victims supported a plea agreement for the perpetrator and recommended a life sentence rather than capital punishment. With this case as an example of defense-based victim outreach, Grunewald and Nath explain the origins of such outreach in relation to the principles and benefits of restorative justice. This leads to an examination of practical and procedural implications of defense-based victim outreach, with particular attention to the work of a victim liaison. Grunewald and Nath conclude by providing a more detailed discussion of the effects of the victim liaison in the case summarized at the beginning of their paper.