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PROPOSALS FOR A CONSTITUnONAL AMENDMENT TO PROVIDE RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME Y 4. J 89/1:104/91 Proposals for a Constitutional ftnen... HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.J. Res. 173 and H.J. Res. 174 PROPOSAI^ FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PROVIDE RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME JULY 11, 1996 Serial No. 91 V ' C-•' ' 'n^• J 8 1 9 1997 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 35-331 CC WASHINGTON 1996 : ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-053788-6 PROPOSALS FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PROVIDE RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME Y 4. J 89/1:104/91 Proposals for a Constitutional Anen... HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIAKY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.J. Res. 173 and H.J. Res. 174 PROPOSALS FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PROVIDE RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME JULY 11, 1996 Serial No. 91 tnm B 1 S 1337 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 35-331 CC WASHINGTON : 1996 ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOftlce SuperintendentofDocuments,CongressionalSalesOffice,Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-053788-6 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HENRY J. HYDE. Illinois, Chairman CARLOS J. MOORHEAD, California JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., PATRICIA SCHROEDER, Colorado Wisconsin BARNEY FRANK, Massachusetts BILL McCOLLUM, Florida CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York GEORGE W. GEKAS, Pennsylvania HOWARD L. BERMAN, Cahfomia HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina RICK BOUCHER, Virginia LAMAR SMITH, Texas JOHN BRYANT, Texas STEVEN SCHIFF, New Mexico JACK REED, Rhode Island ELTON GALLEGLY, California JERROLD NADLER, New York CHARLES T. CANADY, Florida ROBERT C. SCOTT, Virginia BOB INGLIS, South Carolina MELVIN L. WATT. North Carolina BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia XAVIER BECERRA. California STEPHEN E. BUYER. Indiana ZOE LOFGREN. California MARTIN R. HOKE. Ohio SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas SONN^ BONO, California MAXINE WATERS. California FRED HEINEMAN, North Carolina ED BRYANT, Tennessee STEVE CHABOT, Ohio MICHAEL PATRICK FLANAGAN, Illinois BOB BARR, Georgia Alan F. Coffey, Jr.. General Counsel/StaffDirector Julian Epstein, Minority StaffDirector (II) CONTENTS HEARING DATE July 11, 1996 1 TEXTS OF BILI^ H.J. Res. 173 3 H.J. Res. 174 6 OPENING STATEMENT Hyde, Hon. Henry J., a Representative in Congress from the State ofIllinois, andchairman, Committee on the Judiciary 1 WITNESSES Feinstein, Hon. Dianne, a Senatorin Congress fromthe State ofCalifornia .... 12 Greenlee, Ellen, president. National Legal Aid and DefenderAssociation 141 Hodgin, Chet, State vice president, North Carolina Victim Assistance Net- work 29 Kyi, Hon. Jon, a Senator in Congress from the State ofArizona 8 Long-Wagner, Christine, second vice president. Law Enforcement Alliance ofAmerica 25 Pine, Jeffrey B., attorney general, State ofRhode Island 50 Roper, Roberta, director, Stephanie Roper Committee and Foundation, Inc 21 Royce, Hon. Edward R., a Representative in Congress from the State of California 17 Schmidt,John R., Associate Attorney General, DepartmentofJustice 164 Semel, Elisabeth A., on behalf of the National Association of Criminal De- fense Lawyers 80 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Feinstein, Hon. Dianne, a Senator in Congress from the State of California: Prepared statement 14 Greenlee, Ellen, president. National Legal Aid and Defender Association: Prepared statement 143 Hodgin, Chet, State vice president. North Carolina Victim Assistance Net- work: Prepared statement 31 Jackson Lee, Sheila, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas: Prepared statement 43 Kyi, Hon. Jon, a Senator in Congress from the State of Arizona: Prepared statement 10 Long-Wagner, Christine, second vice president. Law Enforcement Alliance ofAmerica: Prepared statement 27 Pine, Jeffrey B., attorney general. State ofRhode Island: Prepared statement 53 Roper, Roberta, director, Stephanie Roper Committee and Foundation, Inc.: Prepared statement 23 Royce, Hon. Edward R., a Representative in Congress from the State of California: Prepared statement 18 Schmidt, John R., Associate Attorney General, Department of Justice: Pre- pared statement 167 Semel, Elisabeth A., on behalf of the National Association of Criminal De- fense Lawyers: Prepared statement 82 (III) IV Page APPENDIX Material submittedforthe hearing 179 PROPOSALS FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL AMEND- MENT TO PROVIDE RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME THURSDAY, JULY 11, 1996 House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice at 9:40 a.m., in room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Henry J. Hyde (chairman ofthe committee) presiding. Present: Representatives Henry J. Hyde, Carlos J. Moorhead, F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Greorge W. Gekas, Howard Coble, Charles T. Canady, Bob Goodlatte, Stephen E. Buyer, Sonny Bono, Fred Heineman, Ed Bryant of Tennessee, Michael Patrick Flana- gan, John Conyers, Jr., Charles E. Schumer, Howard L. Berman, Jack Reed, Robert C. Scott, Melvin L. Watt, Xavier Becerra, Zoe Lofgren, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Maxine Waters. Mso present: Joseph Gibson, counsel; Kenny Prater, clerk; Perry Apelbaum, minority chief counsel; and Stephanie Peters, minority counsel. