Since the birth of the victims’ rights movement, states have — with varying degrees of specificity and strength — passed laws that grant protections to victims of crime.¹ In 1986, Rhode Island was the first state to enact an amendment to its state constitution guaranteeing rights to crime victims. As of 2016, a total of 33 states had enacted constitutional amendments conferring rights on crime victims.2

Even in the absence of a constitutional right, all states have some statutes that give protections and/or rights to crime victims. For example, this may be a statutory “Crime Victims Bill of Rights.” Rights are also found in discrete laws which grant a specific right to crime victims such as a statute governing rights to restitution (which will be covered in Module 4), or laws aimed at preserving victims’ privacy, like so-called “rape shield” laws (which will be covered later in this module). The following pages explore some of the rights commonly afforded to crime victims through legislation and constitutional amendments. 

Consult your agency’s state-specific supplemental guide for the specific rights guaranteed to crime victims in your state, including whether your state has a victims’ rights constitutional amendment.