Dianne Feinstein: “To protect these rights of victims does not entail constitutionalizing the rights of private citizens against other…”

“To protect these rights of victims does not entail constitutionalizing the rights of private citizens against other private citizens; for it is not the private citizen accused of crime by state or federal authorities who is the source of the violations that victims' rights advocates hope to address with a constitutional amendment in this area. Rather, it is the government authorities themselves, those who pursue (or release) the accused or convicted criminal with insufficient attention to the concerns of the victim, who are sometimes guilty of the kinds of violations that a properly drawn amendment would prohibit. I think that well states what we are trying to do.”