Rep. Rosemond B. Santos, R-Saipan, who sponsored House Bill 16-242, said the office was conceived in 1996 to assist and support victims of domestic violence.
She said the victim rights office is more appropriate to be placed within the AG’s office because it enforces all criminal laws and work closely with victims of crimes to prosecute criminal cases.
She also noted that removing a similar agency, the Victim Witness Advocacy Unit, from the CJPA will prevent further strain on the government’s limited resources.
H.B. 16-242, which now heads to the Senate, seeks to amend 6 CMC 9 9102.
A victim witness coordinator will head the victim rights office.
Part of his job is to prepare a written victim impact statement that shall be appended to the presentence report on a defendant.
“If the victim cannot be located or declines to submit information for the preparation of the statement, the probation department shall include a notation to that effect in the report. If there are multiple victims and preparation of individual victim impact statements is not feasible, the probation department shall submit one or more representative statements,” the bill states.
