Corrections Officials for Victim Justice

We stand on guard each day so that our neighbors might be safe. We are corrections officials from across America united with you in your efforts to enact the Kyl-Feinstein Crime Victims’ Rights Amendment. The rights you propose to establish in our Constitution are basic rights that any civilized society should extend to crime victims.

There are those who argue that our criminal justice institutions cannot afford to provide the right to notice, the rights to be present or be heard, or the other rights that would be secured by the amendment. We say that as a society we cannot afford to ignore these rights, just as we cannot afford to go without secure custody for the nation’s most dangerous and chronic offenders.

We know something of the costs that have been imposed on crime victims by those we guard. Many of our ranks have been themselves victims of these offenders; indeed too many have paid the ultimate sacrifice to defend the law abiding from the lawless. Our support for the constitutional amendment springs from our insight into the criminal justice system from our vantage point as career law enforcement professionals.

Please know that our coalition stands ready to assist you in your critical work.