What is included in the VictimLaw database?

VictimLaw currently contains legal provisions relating to the following nine core rights of crime victims:

• The right to attend criminal justice proceedings;
• The right to apply for compensation;
• The right to be heard and participate in criminal justice proceedings;
• The right to be informed of proceedings and events in the criminal justice process, legal rights and remedies, and available services;
• The right to protection from intimidation and harassment;
• The right to restitution from the offender;
• The right to prompt return of personal property seized as evidence;
• The right to a speedy trial; and
• The right to enforcement of these rights.

Most of these provisions apply to victims as defined in the particular jurisdiction’s law generally. In some instances, there are additional provisions relating to these core rights that apply only to a special victim population, such as child victims, sexual assault victims, or victims with disabilities.

At this time, VictimLaw does not include provisions relating to victims’ privacy and confidentiality issues. It is our hope that VictimLaw will expand in the future to include these and other legal provisions and cases of interest to our users. In the meantime, referenced statutes and statutes relating to other issues can be accessed on-line at http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html or http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/.

VictimLaw also does not include the extensive compilation of laws relating to protection orders for domestic violence. Those materials are available on-line, along with forms and guides for victims, at www.womenslaw.org.

In addition, the vast number of provisions relating to child and adult protective services are not contained in the VictimLaw database. Laws relating to child protective services can be found at http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/ and laws for adult protective services at http://www.ncea.aoa.gov/ncearoot/Main_Site/Library/Laws/InfoAboutLaws_08_08.aspx .

The Web site also offers brief overviews of the justice system, victims’ rights, legal terms, and links to additional resources on related issues.

VictimLaw seems to contain a lot of different sources of law. What’s the difference between them?

The VictimLaw database includes Constitutional provisions, statutes, court rules, administrative code provisions, case summaries, and attorney general provisions.

• Constitutions provide the state's fundamental law.
• Statutes are the extensive sets of laws for a jurisdiction.
• Court rules govern court procedure.
• Administrative Code Provisions include the government regulations.
• Cases are written opinions in which judges apply the law to specific facts.
• Attorney General opinions answer legal questions of public officials about the application of laws.

Generally, you should read different sources of law together to determine how a right may be interpreted or enforced.

VictimLaw is a work in progress and will be launched in multiple stages. Currently, users can research statutes, constitutional provisions, court rules, and some regulations on crime victims’ rights. In coming months, they will also have access to additional regulations, related court decisions, and attorney general opinions pertaining to victims’ rights. VictimLaw will offer continually updated, accurate information in all listed categories.

How up-to-date is VictimLaw?

VictimLaw is a work in progress and will be launched in multiple stages. Currently, users can research statutes, constitutional provisions, court rules, and some regulations on crime victims’ rights. In coming months, they will also have access to additional regulations, related court decisions, and attorney general opinions pertaining to victims’ rights. VictimLaw will offer continually updated, accurate information in all listed categories.

Federal, state, and U.S. territory materials

The VictimLaw collection of legal provisions includes statutes, constitutional amendments, court rules, and administrative code provisions. VictimLaw contains federal and state statutes updated through 2019, and the most recent administrative code provisions and court rules available for those jurisdictions on-line as of December 2006. Legal provisions for the U.S. territories are current through the most recent codified version available.

Tribal materials

Unlike federal and state law, locating tribal constitutions, statutes, and case law continues to be more challenging. Not all tribal law is available on-line. Many tribes still maintain constitutions, statutes, ordinances, and case law solely on paper filed at the appropriate offices. Additionally, unlike federal and state laws, most tribal codes are not updated annually. Researchers are encouraged to contact the tribal governments to ensure that they have the most recently enacted versions. The tribal law materials contained in VictimLaw are current through the most recent codified version readily available. Finally, tribal laws, codes, and constitutions are often structured differently than those applicable to federal and state law.

The VictimLaw collection of tribal law consists only of those materials available on-line or available in hard copy at the National Indian Law Library through 2019. Although there are more than 550 federally recognized, VictimLaw includes victim-related tribe-specific materials for 56 tribes. In many instances, federal or state law also applies. For more information on tribal law, please visit the Tribal Law & Policy Institute at http://www.tribal-institute.org/lists/tlpi.htm.

Case Law

VictimLaw includes only officially published appellate court decisions. Initially, the collection will include all relevant opinions of a jurisdiction’s highest court (usually the Supreme Court) issued through 2019. In addition, it contains other applicable appellate level cases and attorney general opinions for the past 10 years.

