Examine the major laws and cases that have influenced victim legislation.
Starting in the 1970s, Congress began enacting a number of laws centered around victims’ rights and protection. Image: U.S. Capitol Building. Authored by: bellaluna222. Source: https://pixabay.com/en/u-s-capitol-washington-d-c-autumn-2433243/. Licensing: CC-0
This section will examine the federal laws and legal cases that have had the most significant impact on victims’ rights and roles within the CJS. Because so much variability exists in state laws, this module will only focus on federal laws. Note that the goal of this section is to give an overview of the most impactful laws; many laws are not covered here. Legislation that is focused on children will be discussed in Module 8, which discusses victimization of children and the elderly. In addition, major laws and cases that have already been discussed in earlier modules may be mentioned again here, but they will not be discussed in detail.