Volume 11, Issue 9. March 13, 2000. In the 1960s, the Supreme Court recognized that people accused of crimes were imbued with constitutional rights, which the states were obliged to respect. But ensuring the integrity of the trial process has never been a high political priority.
Few voters seem to care.
In the past 30 years, the victims' rights movement has generated some welcome reforms, notably the extension of services to crime victims in localities across the country and the renewed prosecutorial attention to victims' concerns. In addition, all the states have adopted legislation or constitutional amendments recognizing the interests of victims in criminal proceedings. Still, Congress is anxious to declare its allegiance to crime victims, partly to affirm its abhorrence of criminal suspects. So for several years the Senate has been threatening to pass the crime victims' rights amendment to the Constitution. Problems like these will be exacerbated in cases involving multiple victims, with multiple prosecutorial agendas of their own.