Victim Rights Constitutional Amendment
An Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S. or a state, that guarantees a crime victim the right to be notified of, present at, and heard at, all stages of the criminal justice process at which the defendant has such rights. These rights should also include the right to restitution and the right to be notified of an inmate's escape or release from prison.
Overview
When our Constitution was written, victims of crimes prosecuted defendants themselves and thus no role was put in the document for victims. Now, we use public prosecutors and crime victims often find themselves in judicial limbo – they are the reason for the process, but they are not a part of the process. Victims have no constitutional rights, whereas criminal defendants have over twenty separate constitutional rights, fifteen of them provided by amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Statutory laws are not enough to protect victim rights. Even in states giving "strong protection" to victims’ rights, fewer than 60 percent of the victims were notified of the sentencing hearing and fewer than 40 percent were notified of the pretrial release of the defendant. (NIJ, 1998)
Federal statutory laws fare little better. Federal statutes give victims the right to be present at all public court hearings and to present impact statements at sentencing hearings in capital cases. However, in the Oklahoma City bombing case, the judge said that victims could have one right or the other, but not both. This is largely because defendant rights are enshrined in the federal Constitution, but victims' rights are state-based. This means that well-meaning judges are invalidating victims' rights in deference to federal standards, whether there is a violation of a defendant's rights or not. This is what led the U.S. Department of Justice to conclude that "[a] victims' rights constitutional amendment is the only legal measure strong enough to rectify the current inconsistencies in victims' rights laws that vary significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction on the state and federal level" and 43 state Attorneys General to say "We are convinced that statutory protections are not enough; only a federal constitutional amendment will be sufficient to change the culture of our legal system."
Only an amendment can even the playing field – protecting defendants' rights and victims' rights at the same time. Experts in psychology have concluded that failure to offer victims a chance to participate in criminal proceedings can "result in increased feelings of inequity on the part of the victims, with a corresponding increase in crime-related psychological harm." (Kilpatrick and Otto, 1987)
To level the playing field, the federal Constitution and state constitutions need to include victims’ rights constitutional amendments that detail victims’ rights to be informed, present, and heard at critical stages throughout their case. This is the least that the system owes to those it failed to protect.
Take Action!
There are 18 states that still do not have protect state victims’ rights and must enact constitutional amendments: Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. If you are from one of these states, contact your state representatives to urge them to pass a victims’ rights constitutional amendment.
Support the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), the only federal grant program supporting direct assistance services to victims of all types of crimes
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States with this law
Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin