 In an unprecedented action, John Gillis, the director of the Office for Victims of Crime traveled around the United States to meet with crime victims first-hand to discuss their experiences with the criminal justice system. A series of roundtable meetings were held in nine states, with 30 states represented and over 300 participants. After careful analysis of the informative and heartfelt opinions expressed, there were certain areas of consistency that emerged. The issues focused on both the problems that exist in the criminal justice system and the needed remedies from the perspective of crime victims. This program series captures and reflects some of the key findings of the roundtable discussions. The series includes a total of five thematic videos on topics ranging from the financial impact of crime on victims to victim notification and basic case information. The opinions expressed are emblematic of many of the participants and is a way in which the Office for Victims of Crime has given a voice to victims. Find out how we help you is by going out and meeting with people outside the Beltway, going out and talking with crime victims, meeting the individuals at the grassroots level who are doing the work and who are doing it for the right reasons, not because they're being paid, but because they care about what they're doing. So I want to use this as an opportunity to find out from you how we can best help you at the grassroots level, how we can best do some of the things that will help you get through the tragedies that you've all suffered. We've had a lot of success over the last two decades, but in every state, in every city, every week, weekend and week out across this country, there are victims who still do not get notice of their cases, do not get notice of hearings or proceedings in their cases, are excluded from the courtroom at critical times because of a defendant's strategy or because of court indifference, are not allowed to speak when a release decision is made, when a plea bargain is entered into, when a sentence is going to be imposed, when parole is going to be granted. Every day these injustices happen in America, and we know through the history from the very beginning of our country, we know that the only way that we can solve great injustice in America is through the United States Constitution. Maybe we should think about changing this title of criminal justice system. What does that say to you? That the justice is for the criminal. So maybe we either call it an equal system or a just system. If a state has a victim's rights amendment, what happens when someone does not comply with the rules in that amendment? I was told there is nothing I can do if the judicial system did not live up to the victim's right amendment. There was no recourse available to me, and I said it's wonderful to have these words, but if it doesn't have some teeth in the amendment really as victims, what good does it do us? As far as I'm concerned, my major wish in terms of my contribution and memory of my daughter is to continue to fight for the issue of victim rights both in our state constitution and in the Constitution of the United States. All these states have different death penalty criteria. They say life in prison, and they say life is defined as X number of years. Life is defined as 30. Life is defined as 25. Life is defined as 60. And then they don't tell you about the good time. Well, I think when you hit cold blooded, premeditated, unprovoked, vicious murder that's sadistic and ruthless, the federal government should have standards that are uniform to the whole country that apply to every state and not leave the states up to the individuality because they don't want to pay for this stuff. The one other thing that the criminals have a right to do in the state of Maine, I'm sure everyone else, is to serve as pro-state attorneys to represent themselves in the courtroom and to cross-examine victims on the stand. We see that all the time. I think that's outrageous. I mean, talk about the just incredible, incredible victimization. It's hard enough to get up there. It's hard enough to be on the stand. And then to be cross-examined by the person who beat, raped, whatever it you, I just, I don't think that's a right that people should be allowed to have. We were completely revictimized and run over in a court by an attorney who, defense attorney who just, I can't understand why someone would say and do the things he did. It's well documented. That's been as painful, I think, as the event itself, not getting justice. I'll tell you, it was the most insulting feeling when that judge gave him his quote-unquote right to ask me a question when he pulled the trigger three times and there's three shots to my son's head. My daughter Tina was murdered on September 18th of 1985. Her murder remains unsolved. So any of you who 17 years later has an unsolved murder knows how I feel. One of the things I wanted to say very quickly was that I've been involved on a national level with parents of murder children four since 1987. But one of the things that I strongly believe in is the constitutional amendment for victims' rights. Even though I do not have anyone in the system to apply the rights to, my hope is that someday if the case is solved, that there will be rights in place for me, the mother. It's been with us today. I wish you didn't have to do it. I wish we were here under different circumstances because none of us chose to have a tragedy happen in our lives. But now that it has happened, let's see if we can take advantage of that and try and help others who have to follow so that they don't have to suffer the same pain that we've suffered. So thank you. The following is a summary of the key points made during this program. The current state laws in terms of victims' rights are perceived to be ineffectual. A victims' rights amendment is the only avenue for establishing and enforcing uniform rights for crime victims. The overall consensus is that there is a profound need for a constitutional amendment for crime victims. The National Crime Victim Law Institute has undertaken a multi-year national demonstration project to improve the capacity of attorneys to represent crime victims in the enforcement of their right. The project involves the establishment of nine legal clinics for the direct representation of victims in criminal court. A national network of crime victim attorneys. Dissemination of a semi-annual newsletter on victims' rights. And a national training conference for attorneys litigating on behalf of victims. For more information, visit the following website. Crime Victims' Rights Act. President Bush signed the Crime Victims' Rights Act, which provides substantial rights for victims of crime and mechanisms to enforce them. And authorized $155 million in funding over a five-year period for victims' assistance programs at the federal and state levels. In January 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion. The first case under the Crime Victims' Rights Act, upholding the right of crime victims to speak at a convicted criminal's sentencing hearing.