Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Crime victims' perceptions of restitution: the importance of payment and understanding
R Barry Ruback1, Alison C Cares, Stacy N Hoskins
1Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, USA. bruback@psu.edu
Abstract:
The Office for Victims of Crime recommends that victims should be informed, consulted, respected, and made whole, rights that relate to informational, procedural, interpersonal, and distributive justice. We surveyed 238 victims in two Pennsylvania counties to test whether crime victims' satisfaction with the criminal justice system was related to their perceptions of the fairness of the process and of their outcomes in their case, particularly with regard to restitution. Results indicated that payment of restitution, perception of fair process, and good interpersonal treatment were positively related to victims' willingness to report crimes in the future but that satisfaction with information about the process was not. Victims' understanding of the restitution process was a significant predictor of willingness to report in a multivariate analysis.
Related Concept Videos
Fundamental Attribution Error
Types of Impact
The coefficient of restitution is a metric for understanding the dynamics of impacts. It quantifies the ratio of relative velocity...
Equity Theory
Bonanno's Theory of Grieving
Resilience
The resilience...
Bystander Effect
Eyewitness Memory
One such error is memory distortion, which occurs because human memory does not function like a...
