{
  "id": "97-735",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "97-735",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 100715,
      "date": "2000-04-13",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:37:19.486941",
      "title": "Victims' Rights Amendment: Background & Issues Associated With Proposals to Amend the United States Constitution",
      "summary": "Thirty-three states have added a victims' rights amendment to their state constitutions. Similar\nproposals have been made to amend the United States Constitution, including S.J. Res.\n3 and H.J. Res. 64 in this Congress.\n  Proponents claim an amendment is necessary to balance the rights of victims with those\nafforded the accused in the criminal justice system, to make protection of victims' rights and\nremedies uniformly available, and to replace inadequate enforcement mechanisms. Opponents claim\nan amendment would flood the courts with litigation, would undermine the rights of the accused\n(perhaps discriminatorily), and would jeopardize effective prosecution.\n   S.J.Res. 3  and  H.J.Res. 64 , like many of the statutory and state\nconstitutional provisions, focus on enduring the rights of victims to be notified of, to attend, and to\nbe heard at judicial proceedings. Like several of those provisions, they leave to another day the\ndefinition of \"victim\" for purposes of the amendment. They do address, however, victim\nparticipation in bail proceedings, plea bargaining, trial, sentencing hearings among others -- each of\nwhich are already subject to a wide variety of legislative regulation.\n  It is as yet unclear whether  S.J.Res. 3  or  H.J.Res. 64  will wipe the\nslate clean or simply supplement existing law and whether it will trump conflicting defendant\nconstitutional rights or if the need to accommodate both will in rare instances preclude prosecution\nin order to avoid conflict.\n  Appendices include references to state and federal legislation in several of the areas touched\nupon by the amendment proposals.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/97-735",
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law",
    "Constitutional Questions",
    "Intelligence and National Security"
  ]
}