This Web site is a database of crime victims’ rights statutes. Are the statutes annotated?

No . The text of the constitutional provisions, statutes, court rules, and administrative code provisions are not annotated.

However, in addition to legal provisions pertaining to crime victims’ rights, VictimLaw also contains related laws and cases. Related laws are statutes which provide additional information which help make the crime victims’ rights laws more meaningful or assist users in exercising their rights. There are four (4) categories of related laws:

• Definitions,
• Purpose/applicability,
• Background, and
• Responsibilities of victims.

VictimLaw also includes case summaries of court decisions and attorney general opinions which interpret or determine issues relating to crime victims’ rights laws. If a document you access has related laws and/or cases/attorney general opinions, links to those related documents will appear in a box entitled “Related Laws”. Click on an entry to see the full provision.

Users are encouraged to always review any related laws and cases in order to better understand and exercise their rights.

Where can I check to see if the law has changed recently?

Many state legislatures have information on-line about new laws or pending bills. You can also access your state legislature’s Web site through the National Conference of State Legislature’s Internet Links at http://www.ncsl.org/public/leglinks.cfm or check for your legislation at Cornell University’s on-line directory, at http://www.law.cornell.edu/states/listing.html.

You can also check your local law library.

Where can I find statutes referenced in a document but not included in the VictimLaw database?

It is our hope that VictimLaw will expand in the future to include these and other legal provisions and cases of interest to our users. In the meantime, referenced statutes and statutes relating to other issues can be accessed on-line at http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html or http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/.

I’m looking for tribal law for a specific tribe, but that tribe is not included in VictimLaw’s list. Why not?

Unlike federal and state law, locating tribal constitutions, statutes, and case law continues to be more challenging. Not all tribal law is available on-line. Many tribes still maintain constitutions, statutes, ordinances, and case law solely on paper filed at the appropriate offices. Additionally, unlike federal and state laws, most tribal codes are not updated annually. Researchers are encouraged to contact the tribal governments to ensure that they have the most recently enacted versions. The tribal law materials contained in VictimLaw are current through the most recent codified version readily available. Finally, tribal laws, codes, and constitutions are often structured differently than those applicable to federal and state law. Civil and criminal laws may be combined into one single code, and tribal constitutions are sometimes incorporated into the code itself.

The VictimLaw collection of tribal law consists only of those materials available on-line or available in hard copy at the National Indian Law Library through 2019. Although there are more than 550 federally recognized, VictimLaw includes victim-related tribe-specific materials for 56 tribes. In many instances, federal or state law also applies. For more information on tribal law, please visit the Tribal Law & Policy Institute at http://www.tribal-institute.org/lists/tlpi.htm.

The VictimLaw database only includes summaries of applicable cases. What if I want to read the whole case?

There are several free on-line sources of law that contain some of the more recent court decisions. You can check either http://www.law.cornell.edu/co.html or http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/ to see if the case you are interested in is available on-line.

You can also check your local library.

Where can I find the full text of Attorney General Opinions?

Every state has an Attorney General’s office and most of them have a Web site. Many of their Web sites include at least the most recent Attorney General Opinions. You can access the various states’ Attorney General Office’s Web sites through the National Association of Attorneys’ General’s site at http://www.naag.org/current-attorneys-general.php.

What if there is a term in a document that I don’t understand?

You can first try the VictimLaw legal glossary. If the term you need is not included in the legal glossary, you can also check the on-line legal dictionaries found at http://dictionary.law.com/ (law.com.dictionary); or http://www.nolo.com/glossary.cfm (Nolo’s Law Dictionary).

The VictimLaw home page indicates that I can search for information in four different ways. How do I know which type of search is right for me?

VictimLaw was designed to be a user-friendly database, directing users step by step through their searches. The following brief overview of VictimLaw’s search options will help you choose which option is best for you. If further assistance is needed, you should read the instructions that are included for each step of the search selected or refer to the Frequently Asked Questions included at VictimLaw’s Help link.

Topical Search

Topical Search lets you search by selecting one of the nine (9) main topics at a time. You can narrow your search by choosing more specific subtopics. Narrow your search even more by selecting a type of law (constitution, statutes, administrative code provisions, court rules, case summaries, or attorney general opinion summaries), the state or other jurisdiction, and any special victim group that applies (such as victims of juvenile offenders or elderly victims). Once you have run the search and received your search results, you can also search by keyword within those results.

