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(6) The right to full and timely restitution as provided in law.
(7) The right to proceedings free from unreasonable delay.
(8) The right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the
victim's dignity and privacy.
Although many of the rights included in the CVRA already existed in federal law as part
of the VRRA, the CVRA afforded crime victims standing to assert their rights in federal court or
by administrative complaint to the Department, and obligated the court to ensure that such rights
were afforded. The passage of the CVRA repealed the rights portion of the VRRA (42 U.S.C.
§ 10606), but kept intact the portion of the VRRA directing federal law enforcement agencies to
provide certain victim services, such as counseling and medical care referrals (42 U.S.C.
§ 10607(c)). Department training emphasizes that the VRRA obligates the Department to provide
victim services, which attach upon the detection of a crime, while the CVRA contains court-
enforceable rights that attach upon the filing of a charging instrument.
III.
In 2015, Congress amended the CVRA and added the following two rights: 266
(9) The right to be informed in a timely manner of any plea bargain
or deferred prosecution agreement.
(10) The right to be informed of the rights under this section and the
services described in section 503(c) of the Victims' Rights and
Restitution Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 10607(c)) and provided contact
information for the Office of the Victims' Rights Ombudsman of the
Department of Justice.
THE DEPARTMENT'S INTERPRETATION OF THE CVRA'S DEFINITION OF
"CRIME VICTIM” AT THE TIME OF THE EPSTEIN INVESTIGATION
A.
April 1, 2005 Office of Legal Counsel “Preliminary Review"
In 2005, Department management requested informal guidance from the Department's
Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) regarding interpretation of the CVRA's definition of "crime
victim."267 On April 1, 2005, OLC provided "preliminary and informal" guidance by email,
concluding that "the status of a 'crime victim' may be reasonably understood to commence upon
the filing of a complaint, and that the status ends if there is a subsequent decision not to indict or
prosecute the Federal offense that directly caused the victim's harm."268
266
267
H. Rep. No. 114-7 (Jan. 27, 2015).
OLC is responsible for providing legal advice to the President, Department components, and other executive
branch agencies.
268 The OLC 2005 Informal Guidance is summarized in a Memorandum Opinion to the Acting Deputy Attorney
General from Deputy Assistant Attorney General John E. Bies (Dec. 17, 2010), published as Office of Legal Counsel,
192
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