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100 CASSELL ET AL. [Vol. 104

Other states also expressly extend rights before the filing of charges.
Colorado guarantees rights at “all critical stages of the criminal justice
process[.]” which includes both the filing of charges and the decision to not
file charges.235 In Missouri, victims have the right:

on charged cases or submitted cases where no charge decision has yet been made, to
be informed by the prosecuting attorney of the status of the case and of the availability
[of different forms of compensation and assistance] and of any final decision by the
prosecuting attorney not to file charges.236

In New Jersey, officials typically send a letter informing the victim “that the
case has been referred to the prosecutors’ office and explains and offers the
services available from the country office of victim-witness advocacy.”237
Subsequent letters to the victim ensure that the victim has notice of a series
of decisions long before indictment,238 and the office actively solicits
information in order to “help the prosecutor’s office decide whether or not
to prosecute a case.”239 Along a similar vein, the Massachusetts legislature
included a provision that makes it clear that nothing should prevent a
prosecutor from providing victim services to persons injured by the
commission of a crime, even though a complaint or indictment has not yet
been issued.240

In addition to extending rights before the filing of charges, several
states require consultation before the prosecutor reaches a plea agreement
with the defendant. For example, Idaho’s statute provides that a victim
must be given an opportunity “to communicate with the prosecution in
criminal or juvenile offenses, and be advised of any proposed plea
agreement by the prosecuting attorney prior to entering into a plea
agreement in criminal or juvenile offenses involving crimes of violence, sex

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235 COLO. CONST. art. II, § 16a; COLO. REV. STAT. § 24-4.1-302(1) (2013). But see COLO.
REV. STAT. § 24-4.1-302.5(1)(f) (2012) (limiting conferral right, in particular, to later stages
of a criminal proceeding). Despite these limitations on the conferral right, victims retain the
ability to be heard at any hearing involving a plea. See id. § 24-4.1-302.5.
236 MO. ANN. STAT. § 595.209(10) (West 2011).
237 OFFICE OF VICTIM-WITNESS ADVOCACY, N.J. DEP’T OF LAW & PUB. SAFETY, A CRIME
VICTIM’S GUIDE TO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 4 (2d ed. 1997); see also N.J. CONST. art. I,
§ 22. Compare 18 U.S.C. § 3771 (2012), with N.J. STAT. ANN. § 52:4B-36 (West 2009). In
addition to the rights similar to the federal legislation, New Jersey law provides for the right
“[t]o be advised of case progress and final disposition and to confer with the prosecutor’s
representative so that the victim may be kept adequately informed . . . .” Id. § 52:4B-36(k).
238 See OFFICE OF VICTIM-WITNESS ADVOCACY, supra note 237, at 4 (including pre-grand
jury remand, administrative dismissal, grand jury remand, grand jury dismissal, and
indictment returned).
239 Id. at 26 (describing victim involvement at grand jury and arraignment stages of the
proceeding).
240 See MASS. ANN. LAWS ch. 258B, § 2 (LexisNexis 2004).

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