Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Ranking Member and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today announced their bipartisan collaboration on a resolution observing this week as National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. The resolution recognizes the Senate’s commitment to raising awareness about the unique needs of crime victims and their families.
The resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that victims and survivors of crime need and deserve support. The resolution also asserts the importance of securing justice for crime survivors and protecting communities when victims report crimes—choosing to bravely participate in the criminal justice process.
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week represents more than three decades of collaboration between Congress, the Justice Department and communities across the nation to identify and meet the diverse needs of crime victims, survivors and their families.
This resolution comes alongside the push for passage of the bipartisan VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act, sponsored by Durbin and Grassley, along with Senator Graham and a number of other senators. That legislation would update and amend the original Victims of Crime Act to ensure that monetary penalties from federal deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements collected by the Justice Department go directly into the Crime Victims Fund to increase funding for state victim compensation and assistance programs.
The Crime Victims’ Awareness Week resolution is cosponsored by 10 senators: Sens. Grassley, Durbin, Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
Full text of the resolution can be found HERE.
Original source can be found here.
