The Illinois Constitution and Illinois statutes have provisions for victims rights. The purpose of the Crime Victims and Witnesses Act is to implement, preserve and protect the rights guaranteed to crime victims by Article I, Section 8.1 of the Illinois Constitution. This is to ensure that crime victims are treated with fairness and respect for their dignity and privacy throughout the criminal justice process and to increase the effectiveness of the criminal justice system by affording certain basic rights and considerations to the witnesses of violent crime who are essential to prosecution.
Under this act, you are a crime victim if you are:
- A person who is physically injured in this state as a result of a violent crime perpetrated or attempted against you
- A person who suffered damage to or loss of property as a result of a violent crime perpetrated or attempted against you
- A single representative who may be the spouse, parent, child or sibling of a person killed as a result of a violent crime perpetrated against the person killed or the spouse, parent, child or sibling of any person granted rights under this Act, who is physically or mentally incapable of exercising such rights, except where the spouse, parent, child or sibling is also the defendant or prisoner
- A person against whom a violent crime has been committed
- A person who has suffered personal injury as a result of another person driving under the influence of alcohol, other drug or combination thereof, or of involuntary manslaughter or reckless homicide
Rights of Victims
If you are a crime victim as defined above you shall have the following rights:
- The right to be treated with fairness and respect for dignity and privacy throughout the criminal justice process
- The right to notification of court proceedings
- The right to communicate with the prosecution
- The right to make a statement to the court at sentencing
- The right to information about the conviction, sentence, imprisonment and release of the accused
- The right to the timely disposition of the case following the arrest of the accused
- The right to be reasonably protected from the accused through the criminal justice process
- The right to be present at the trial and all other court proceedings on the same basis as the accused, unless the victim is to testify and the court determines that the victim's testimony would be materially affected if the victim hears other testimony at the trial
- The right to have present at all court proceedings, subject to the rules of evidence, an advocate or other support person of the victims choice
- The right to restitution
- A statement and explanation of the rights of crime victims set forth in paragraph (a) of this Section shall be given to a crime victim at the initial contact with the criminal justice system by the appropriate authorities and shall be conspicuously posted in all court facilities