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Practitioners’ Toolkit — Victim Rights Toolkit & Enforcement

Rights Enforcement Toolkit

Victims’ rights are rights personally held by crime victims that can be legally asserted during a criminal case. Independent legal representation is absolutely critical to making these rights meaningful. In this Toolkit are the tools that will help practitioners effectively assert and seek enforcement of their clients’ rights. For use and distribution of Toolkit materials, reference the information at the end of this page.

PreTrial
Trial
Post-Trial

Rights Enforcement Toolkit

The Rights Enforcement Toolkit has three parts: Pretrial, Trial, and Post-Trial. Whether you are entering a case pretrial, during trial, or post-trial, reviewing all of the tools is critical because victims’ rights can be implicated at any time. The tools come in the form of video tutorials of rights, flowcharts that guide you through the how and when of asserting rights, checklists to ensure you are making all of the best arguments, and sample pleadings.

The Rights Enforcement Toolkit is meant as an overview; because every case is complex and every survivor unique, NCVLI’s legal team is ready to provide in-depth technical assistance.

Trial

Checklist for Opposing Admission of Evidence Under Rape Shield

Sample Cases: Securing Testimonial Accommodations for Crime Victims and Non-Victim Witnesses

ARGUING FOR A VICTIMS’ RIGHT TO BE PRESENT

Sample Motion to be Present

Right to be Present Checklist

Use and Distribution Information:

The resources and videos that comprise NCVLI’s Rights Enforcement Toolkit are copyrighted and may be used for training/educational use without further permission, as long as the National Crime Victim Law Institute’s authorship is explicitly acknowledged in the training materials, along with a link to NCVLI’s website (www.ncvli.org). For all other permissions, please send your inquiry to ncvli@lclark.edu.

Portions of this Toolkit supported by Grant No. 2012-TA-AX-K030, awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice and others supported by Grant No. 2017-VF-GX-K026, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice or the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.