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN HYDE Mr. Hyde. Ladies and gentlemen, the committee will come to order. This morning the committee considers proposals for a constitutional amendment to provide rights for victims of crimes. As everyone who reads a newspaper knows, violent criminals damage and destroy the lives of innocent victims every day. When law enforcement officials arrest and prosecute people accused of commit- ting violent crimes, those individuals have a wide array of legal rights, many ofwhich are constitutionally guaranteed. Those rights protect accused persons against unjust convictions and allow them to present their side of the story. That is as it should be, and we are certainly not here to change that. All too often, however, the criminal justice system overlooks the legitimate concerns of crime victims. Victims often sit through criminal trials where the defendant has the protections of the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 14th amendments, and the courts rightfully protect these constitutional rights. On the other hand, the victim who has suffered grievously has no Federal constitutional rights at all. Crime victims deserve constitutional protections just as accused persons have constitutional protections. For that reason, I believe the time has come to provide specific defined rights under the Constitution to crime victims. (1) Although some victims in high profile cases are treated with the dignity they deserve, I think the rights provided in this proposed amendment may be even more important in the hundreds of criminal cases we never hear about. This amendment applies to many kinds of crimes and the victims of all of those crimes desei^e protection. Today I want to focus on one group of victims that I am espe- cially interested in, the thousands of women and children who are victims of domestic violence every day. For far too long, we as a so- ciety have stood silently by while domestic abusers have beaten, tortured, maimed and murdered innocent women and children. The violent actions of these predators are morally repugnant. Silence has protected them, but this amendment will empower their victims. Specially, this amendment will empower these victims by giving them knowledge of when they may confront their attackers in court, by giving them the opportunity to speak in court about the resolution of the case, by giving them Government protection from physical harm and intimidation, and by giving them restitution from their attackers. At last, this amendment will give the victims of domestic abuse the power they need to call their abusers to ac- count publicly for their crimes. We have worked very hard in this Congress to uphold family values in many areas, and I believe this is another area in which we can continue to work together to further those values. Senator Dole endorsed this proposal in a speech in Colorado on May 28, and he became a cosponsor of S.J. Res. 52 on June 5. Later, President Clinton added his bipartisan support. I also want to thank Senator Kyi and Senator Feinstein, the cosponsors of this amendment in the Senate, as well as Congressman Royce, a long-time champion of victims' rights for their bipartisan support. I look forward to working with all of the interested parties to advance this amendment further. [The bills, H.J. Res. 173 and H.J. Res. 174, follow:] lA 104th congress 173 2d Session H. J. RES. Proposingan amendment to the Constitutionofthe United States to protect the rightsofvictimsofcrime. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 22, 1996 Mr. Hyde introduced the followingjoint resolution;which was referred to the Committee on theJudiciary JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to protect the rights ofvictims of crime. 1 Resolved by the Senate and House ofRepresentatives 2 ofthe United States ofAmerica in Congress assembled (two- 3 thirds ofeach House concurring therein), That the follow- 4 ing article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitu- 5 tion ofthe United States, which shallbevalid to ail intents 6 and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by 7 the legislatures ofthree-fourths ofthe several States with- 8 in seven years after the date of its submission for ratifica- 9 tion: 2 — 1 "Article 2 "Section 1. To insure that victims of crime are 3 treated with fairness, dignity, and respect, in each pros- 4 ecution by the United States or a State, for a crime either 5 involving violence or for which the defendant can be im- 6 prisoned for a period longer than one year, any victim of 7 the crime shall have the right to receive notice of, and 8 to be present at, every stage of the public proceedings, 9 unless the court determines there is good cause for the 10 victim not to be present; to comment at any such proceed- 11 ing involving the possible release of the defendant from 12 custody, the acceptance of any plea agreement with the 13 defendant, or the sentencing of the defendant; to be in- 14 formed of any release or escape of the defendant; to re- 15 ceive reasonable protection from physical harm or intimi- 16 dation relatingto the proceedings; to have the proceedings 17 resolved in a prompt and timely manner; and to have the 18 court order restitution from the defendant upon convic- 19 tion. 20 "Section 2. The rights estabUshed in section 1 shall 21 be made available to victims upon request to the prosecut- 22 ing authority and in the manner provided by law under 23 section 3. 24 "Section 3. The legislatures of the States, with re- 25 spect to a proceeding in a State forum, and the Congress m •HJ 173