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Scholarly concerns about the CVRA

By Douglas A. Berman

Regular readers may sense that I am a fan of victim participation in sentencing, which in turn make me a fan of the federal Crime Victimsi Rights Act.  But this new piece appearing on SSRN, titled "The Limits of Victims' Rights in a System of Public Prosecution," suggest the CVRA should be a cause for concern, not celebration.  Here is the abstract: The Crime Victims? Rights Act (?CVRA?), enacted in 2004, potentially threatens our system of public prosecution enshrined in the Constitution.  Although it does not confer party status to victims, the CVRA provides victims with expansive rights, which could often conflict with the interests of prosecutors and defendants.  Most significantly, if a district court denies any of the victims? participatory rights under the statute, the CVRA permits victims to petition the appellate court for a writ of mandamus to re-open a plea bargain or sentence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 15, 2009 (boomark / email).