If I thought it would actually protect victims
I’d be for it.
At first, I saw it, and agreed.
I saw justice executed
By those who used their full rights.
They had de facto used these laws
To make sure justice was executed.
And the defendant was guilty
And the state prosecuted him
To the best degree, and fairest degree of the law.
Then, I considered every petty theft
Every assault charge,
Every crime committed on another.
I, unfortunately, saw this being abused.
To the effect that the courts would no longer
Regard the victims.
Then I considered a victim being read Miranda rights.
How traumatizing it would be
For an officer to read them these rights.
How, as the defendant were being traumatized
By the full weight of the law
The victim would be read a longer list
Of rights, that would pass over their minds…
I can see a cop saying it as part of a recited
Verse. Like the pledge of allegiance.
And the victim sitting there
As just another victim.
Then I considered humans are sympathetic
To the first thing they’ve ever witnessed.
Their first time seeing war.
Their first time seeing a visibly broken victim.
Their first time seeing the victims in the court room.
Frankly… I can see this being abused
And it will be because people are fascinated
By things which they are involved with…
Much like a circus spectacle
They, with morbid curiosity,
Would attend their accused’s trial
Hurl stones, and possibly turn the court room
Into a drama, and a laughing stock.
If there is real hurt,
A victim will—
As I was first hand witness to this—
Pursue their rights to the accused.
Even without these rights
I saw victims put a man in jail
And be active in every part of the trial.
It worked, precisely because the police had never seen it before.
If police, and district attorneys
Are being inundated by messages
Lambasting them and their efforts,
Screaming for the harshest penalties
And then, ultimately, turning the Prosecution’s
sympathies toward the criminal…
I don’t think this is an exercise of justice.
I think, rather, it will have the opposite affect.
I think it will burden the courts with extra phone conversations
It would create entire branches and bureaucracies,
And considering the information and rights are already
Provided.
My little sister, Tori
My family pursued the accused
With the mighty wrath of God.
She had been brain injured.
Had every victim done this
Tori would be in a worse state
Because it would no longer be special.
It would be another angry parent.
Another angry victim.
I say this from witnessing both ends
The spectacle will not help court proceedings.
The rights are already there.
It will, as a matter of fact, hurt the victims.
And that is something I cannot tolerate.
B. K. Neifert 