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Victim Rights

If you are a victim of a Federal crime that has been charged in Federal Court and were directly or proximately harmed as a result of that crime, under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (18 U.S.C. § 3771(a)) you have the following rights:







(7) The right to proceedings free from unreasonable delay.




United States Attorney’s Office Role: Our role as employees of the United States Attorney’s Office is to inform you of your rights, explain the Federal criminal legal process and to provide you with notification of events in the pending criminal matter. We will make our best efforts to ensure you are provided the rights described. It is important to keep in mind that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty and that presumption requires both the Court and our office to take certain steps to ensure that justice is done. While our office cannot act as your attorney or provide you with legal advice, you can seek the advice of an attorney with respect to these rights or other related legal matters. Under certain circumstances, your attorney may assert your rights in court.

Limited Confidentiality Statement: As employees of the United States Attorney’s Office, we are here to assist you as you go through the criminal justice process. However, you should know that we work as part of a team with the criminal prosecutor and the investigative case agent. Discussions that we have with victims may not be considered completely confidential. This is especially important if you share information regarding your safety, a medical emergency, when the information relates to child abuse and/or when the non disclosure of the information could interfere with the investigation or prosecution of the case.

Please note, that while we will treat you as a victim for purposes of notification in some instances, the court may when applying the law to the applicable charges, find that you are not a victim that is entitled to be heard and restitution.

Updated August 30, 2016

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