ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 21, 1996 TAG: 9610220005
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SHOULD CRIME victims be treated ``with fairness, dignity and respect?'' Of course. Too often, they haven't been. To spell this out in the Virginia Constitution, however, would merely clutter the document with pointless verbiage.
The proposed "victims' rights" amendment to the constitution, on the Nov. 5 ballot, would neither require nor enable the General Assembly to do anything that it hasn't already done or cannot do. Virginia voters should vote "no."
In addition to prescribing how crime victims should be treated, the proposed amendment says the assembly may define certain rights and protections for victims. But the legislature already has constitutional authority to do that. It has, in fact, already passed several laws to that effect, and may pass more.
The amendment, in short, serves no purpose - except perhaps to give its principal author, Attorney General Jim Gilmore, a bragging point in his expected run for governor next year. That's fine for Gilmore, who has made victim-assistance programs a cornerstone of his law-enforcement career. But the constitution shouldn't be amended simply to show solicitude for certain groups, however much they deserve society's concern.
Another state constitutional amendment championed by Gilmore has more criminal-justice substance. It allows the legislature to expand the state's right of appeal to include criminal cases, as, for example, when a criminal conviction is overturned.
It would not, of course, allow reversals of "not guilty" verdicts or otherwise permit constitutionally forbidden ``double jeopardy,'' which is trying a person twice for the same offense. The amendment merely intends to bring into better balance a lopsided appeals arrangement in a justice system that, after all, is supposed to try to get to the truth of a case.
Now defendants can appeal a conviction, citing real or fancied errors in the trial record. But the prosecution cannot. It can't even raise issues for appellate review, meaning only issues that favor the defendant are considered.
To be sure, Virginia judges haven't been overturning criminal convictions in droves. And justice would not be well-served if overzealous prosecutors clogged court dockets by appealing every case they lose. The legislature must tread carefully, to preserve everyone's civil liberties as well as the state's appropriately greater burden in prosecuting defendants.
But that doesn't mean Virginia has to constitutionally hamstring prosecutors. This proposed amendment is worth passing.
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