00SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 5                                                                    
01 Proposing 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 identical to                           
11 that being proposed in this resolution; and                                                                             
12  WHEREAS, under Article V of the Constitution of the United States, amendments to                                       
13 the Constitution of the United States may be proposed by the Congress of the United States                              
14 or, upon the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states, the Congress shall call                       

01 a constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing amendments;                                                    
02  BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the Congress of the United                                         
03 States is requested to propose and submit to the states an amendment to the Sixth Amendment                             
04 to the Constitution of the United States by adding language to the end of the Sixth                                     
05 Amendment that reads substantially as follows:                                                                          
06 Additionally, the crime victim has the right to be present at all criminal                                             
07 proceedings where the accused has the right to be present and the victim has                                            
08 the right to be heard, upon request, at sentencing, before or after conviction,                                         
09 and at any proceeding where the accused's release from custody is considered.                                           
10 and be it                                                                                                               
11  FURTHER RESOLVED that, alternatively, the Alaska State Legislature makes                                               
12 application and requests that the Congress of the United States call a convention for the sole                          
13 and exclusive purpose of proposing substantially the same amendment to the Constitution of                              
14 the United States; and be it                                                                                            
15  FURTHER RESOLVED that if the Congress proposes such an amendment to the                                                
16 Constitution of the United States, this application and request for a constitutional convention                         
17 shall no longer be of any force or effect; and be it                                                                    
18  FURTHER RESOLVED that this application and request shall not be of any force                                           
19 or effect if the convention is not limited to the exclusive purpose specified by this resolution.                       
20  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
21 United States; to Sheila P. Burke, the Secretary of the U.S. Senate; to Robin Hewlett Carle,                            
22 the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the                                
23 Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                             
24 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.