Traditionally, criminals enjoy the protection of the Alaska Constitution, while justice has been blind to the victims of crimes.
Alaskans have a chance to correct the inequities of the past and balance the "scales of justice' by voting "yes" in November on Ballot Measure No. 2: Rights of Victims of Crime.
This truly bipartisan amendment to the Alaska Constitution is sponsored by State Rep. Brian Porter. The constitutional amendment will require that victims of crime be treated with dignity, respect, fairness, and be allowed to acquire information about the criminal case and take part in the criminal proceedings involving the accused offender.
For too long, our criminal justice system in Alaska has failed to recognize the dignity of the deceased victim as well as the dignity, welfare and understanding of the living victims left to deal with overwhelming tragedy. Violent crime, including murder, rape, robbery and assault has increased drastically over the last 10 years in Alaska.
Every violent criminal act leaves in its destructive path victims who unfortunately become "evidence" in our criminal justice system. Victims of violent criminal conduct who survive the criminal's indiscriminate, vicious behavior and total lack of respect for human values and life frequently are at a loss of how to put their lives back together:
- Mother, father and brother of a young girl kidnapped, raped and brutally murdered
- Daughters of parents and an aunt executed in their parents' home
- Mother and father of a son indiscriminately murdered in a "drive-by" shooting
- Wife and mother maimed for life in a vicious conspiracy executed by mail bombing
- Mothers and fathers of daughters kidnapped and then turned loose in the wilderness to be hunted and executed like wild game.
The victim-survivors in the foregoing scenarios are clear illustrations of the overwhelming trauma facing relative victims left behind after the senseless murder of loved ones.
The accused offender/defendant actions in each of the foregoing scenarios is illustrative of the violence touching far too many Alaskans. The indiscriminate, vicious behavior of these "uncontrollable predators" is an example of their total lack of respect for human values and life itself. Each of the accused offenders in the above-referenced violent killings has numerous constitutionally enumerated rights to ensure that no accused man or woman is wrongfully convicted.
These constitutional rights of the accused offender constitute the foundation of our democratic system of criminal justice, and rightfully so.
However, over the past 12 years, society has come to recognize that the victims of violent criminal acts are subjected to a criminal justice system that allows victims no right to due process, no right to a lawyer, no right to privacy, no right to be informed and consulted, no right to access to the court record and no right to the finality of their traumatic ordeal.
All of the foregoing rights are granted to accused offenders and none is constitutionally granted to the victims of crime. Alaska's Constitutional Amendment for Victims's Rights is necessary to protect victims so that they are no longer second-class citizens in our criminal justice system.
Today, victim's rights are secondary to the constitutional rights of defendants, as well as secondary to the interest and/or convenience of sometimes insensitive judges or lawyers.
A new sensitivity to victims' rights can only be brought about by ensuring that victims rights are recognized constitutionally as are the rights of defendants.
Currently, 14 states have enacted constitutional amendments for the rights of victims. In addition, constitutional amendments or ratifications of constitutional amendments are pending before the legislature for votes in 16 states, including Alaska.
Violent crime makes potential victims of all of us. Senseless, indiscriminate acts of violence affects the direct victim of the crime, his or her loved ones and friends and, ultimately, society as a whole. We all pay for the vicious criminal indiscretions of the "violent predators" in our communities today.
Rep. Porter explains: "The purpose of the Victim's Rights Amendment to our Alaska Constitution is to provide the basic right of due process (the right to proper notification and the opportunity to be heard) to victims of crime throughout the criminal justice proceedings."
Without victims' constitutional rights, the most caring prosecutor or victim/witness coordinator cannot compensate for the intense pain that every victim of violent crime endures. Please vote "yes" on Ballot Measure No. 2, Rights of Victims of Crime, on Nov. 8.