To: Supervisor
From: Victim Advocate
Date: 4/7/2020
Subject: Victim’s Rights Legislation Critique
The following analysis is a review of the newly proposed bill in the jurisdiction of virtual. The critique will cover Section 4 and 4.5 by critiquing the bill’s language. The analysis will consider the issues involving the victim the legislation is trying to be addressed, processes required for the legislation to work, clarity in enforcing victims’ rights, ways to make the bill stronger, common victim rights that could be missing and their consequences, and the liabilities attached to the victim’s rights.
The analysis of the proposed bill shows that there are multiple issues involving the victims that the legislation strives to address. The bill addresses the need for victims to be treated with fairness and respect. It upholds the rights of the victims to receive a notice about court hearings, to receive timely notifications about court proceedings, communicating with the prosecutor, and speaking at any court proceeding. Section 4.5 addresses the right of the victim to receive notification regarding the imprisonment, release, and conviction of the accused (“Illinois General Assembly”, n.d.). Other sections observe various rights such as protection through the criminal justice process, timely disposition of the case proceedings and the safety of the victim of the family. The legislation strives to ensure that the victim will be treated with dignity and the entire proceedings will be conducted with fairness.
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The processes that would be required for the legislation to work in practice will involve having a legal assistant that can ensure the victim’s rights are protected. The legal assistant should critically understand the victim’s rights and inform them of all the procedures. The victim should also be informed regarding their rights before any dealings with the criminal justice system (Holder & Kirchengast, 2020).
The Bill provides a clear approach to enforce the victim’s rights in case of violations. In such an instance, the prosecuting attorney will have to file a motion to ensure that the court enforces the specific right.
Ensuring that the enforcement of the bill is stronger will be possible by increasing the fines and penalties for violations. Additionally, there should be a greater emphasis and greater penalties for violations of rights for vulnerable and special populations. Victims that encounter multiple issues such as sexual assault and violence may find it difficult to navigate through the criminal justice system (Bazelon & Green, 2019). The elderly and disabled people may also depend on others to uphold their rights which can be easily violated.
There are some common victim’s rights that appear to be missing in the Bill. Some of those rights include, the right to apply for victim compensation, the right to information and referrals, and the right to transcripts and presentence report.
The consequences of missing those rights is that the victim can experience challenges and unfairness when dealing with the criminal justice system. For instance, the victim may not know that they should apply for a compensation in case of a loss (“National Crime Victim Law Institute”, 2011). The lack of information like that of transcripts and presentence report of the court proceedings can also impact the ability of the victim to follow the trial.
The analysis of the bill shows that there are no specific liabilities for individuals that violate the victim’s rights. The recommendation for the bill is to include possible liability in the victim’s rights that address the specific fines and penalties for violations. In case the violation is from an individual in the criminal justice system, they bill can stipulate penalties such as suspensions and the loss of their license.
In conclusion, the analysis of the bill shows that it aligns with most of the victims’ rights learned throughout the course. The bill addresses critical issues like ensuring that victims are treated with dignity and respect, they are informed of their rights, and that the court proceedings are conducted with fairness (“Office of the United States Attorneys”, 2016). Enforcing the bill will result improve the effectiveness of court proceedings. However, the bill lacked some rights such as the right to compensation and the liability in case the rights were violated. The recommendation for improving the bill is to address those critical issues.
References
Bazelon, L., & Green, B. A. (2019). Victims' Rights from a Restorative Perspective. Ohio St. J. Crim. L. , 17 , 293. https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/osjcl17§ion=19
Holder, R. L., & Kirchengast, T. (2020). Crime victims’ rights commissioners: public interest entities in a regulatory regime. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice , 1-21. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01924036.2020.1719527
Illinois General Assembly. (n.d.). (705 ILCS 405/) Juvenile Court Act of 1987. www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs4.asp?
National Crime Victim Law Institute. (2011). Fundamentals of victims' rights: A summary of 12 common victim's rights. Victim Law Bulletin . https://law.lclark.edu/live/files/11823-fundamentals-of-victims-rights-a-summary-of-12
Office of the United States Attorneys. (2016, July 28). Crime victims' rights act . Justice.gov. https://www.justice.gov/usao/resources/crime-victims-rights-ombudsman/victims-rights-act
