Module 3
Victims' Rights

Right to Notice

The right to notice refers to a victim’s right to be notified of the rights they are afforded as a crime victim and a victim’s right to be notified of specific upcoming events or proceedings in the criminal case. This right is granted by the federal CVRA. Among state jurisdictions that provide this right, some require that the victim initiate this right to notice in some way. For example, in some jurisdictions the victim must request in writing that they receive notice of specific case events.

This right, when conferred on crime victims, is important because victims are unlikely to seek enforcement of their rights if they are unaware they possess them. For example, victims who are not aware that they have the right to speak at a defendant’s sentencing hearing will not seek to ensure this right is protected in a timely manner and may miss that opportunity altogether.

Consult your agency’s state-specific supplemental guide to explore whether your state confers a right to notice upon victims and what, if anything, the victim must do to trigger such a right.

This module will be available to you as soon as you complete Module 1. To complete a module, you must read each of the lessons and complete the review quiz at the end.

It is important to finish Module 1 so that you have sufficient context for the rest of the program. After that, you'll have full access to jump between lessons however works best for you.

Tip: In the left sidebar, you'll notice a vertical bar of squares. Each square represents a lesson in that module. You can see at a glance which lessons you've done (brightly colored) and which ones you have not (gray).

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