[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 26 (Monday, July 1, 1996)]
[Page 1144]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Memorandum on Crime Victims' Rights

June 27, 1996

Memorandum for the Attorney General

Subject: Renewing Our Commitment to Crime Victims

    We have made tremendous progress over the last 3 years in reducing 
crime and making America safer. Nonetheless, crime continues to affect 
the lives of millions of Americans, greatly diminishing their sense of 
safety and security.
    For too long, the rights and needs of crime victims and witnesses 
have been overlooked in the criminal justice system. Through the Violent 
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and the Antiterrorism and 
Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, we have begun to address this 
problem. But those important measures are not enough.
    As important as the protections those laws provide are, they do 
not--and cannot--give victims equal status with the accused. That's the 
next step we need to take.
    I strongly believe that victims should be central participants in 
the criminal justice system, and that it will take a constitutional 
amendment to give the rights of victims the same status as the rights of 
the accused. In the interim, I want my Administration to do everything 
possible to ensure that victims' rights are respected and that victims' 
participation in the criminal justice process is encouraged and 
facilitated. Our Federal investigators and prosecutors should not simply 
comply with the letter of the law, they should also fulfill the spirit 
of the law.
    That is why I am directing you to take a number of important steps 
that will improve the treatment of victims in the Federal, State, 
military, and juvenile criminal justice systems.
    First, I am directing you to undertake a system-wide review and to 
take all necessary steps to provide for full victim participation in 
Federal criminal proceedings. I want you to hold the Federal system to a 
higher standard of victims' rights than ever before. In particular, I 
want you to adopt a nationwide automated victim information and 
notification system so that we can better inform and protect crime 
victims.
    Second, I would like you to work with other Federal agencies whose 
missions involve them with crime victims in order to ensure that a 
common and comprehensive baseline of participation for victims can be 
achieved.
    Third, I want you to review existing Federal statutes to see what 
further changes ought to be made. For example, I would like you to 
consider legislation that would prohibit employers from dismissing or 
disciplining employees who are victims of crime and whose participation 
as victims in criminal proceedings requires them to take time away from 
their employment.
    Finally, I want you to work with State officials--governors, 
attorneys general, legislators, district attorneys, and judges--and 
victims' rights advocates to identify the needs, challenges, best 
practices, and resources necessary to help achieve a uniform national 
baseline of protections for victims. The Department of Justice should 
provide technical assistance to State and local law enforcement, as well 
as other Federal agencies, and serve as a national clearinghouse for 
information about the most effective approaches to realizing fully the 
rights of victims of violent crime.
    To achieve these objectives, I expect you to identify funding needs 
where and as appropriate. Please report to me in writing as soon as 
possible on the specific steps you will take to achieve these goals.
                                            William J. Clinton