I recently posted about the Alaska Office of Victim's Rights. In my original post, I had mistakenly stated that the defendant would plead to a misdemeanor. Instead, the defendant had agreed to plead to a class 'C' felony, the lowest level felony under Alaska Law. He had originally been charged with an 'unclassified' felony facing 8 - 15 years imprisonment. His attorney and the DA negotiated a plea down to attempted sex assault II. This can either mean attempted non-consensual sexual contact or attempted sexual penetration when a complainant is incapacitated, usually by drugs or alcohol.
Yesterday, the court ruled that the plea bargain was not an abuse of discretion and that the State, in its prosecuting authority, could make the offer. I am glad to see this ruling. Alaska jumped on the Victims' Rights bandwagon and enacted constitutional provisions giving complainants the right to be notified about hearings, the right to speak at hearings, to voice opposition to bail and sentencing provisions, etc. The state also created an Office of Victims' Rights to 'guide victims through the legal process', whatever that means. Truthfully, this whole victims' rights crap is a bunch of feel good fluff. There is at present no room in our criminal justice system for this kind of intervention. One of these days, victims' rights are going to come straight up against a defendant's right and I expect that the former will be held unconstitutional. If victims want rights, they should sue in civil court, or abolish crimes and let them bring causes of action. The victims' rights movement threatens to put this system out of what little balance there is.
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