Making Illinois' Victims' Rights Enforceable
A coalition of victim advocates in Illinois have started a campaign to improve its state's constitutional Victims Rights Amendment by making its victims' rights self-enforcing. Key provisions would provide:
- Appellate relief for victims rights denied during trial phase.
- Victims' Rights protected no matter the age or condition mentally of the offender.
- Eliminate need for statutory language to define application of the rights, making the rights self-enforcing.
- Give victims the right to an attorney of their own.
According to advocates, Illinois law does not ensure that victims receive the rights they need and deserve. The Illinois Constitution and Illinois statutes have provided for some measure of crime victim rights since 1984. Nonetheless, crime victims routinely find that the rights identified in law are not implemented:
- Victims are guaranteed the right to be informed of court proceedings --some victims never learn about scheduled hearings or they take time off work or school only to learn at the courthouse after hours of waiting that the hearing was postponed.
- Victims have the right to communicate with the prosecution -- some victims wait long periods of time only to find out that charges were never filed in their case but the prosecutor never informed the victim of this decision.
- Victims are guaranteed to be present at trials and hearings regarding their case -- some victims are unnecessarily placed on the defense’s (and in rare occasions, the prosecution’s) witness list in order to exclude them from the courtroom and are required to sit outside, missing most of the proceedings about the rape or act of violence that happened to them or their loved ones, without being released in a timely manner.
- Victims are guaranteed the right to a speedy trial -- some cases take years longer than necessary without the court ever considering the victim’s need for justice due to repeated requests for continuances by the defense.
- Victims are guaranteed the right to present a statement to the court about the impact that a violent crime has had on them -- some judges refuse to allow the victim to present this statement in open court, thus defeating the impact that a victim’s words might have on the court’s decision-making and the victim’s healing.
- Victims have the right to have a support person or advocate present at court proceedings -- some courts exclude advocates from the courtroom, particularly in juvenile cases, leaving the victim alone and isolated in an unfamiliar environment.
When these unfortunate events happen, victims have no recourse. There is no power or authority that can force a judge or attorney to respect the rights of the victims when those rights matter most. Without a means of enforcement, these rights are illusory at best and solely dependent on the good will of those in control of the proceedings.
More infomation, including a copy of the bill, HJRCA 19, is available at: www.illinoisvictims.org
Marsy's
Law -- California's new VRA - Passes
Proposition 9, California's initiative to adopt
a comprehensive Bill of Rights for victims -- "Marsy's
Law" -- passed by a 53-47 margin. [Read Amendment]
According to NVCAP's
General Counsel Steve Twist, Marsy’s Law will be the most comprehensive
Victim’s Bill of Rights in any state in the nation; indeed, in
the history of the nation. The initiative sets the standard
for the rights to justice and due process for crime victims and challenges
the U.S. Congress to make these rights available to all Americans.
For the first time in California, victims will have meaningful and
enforceable rights, including the rights:
- To notice of all proceedings
- To be present whenever
the defendant has the right to be present
- To be heard at
critical stages … before the defendant is released after arrest,
before a plea bargain is accepted by the court, before any sentence
is imposed,
before there is a parole, and any time their rights are at issue.
- To have their safety considered
before any release decisions are made and to know when the offender
is being released or has escaped
- To protect their confidential
records
- To refuse to submit to
interrogations by the defendant or his lawyer before trial
- To confer with the prosecutor
- To be free from intimidation,
harassment, or abuse, and to be treated with fairness and respect
- To a speedy trial and
to reasonable finality.
- Victims would have an independent
right to enforce these rights in any court.
- It will require that victims
be informed of their rights just like the defendants are given their
Miranda rights.
- It will provide the means
to stop the regular nightmare of repeated opportunities for clearly
dangerous offenders to be re-considered over and over again for parole.
- It will secure for victims
a meaningful opportunity to participate in parole proceedings and
will set their safety and the safety of the public as the critical
standard before release decisions are made.
Marsy’s law
restores to victims an independent voice in a system that for too
long has marginalized
and silenced them. Click here to
read the entire proposal.
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