We recommend that you select Topical Search if you are not familiar with victims’ rights or if you are new to legal research.

Term Search

Term Search lets you search by entering one or more keywords or phrases and includes a list of helpful terms and connectors to assist you with your search. You can narrow your search by selecting a type of law (constitution, statutes, administrative code provisions, court rules, case summaries, or attorney general opinion summaries), the state or other jurisdiction, and, if you choose, type of victim.

We recommend that you select Term Search if you have a specific issue you want to research and you have previously conducted legal research on a similar database via the Internet.

Table of Contents Search

Contents Search provides you with a list of all legal provisions in VictimLaw organized by jurisdiction. You can search for the table of contents for one or multiple jurisdictions at a time. To access the table of contents for a jurisdiction, click on the name of the jurisdiction you want to view. Click on an entry in the table of contents to see the full provision.

We recommend that you select Contents Search if you want to access everything contained in the VictimLaw database for a particular jurisdiction.

Citation Search

Citation Search allows you to find a document by entering a slightly modified version of the official citation. Usually, the official citation for statutes and other legal provisions includes the applicable state or other jurisdiction code (Colo. Rev. Stat.) and section number (� 24-4.1-302.5). For cases, the official citation generally includes the names of the parties (People v. Woodward), the volume and page numbers of the federal or regional reporter in which the case is found (11 P.2d 1090), and the year that the case was decided. A list of citations for all of the documents in a particular jurisdiction is also available.

We recommend that you select Citation Search if you are looking for a particular document and know the citation for that document.

How do I search for statutes by key words or phrases?

To search for statutes by keywords or phrases, select the “Term Search” option. VictimLaw’s Term Search allows you to search by a single keyword or term, a specific phrase, or a combination of operators.

I. Single Term Searches

When searching for a single term, the shortest version of that word should be used in order to pick up the most number of matches.

Example:

• Use victim instead of victims. While victim will highlight victims, the opposite is not true. Victim should also pick up terms like victimized and victimization.

In some instances, only part of a term should be used.

Example:

• Use notif to pick up related terms such as notify, notified,and notification.

Search terms are also not case sensitive.

Example:

• Crime victim compensation will also pick up Crime Victim Compensation.

II. Using Search Operators

VictimLaw’s term search allows you to use certain operators to expand your search. When conducting your search, you can use any of the following operators in either the “word” or “symbol” form.

A space should be entered before and after an operator. Otherwise, the search will result in a finding of no documents containing that term.

Example:

• Use victim and crime instead of victimandcrime.

If no operator is used between two words, VictimLaw’s term search will perform a search using the “or” operator by default.

Example:

• Victim Witness becomes Victim OR Witness.

AND(&)
Use the operator AND when you are searching for two or more words that appear in the same record.

Example:

• victim AND witness
• probation AND parole

OR(|)
Use the operator OR when you are searching for either one word or another that appears in a record.

Examples:

• restitution OR reparations
• bail OR bond

NOT (~)
Use the operator NOT when you are searching for records that contain one search term, but not the other

Example:

• compensation NOT worker’s

EQUALS (=)

Use the operator EQUALS as an acceptable substitution for a term in a query.

Example:

• district attorney = prosecutor must confer with the victim .

III. Phrase Searching

If you want to search for a specific phrase or combine several operations within one search, the following can be used but only in the symbol form.

QUOTATION MARKS (“”)

When searching for a phrase (two or more words which are to be found together), enclose the phrase in quotation marks. If you use quotes, only the exact term will be highlighted.

Examples:

• "victim impact system"
• "victim compensation"
• “law enforcement"

PARENTHESES ( )

Using parentheses enables you to combine several operations in one search.

Example:

• (notify OR inform OR advise) AND “victim impact statement”

How do I print a document?

All of the individual documents contained in VictimLaw have a print-friendly option. Simply click on “Print-friendly Version” located near the top right corner of the screen. The document will appear in a separate window. When you are ready to print, click on the “Print” icon in the top right corner of the document.

Who can I talk to for more information?

VictimLaw includes Links to Resources organized by jurisdiction. In addition to links to Web sites of various national crime victim organizations, links are provided to state and local victim services agencies, including state compensation programs. You should contact an off ice or agency in your state if you need additional information on available services and how to exercise your rights. The resources on the Internet change rapidly.

Please remember that the information provided on the VictimLaw Web site is informational only and may not apply to a particular case. As legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case, and laws are constantly changing, nothing provided on this Web site should be used as a substitute for the advice of an independent, licensed attorney.