[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6127-6128]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             RECOGNIZING NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMS RIGHTS WEEK

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to 
recognize Crime Victims Rights Week with my colleagues from the 
Congressional Victims Rights Caucus.
  Recently, the Judiciary Crime Subcommittee examined the issue of 
crime victims where we discovered that one violent crime occurs every 6 
seconds in this country, one rape or sexual assault occurs every 2\1/2\ 
minutes.
  The issue of how crime victims are treated within the criminal 
justice system has been of paramount importance to myself and many of 
us throughout our tenure in Congress. I was the sponsor of the Crime 
Victims Rights constitutional amendment back in the 106th, 107th and 
108th Congresses. That legislation would have given crime victims the 
right to be reasonably protected from the accused, to be heard at all 
court proceedings, to receive full and just compensation in the form of 
restitution and, most importantly, to be treated with fairness and 
dignity and respect.
  Unfortunately, despite numerous hearings and attempts by Senators Kyl 
and Feinstein, it was bipartisan, myself and others, we did not have 
the votes to pass a constitutional amendment. However, the Crime 
Victims Rights Act was included as title I of the Justice for All Act.

[[Page 6128]]

  We need to recognize and support all crime victims in this country.

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