Question

does the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution) give criminal defendants too much power thereby diminishing the needs and rights of the victim?

Answer 1

Answer. The Bill of Rights in the First Amendment of the US constitution guarantees the protection of citizens from unduly government control and secures their Fundamental Rights and privileges. However, in as much as the Constitution guarantees protection to the people in the court of law, the Bill of Rights also extends certain privileges to the accused party compared to the victims which make the scales of Justice imbalanced. The U.S. Constitution grants those accused of crime many constitutional rights, such as a speedy trial, a jury trial, counsel, the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, the right to subpoena witnesses, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to due process under law. Compared to these, the Constitution, however, guarantees no rights to the crime victims. For example, victims have no right to be present, no right to be informed of hearings, no right to be heard at sentencing or at a parole hearing, no right to restitution, no right to challenge unending delays in the disposition of their case, and no right to be told if they might be in danger from release or escape of their attacker. It can thus be argued that this imbalance has caused many victims and their families to suffer in a two-fold way - at the hands of the criminal, and again at the hands of the justice system that fails to protect them.