On the recordNovember 2, 2011
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter to Attorney General Holder. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: U.S. Senate, Washington, DC, November 2, 2011. Hon. Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Dear Attorney General Holder: I am writing to follow up regarding my June 6, 2011 letter to you concerning the Justice Department's implementation of the Crime Victims' Rights Act--an Act that I co-sponsored. I am writing to ask why the Justice Department persists in taking the view that the CVRA does not extend rights to crime victims until the formal filing of criminal charges. As I explained in my earlier letter to you, Congress intended the CVRA to broadly protect crime victims throughout the criminal justice process--from the investigative phases to the final conclusion of a case. Congress could not have been clearer in its direction that using ``best efforts'' to enforce the CVRA was an obligation of ``[o]fficers and employees of the Department of Justice and other departments and agencies of the United States engaged in the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime. . . .'' 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3771(c)(1) (emphasis added).…
