00CS FOR SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 5(RLS)                                                        
01 Supporting an amendment to the Constitution of the United States establishing the                                       
02 rights of victims of crimes.                                                                                            
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04  WHEREAS, in applying and interpreting the vital guarantees of the United States                                        
05 Constitution that protect all citizens, the criminal justice system has lost an essential balance;                      
06 and                                                                                                                     
07  WHEREAS the criminal justice system has not provided adequate protection to the                                        
08 innocent, the honest, and the helpless victims of crime; and                                                            
09  WHEREAS in 1982 the president's Task Force on Victims of Crime recommended                                             
10 an amendment to the Constitution of the United States addressing victims' rights; and                                   
11  WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, amendments to                                       
12 the Constitution of the United States may be proposed by the Congress of the United States                              
13 or, upon the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states, the Congress shall call                       
14 a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing amendments; and                                                

01  WHEREAS there is currently before the Congress for consideration a proposed                                            
02 victims' rights amendment;                                                                                              
03  BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the Congress of the United                                         
04 States is requested to act on the proposed victims' rights amendment that is before it and                              
05 submit to the states an amendment to the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United                              
06 States.                                                                                                                 
07  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
08 United States; to Sheila P. Burke, the Secretary of the U.S. Senate; to Robin Hewlett Carle,                            
09 the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the                                
10 Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                             
11 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.