Chapter 3: Recommendations for Prosecution

The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions
Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. 

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One of the most important and basic rights of victims during the prosecution
stage is the right to participate. Victims' satisfaction with prosecutors and the
criminal or juvenile justice system increases dramatically if they are invited to
participate in the decisionmaking process. Heightened sensitivity to the needs of
crime victims by prosecutors and their staff has resulted in increased victim
participation in criminal and juvenile justice processes. To ensure that victims
continue to participate in the prosecution of cases, the following
recommendations for prosecutors and their professional staff are set forth by
the field:

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1. Prosecutors' offices should notify victims in a timely manner of the date,
time, and location of the following: charging of defendant, pretrial hearings, plea
negotiations, the trial, all schedule changes, and the sentencing hearing. Timely
notification, orally or in writing, of advanced scheduling should be provided in
relevant languages. Statutes should require prosecutors to verify notifications
with documentation in case files or through another mechanism.

2. Prosecutors should establish victim/witness assistance units to ensure that
victims of crime receive at least a basic level of service, including information,
notification, consultation, and participation. Prosecutors' offices should develop
and incorporate into performance evaluations written definitions of the roles and
responsibilities of prosecuting attorneys, victim/witness professionals, and other
relevant staff and volunteers. 

3. Prosecutors should use the full range of measures at their disposal to ensure
that victims and witnesses are protected from intimidation and harassment.
These measures include ensuring that victims are informed about safety
precautions, advising the court of victims fears and concerns about safety prior
to any bail or bond proceedings, automatically requesting no-contact orders
and enforcing them if violated, and utilizing witness relocation programs and
technology to help protect victims.

4. Prosecutors should address criminal and juvenile justice problems that afflict
their communities by exploring the establishment of community prosecution
programs as an adjunct to traditional prosecution. Prosecutors should recognize
the important role that they can play in reducing crime and should use the
authority of their office to support effective crime prevention strategies tailored
to the cultures and language needs of their communities.

5. Prosecutors should play a central role in establishing multidisciplinary efforts
to respond to crime.

6. Prosecutors should advocate for the rights of victims to have their views
heard by judges on bail decisions, continuances, plea bargains, dismissals,
sentencing, and restitution. Policies and procedures should be put into place in
all prosecutors' offices to ensure that victims are informed in a timely manner of
these crucial rights in forms of communication they understand. 

7. Prosecutors should make every effort, if the victim has provided a current
address or telephone number, to consult the victim on the terms of any
negotiated plea, including the acceptance of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere.

8. In all cases, particularly those involving sexual assault, the prosecuting
attorney should confer with the victim or survivors before deciding not to file
charges or before deciding to seek dismissal of charges already filed.

9. Prosecutors should establish policies to fast track the prosecution of sexual
assault, domestic violence, elderly and child abuse, and other particularly
sensitive cases to shorten the length of time from arrest to disposition.
Prosecutors should encourage judges to give top priority to these cases on the
trial docket and should try to ensure that the case goes to trial when initially 
scheduled. 

10. Prosecutors' offices should use technology to enhance the implementation
of victims' rights.

11. Prosecutors should adopt vertical prosecution for domestic violence, sexual
assault, and child abuse cases.

12. Prosecutors should work closely with victim service providers and victims
of domestic violence to establish appropriate prosecution policies and support
research to assess the effectiveness of proceeding without victim testimony in
domestic violence cases. 


13. Victims' rights and sensitivity education should be provided to all law
students as part of their basic education in law school and to all prosecutors
during their initial orientation and throughout their careers. 

14. Prosecutors' offices should establish procedures to ensure the prompt
return of victims' property, absent the need for it as actual evidence in court.

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