|
|
Home :
Criminal Justice
:
General
ACLU of Rhode Island and Community Groups Denounce Rules Denying Compensation to Certain Crime Victims (7/27/2006)
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
PROVIDENCE, RI -- Seven organizations that
service people with substance abuse problems today sharply criticized as
“discriminatory and mean-spirited” regulations approved earlier this week by
General Treasurer Paul Tavares, allowing the state to deny compensation to
victims of violent crimes based solely on their past drug-related criminal
history.
The groups, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union
of Rhode Island, called on the Democratic and Republican candidates for that
office, Frank Caprio and Andrew Lyon III, to commit to repealing those
regulations if elected.
“Although the regulation makes the
reduction or denial in aid discretionary, its mere presence may be enough to
discourage some victims from applying for compensation in the first place, said
Steven Brown, Executive Director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. “At bottom, this
regulation runs directly counter to the goals of victim compensation, and
unfairly and inappropriately re-victimizes victims.”
The rule at
issue provides that a crime victim’s compensation may be reduced or denied if he
has pled guilty or been convicted of “violent felonious criminal conduct, or
DUI/DWI, or the illegal manufacture, sale or delivery of a controlled substance,
or possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver a controlled
substance” within the past five years or subsequent to his or her injury. Drug
and DUI convictions are the only non-violent offenses that have been added to
trigger a possible denial of victim compensation. The DUI provision was added
last year, and the drug offense language was adopted this week after a public
hearing held earlier this month.
The organizations criticizing the
General Treasurer’s action – the R.I. Council of Community Mental Health
Organizations (RICCMHO), the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Association of R.I.,
Direct Action for Rights and Equality, the R.I. Medical Society, the R.I.
Disability Law Center, RICARE, and the ACLU of Rhode Island – argued that the
rule only serves to punish ex-offenders with addiction problems for their
blameless involvement as victims in separate, unrelated criminal
acts.
Elizabeth V. Earls, President/CEO of RICCMHO, said:
“Treatment and rehabilitation work, yet regulations such as these send one
message, and one message only -- if you have ever suffered and struggled with an
addiction, we will never forget and we will punish you at every turn. Frankly, I
am embarrassed and I am outraged to know that this office is capable of such
discriminatory and mean-spirited action.”
The organizations
noted that compensation is generally available only for very serious offenses.
Furthermore, the law explicitly bars compensation when the behavior of the
victim directly or indirectly contributed to his or her injury or death. The
organizations specifically focused on the impropriety of singling out DUI and
drug offenses, both of which are often committed by people who are suffering
from the diseases of alcoholism and drug addiction.
In a letter to
the two General Treasurer candidates, Democrat Frank Caprio and Republican
Andrew Lyon III, the groups stated: “As organizations that deal with people who
struggle with a drug or alcohol addiction, we are frankly appalled that the
General Treasurer’s office would turn on its head a program designed to aid
crime victims into one that punishes them for their past misdeeds. It is
particularly distressing that the specific offenders the General Treasurer has
most recently decided to subject to this special treatment are ones who are
often fighting serious addictions. The list of potentially disqualifying
offenses in the rules was already extraordinarily excessive. But it is
outrageous to extend them even further so that a drug addict who is sexually
assaulted faces the possibility of reduced (or no) compensation solely because
of her own past run-in with the law while selling drugs to feed her
habit.”
Anne Mulready, supervising attorney at the Rhode Island
Disability Law Center, noted that former addicts and those in treatment for
addiction are considered persons with disabilities under the Americans with
Disabilities Act. “In authorizing the reduction or denial of victim
compensation benefits to people who have criminal drug records,” she said, “the
Treasurer is setting up a system that potentially discriminates against former
drug addicts and those currently in treatment for addiction on the basis of
disability in violation of the law.”
In response to written
testimony the ACLU submitted earlier this month in opposition to the rules, the
General Treasurer’s office has called the new regulations “fair and reasonable.”
The letter to Sen. Caprio follows (a duplicate letter was sent to
Andrew Lyon III, the other candidate for General Treasurer):
July 27,
2006
Sen. Frank Caprio BY FAX AND
MAIL
Caprio for General Treasurer
PO Box 5896
Providence, RI
02903
Dear Sen. Caprio:
We are writing you in
your capacity as a candidate for the Office of General
Treasurer.
Earlier this week, the current General Treasurer
promulgated a regulation allowing his office to deny compensation to victims of
violent crimes based solely on their past drug-related criminal history. This
follows a regulation he adopted just last year authorizing a similar penalty
against crime victims who have a DUI conviction in their
history.
As organizations that deal with people who struggle
with a drug or alcohol addiction, we are frankly appalled that the General
Treasurer’s office would turn on its head a program designed to aid crime
victims into one that punishes them for their past misdeeds. It is particularly
distressing that the specific offenders the General Treasurer has most recently
decided to subject to this special treatment are ones who are often fighting
serious addictions. The list of potentially disqualifying offenses in the rules
was already extraordinarily excessive. But it is outrageous to extend them even
further so that a drug addict who is sexually assaulted faces the possibility of
reduced (or no) compensation solely because of her own past run-in with the law
while selling drugs to feed her habit.
To provide you some
additional background, we have enclosed a copy of the written testimony that the
ACLU submitted at a public hearing on this regulation earlier this month, and
the wholly unpersuasive response provided by the General Treasurer’s office to
that testimony.
We urge you to publicly renounce these
regulations to the extent they single out drug and alcohol-related offenses, and
to pledge to repeal these provisions upon taking office if elected. No victim of
a violent crime should have to think twice about applying for compensation for
fear of having his or her criminal record, related to an addiction, used against
them. Nor should any victim of a violent crime see his or her application denied
or reduced because of a totally unrelated conviction in his or her past that may
very well have been the result of a disability.
We appreciate
your attention to our concerns and hope you will feel free to contact any of us
if you have any questions or would like more information. We look forward to
your
response.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth V.
Earls, President/CEO
R.I. Council of Community Mental Health
Organizations
Neil Corkery, Executive Director
Drug and Alcohol
Treatment Association of Rhode Island
Mimi Budnick
Direct Action
for Rights and Equality
Kathleen Fitzgerald, M.D.,
President
Rhode Island Medical Society
Anne Mulready,
Supervising Attorney
R.I. Disability Law Center
Steven Brown,
Executive Director
Rhode Island Affiliate, American Civil Liberties
Union
|
|
|
