Roger Pilon

In the following viewpoint, Roger Pilon argues that a constitutional amendment to protect the rights of crime victims is unnecessary. Many state and local governments have passed laws to help crime victims, and they are able to do so more quickly and better than a constitutional amendment could. Furthermore, Pilon contends that sometimes the government’s interests in prosecuting a criminal may conflict with the victim’s interests, and the state’s primary role is to protect the rights of the people rather than individual victims. He asserts that victims have their own forum—civil law—in which they can seek redress. Pilon is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the director of Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies.

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