Honoring the Struggle for Justice by Sen Kyl newsletter

Honoring the Struggle for Justice
By U.S. Senator Jon Kyl

During this year’s National Crime Victims Week, victims, advocacy groups, and others around the country will pause to draw attention to the harm suffered by millions of Americans at the hands of criminals, and call for additional ways to support victims in their struggle for justice. For too long our court system has tilted in favor of accused criminals (who are, of course, innocent until proven guilty) but often has been indifferent toward the suffering of crime victims.

Giving victims the right to be informed, present, and heard in criminal cases and to give them standing to assert these rights does not seem like too much to ask. Those were key provisions of the Crime Victims Rights Act, a bill I got enacted just a year and a half ago. The legislation established new guarantees of basic rights under federal law for victims of crime. It vindicated the right to be reasonably protected, notified, present, and heard at critical stages, as well as the right to confer with the prosecutor, to restitution, to proceedings free from unreasonable delay, and to be treated with fairness and respect. The Crime Victims Rights Act was the most comprehensive legislation ever passed to protect the rights of crime victims.

Even with the new law, however, challenges remain. Late last year, along with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), I filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Patrick Kenna. Mr. Kenna was one of the victims in a massive white collar crime case being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California. Both defendants were convicted and when it came time to sentence the second defendant, Mr. Kenna was in the courtroom ready to exercise his right to be heard, which is protected in our new law. Incredibly, the judge refused to let Mr. Kenna or any other victims speak-in clear violation of their rights. So Mr. Kenna used the mechanism we wrote into the Crime Victims Rights Act to enforce his rights in the Ninth Circuit. Our brief was in support of Mr. Kenna’s right to be heard. And we won. The court sent the case back to the district court to be reopened and to give Mr. Kenna the right to be heard. It was a good test of our new law.

The Kenna case also shows the critical importance of the Crime Victims Legal Assistance Project (CVLAP) which is housed at Arizona State University and operated by Arizona Voice for Crime Victims. Mr. Kenna was represented by CVLAP. I am working hard to expand our clinic and others modeled after it around the country so that victims have access to free legal and social services to fight for them in their pursuit of justice and healing.

It was President Ronald Reagan who declared the first National Crime Victims' Rights Week in 1981. The target of a nearly successful assassination attempt, he understood that our legal system owes fairness and due process not only to accused criminals, but also to the victims. Enactment of the Crime Victims Rights Act has helped balance the scales of justice for victims.



Sen. Kyl serves on the Senate Finance and Judiciary committees and chairs the Senate Republican Policy Committee.

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Protecting Children
We Need Sensible Immigration Reform
Smoothing Out a Shaky Start
Economy Gets a Clean Bill of Health