Next Weds. 4/26/12 a Hearing will be held in Wash. D.C. on H.J. Resolution 106, a Constitutional Amendment giving violent crime victims a standing in the U.S. Constitution, I have written an article about this pending hearing and want to share it here. Time is short, so please contact your elected representative in the House and urge that they support it. I thank you and all future victims will thank you as well.
H. J. Resolution 106, Victim’s Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution deserves Congressional support!
On Wednesday, April 26, 2012 a hearing will be held in the House of Representatives that should have broad political support on both sides of the aisle and with a vast majority of Americans. The legislation being considered is H.J. Resolution 106 a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will give crime victims long needed standing in the U.S. Constitution. The Joint Resolution was introduced to the House Judiciary Committee by Arizona Congressman Franks and California Congressman Costa.
Currently, crime victims have zero rights guaranteed to them in the constitution while the accused have 23 rights afforded them. The only constitutional rights crime victims have now are either through amendments in various state constitutions or by statute. While they are helpful they fall far short of protecting victims as the federal constitution trump those state rights or statutes victims have been granted.
Being a victim’s rights advocate since the murder of my son in 1993 and having experienced going through the American Criminal Justice System as a victim I describe that experience thusly; since the horrible night my son was murdered we were thrown into the system unknowingly and unwillingly. From an analogous viewpoint one might best be able to understand it as waking up one day and finding you have been cast onto a deserted island and abandoned. You don’t know where you are, you have not been given or left with any tools needed for survival, not even a map or a compass to guide you. You are at the mercy of a system that favors the predators that have already devoured a loved one and now it will do the same to you because you have no protections. It’s is like trying to find your way out of a maze, searching for a pathway to emotional healing and understanding. What you are trying to do is find your way as a victim wanting nothing more than hoping your murdered loved one will be given a consideration of justice being served as the one accused of murdering them are. The proposed Victim’s Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will provide you with the tools, map and compass to enable you to find your way out of the maze.
H.J. Resolution 106 is not seeking to and will not take away any constitutional rights of the accused and it is brief and to the point having only three sections. What it will do is give victims a standing in the constitution by guaranteeing them; (a) rights to reasonable notice of, and shall not be excluded from, public proceedings relating to the offense, (b) to be heard at any release, plea, sentencing or other such proceeding in any right established by this article, (c) to proceedings free from unreasonable delay, to reasonable notice of the release or escape of the accused, (d) to due consideration of the crime victim’s safety and to restitution. A,B,C and D are the major portions of Section I, while Section II defines what constitutes being a crime victim is in the article. Section 3 stipulates what steps must be constitutionally followed in order for the Amendment to become a part of the existing U.S. Constitution.
As anyone will see, H.J. Resolution 106 is a common sense remedy to assuring that future crime victims will have a standing in the U.S. Constitution as worded in the first sentence of Section I. “The rights of a victim to fairness, respect and dignity, being capable of protection without denying the constitutional rights of the accused, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State.”
Becoming a crime victim can happen to anyone and it matters not if you are Democrat, Republican, you can be cast into the criminal justice system as millions are each year and need the protection guaranteed by H.J. Resolution 106. If you agree I urge you to contact your congressman or congresswoman before 4/26/12 and ask that they support it.
Ralph L Myers, Father of murdered son Tom A Myers
H. J. Resolution 106, Victim’s Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution deserves Congressional support!
On Wednesday, April 26, 2012 a hearing will be held in the House of Representatives that should have broad political support on both sides of the aisle and with a vast majority of Americans. The legislation being considered is H.J. Resolution 106 a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will give crime victims long needed standing in the U.S. Constitution. The Joint Resolution was introduced to the House Judiciary Committee by Arizona Congressman Franks and California Congressman Costa.
Currently, crime victims have zero rights guaranteed to them in the constitution while the accused have 23 rights afforded them. The only constitutional rights crime victims have now are either through amendments in various state constitutions or by statute. While they are helpful they fall far short of protecting victims as the federal constitution trump those state rights or statutes victims have been granted.
Being a victim’s rights advocate since the murder of my son in 1993 and having experienced going through the American Criminal Justice System as a victim I describe that experience thusly; since the horrible night my son was murdered we were thrown into the system unknowingly and unwillingly. From an analogous viewpoint one might best be able to understand it as waking up one day and finding you have been cast onto a deserted island and abandoned. You don’t know where you are, you have not been given or left with any tools needed for survival, not even a map or a compass to guide you. You are at the mercy of a system that favors the predators that have already devoured a loved one and now it will do the same to you because you have no protections. It’s is like trying to find your way out of a maze, searching for a pathway to emotional healing and understanding. What you are trying to do is find your way as a victim wanting nothing more than hoping your murdered loved one will be given a consideration of justice being served as the one accused of murdering them are. The proposed Victim’s Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will provide you with the tools, map and compass to enable you to find your way out of the maze.
H.J. Resolution 106 is not seeking to and will not take away any constitutional rights of the accused and it is brief and to the point having only three sections. What it will do is give victims a standing in the constitution by guaranteeing them; (a) rights to reasonable notice of, and shall not be excluded from, public proceedings relating to the offense, (b) to be heard at any release, plea, sentencing or other such proceeding in any right established by this article, (c) to proceedings free from unreasonable delay, to reasonable notice of the release or escape of the accused, (d) to due consideration of the crime victim’s safety and to restitution. A,B,C and D are the major portions of Section I, while Section II defines what constitutes being a crime victim is in the article. Section 3 stipulates what steps must be constitutionally followed in order for the Amendment to become a part of the existing U.S. Constitution.
As anyone will see, H.J. Resolution 106 is a common sense remedy to assuring that future crime victims will have a standing in the U.S. Constitution as worded in the first sentence of Section I. “The rights of a victim to fairness, respect and dignity, being capable of protection without denying the constitutional rights of the accused, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State.”
Becoming a crime victim can happen to anyone and it matters not if you are Democrat, Republican, you can be cast into the criminal justice system as millions are each year and need the protection guaranteed by H.J. Resolution 106. If you agree I urge you to contact your congressman or congresswoman before 4/26/12 and ask that they support it.
Ralph L Myers, Father of murdered son Tom A Myers
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