[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 54 (Thursday, April 26, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H1610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               RECOGNIZING NATIONAL VICTIMS' RIGHTS WEEK

  (Mr. BARCIA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning in recognition of 
National Victims' Rights Week. Presently the scales of justice are 
tilted against crime victims. For too long, victims of crime have gone 
unrecognized in our criminal justice system. Too often the victim is 
all but forgotten, left outside of the process. This is not right and 
must be changed.
  Victims should not occupy the fringes of our criminal justice 
process. It was Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo who said: 
``Justice, though due of the accused, is due to the accuser also. The 
concept of fairness must not be strained until it is narrowed to a 
filament. We are to keep the balance true.''
  As we remember victims of crime this week, we see the filament 
Justice Cardozo spoke of becoming increasingly thin. Our current system 
is not fair to victims, and the time has come for us to balance the 
scales of justice.
  Our Nation was founded on the principles of equal protection under 
the law and equal justice for all. It is not until our Constitution 
guarantees the rights of victims that the scales of justice will truly 
be balanced.

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