The Washington Constitution grants crime victims basic and fundamental rights, while additional rights are further enumerated in statute. A reasonable effort must be made to ensure that victims, survivors of victims, and witnesses of crimes have access to such rights in adult and juvenile criminal proceedings and sexually violent predator commitment proceedings. Examples of statutory rights include the following:
The statutory rights of victims, survivors of victims, and witnesses of crimes are expanded to include the following:
The amended bill: (1) requires a reasonable effort to be made to ensure that the victim's safety is considered in bail determinations and any determinations of whether to impose other conditions of pretrial release, rather than only in bail determinations; and (2) makes nonsubstantive grammatical changes to ensure the amendatory language in the bill is consistent with the underlying statutory language.
(In support) This bill is intended to grant protections to victims that are no less vigorous than the protections we grant to criminal defendants. Victims have to navigate a difficult and complicated process, and we often lose victim participation in prosecutions due to court delays. This bill will ensure that victims' voices are heard when setting trial dates, their safety is considered at bail determinations, and they are notified of how to track offenders' incarceration and release status.
(Opposed) This bill is unnecessary because court rules already allow courts to evaluate the risk to victims when ordering release conditions and to consider victims' availability when setting trial dates. Courts may conclude that this bill requires even more emphasis on these factors. This will make it increasingly difficult for defendants to obtain reasonable bail pending trial on serious charges, which particularly disadvantages poor defendants and may cause them to sit in custody for years while awaiting trial. Bail is usually based on nothing more than the prosecutor's allegations.
(In support) Senator John Braun, prime sponsor; and Julie Huffman, Seattle City Attorney's Office.