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Victims' rights are legal rights afforded to victims of crime. These include the right to restitution, the right not to be excluded from criminal justice proceedings, and the right to speak at criminal justice proceedings. The Crime Victims' Rights Movement in the United States is founded on the idea that, during the late modern period (1800-1970), the American justice system strayed too far from its victim-centric origins.〔 Since the 1970s, the movement has worked to give victims a more meaningful role in criminal proceedings, aiming at the inclusion of "the individual victim as a legally recognized participant with rights, interests, and voice."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History of victims’ rights )〕 ==History== During the colonial and revolutionary periods, the United States criminal justice system was "victim-centric," in that crimes were often investigated and prosecuted by individual victims. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, however, the focus shifted so that crime was seen primarily as a "social harm."〔 The criminal justice system came to be seen as a tool for remedying this social harm, rather than an avenue for redress of personal harm, and the role of the victim in criminal proceedings was drastically reduced.〔 The modern Crime Victims' Rights Movement began in the 1970s. It began, in part, as a response to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Decision in ''Linda R.S. v. Richard D.'' (410 U.S. 614). In Linda R.S., the Court ruled that the complainant did not have the legal standing to keep the prosecutors' office from discriminately applying a statute criminalizing non-payment of child support. In dicta, the court articulated the then-prevailing view that a crime victim cannot compel a criminal prosecution because "a private citizen lacks a judicially cognizable interest in the prosecution or non-prosecution of another."〔 This ruling served as a high-water mark in the shift away from the victim-centric approach to criminal justice,〔see also Federal Rule of Evidence 615, enacted in 1975, which required exclusion of witnesses (including victims) from the courtroom when requested by the prosecution or defense. http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_615〕 making it clear that victims in the 1970s had "no formal legal status beyond that of a witness or piece of evidence."〔NCVLI Bulletin, "Fundamentals of Victims' Rights: A Brief History of Crime Victims' Rights in the United States," available at ncvli.org〕 If the Linda R.S. Ruling was a clear representation of the problem of victim exclusion, it also hinted at a solution to the problem. The Court stated that Congress could "enact statutes creating victims' rights, the invasion of which creates standing, even though no injury would exist without the statute."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History of NCVLI )〕 With this statement, the Court provided a legal foundation for victims' rights legislation. Along with these legal developments, there was a concurrent growth in social consciousness about victims' rights. This was due, in part, to the fact that concern for the fair treatment of victims provided a nexus between disparate, but powerful, social movements. The law and order Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and the feminist movement all challenged the criminal justice system to think more carefully about the role of the victim in criminal proceedings. Supporters of these causes helped form the grassroots foundation of the modern Victims' Rights Movement, providing educational resources and legal assistance, and establishing the country's first hotlines and shelters for victims of crime.〔http://law.lclark.edu/live/files/6453-the-grassroots-beginnings-of-the-victims-rights〕 In 1982, President Ronald Reagan's Task Force on Victims of Crime released its final report which detailed the concerns of victims' rights advocates, claiming that "the innocent victims of crime have been overlooked, their pleas for justice have gone unheeded, and their wounds - personal, emotional, financial - have gone unattended." The report contained 68 recommendations for service providers and government officials, many of which are mandated through victims' rights legislation today. The report included a recommendation for a victims' rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution.〔()〕 In the decades that followed, proponents of victims' rights experienced substantial legislative success. Today, the Victims' Rights Movement continues to promote legislation that guarantees substantive rights for victims, and provides the procedural mechanisms to effectively enforce those rights. Victims' rights organizations also do ground-level advocacy, providing individual victims with legal guidance and support, and educate future legal professionals on issues related to victims' rights.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mission & values )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Victims' rights」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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