S.J.R. 2 


Senate Joint Resolution No. 2--Committee on Judiciar
    y

                 January 16, 1995
                 _____________

        Referred to Committee on Judiciary


SUMMARY--Proposes to amend Nevada constitution to 
          provide expressly for rights of victims of 
          crime. (BDR C-207)

FISCAL NOTE:  Effect on Local Government: No.
              Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.



EXPLANATION--Matter in italics is new; matter in bra
ckets [ ] is material to be omitted.

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION--Proposing to amend the constitution of the 
        State of Nevada to provide expressly for the rights of victims 
        of crime.


  RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF 
NEVADA, JOINTLY, That section 8 of article 1 of the 
constitution of the State of Nevada be amended to read as 
follows:
  [Section] \Sec.\\ 8.  \1.  \\No person 
shall be tried for a capital or other infamous crime (except 
in cases of impeachment, and in cases of the militia when in 
actual service and the land and naval forces in time of war, 
or which this state may keep, with the consent of congress, 
in time of peace, and in cases of petit larceny, under the 
regulation of the legislature) except on presentment or 
indictment of the grand jury, or upon information duly filed 
by a district attorney, or attorney-general of the state, 
and in any trial, in any court whatever, the party accused 
shall be allowed to appear and defend in person, and with 
counsel, as in civil actions. No person shall be subject to 
be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense; nor shall he 
be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against 
himself \.\\ [, nor]
  \2.  The legislature shall provide by law for the 
rights of victims of crime, personally or through a 
representative, to be:
  (a) Informed, upon written request, of the status or 
disposition of a criminal proceeding at any stage of the 
proceeding;
  (b) Present at all public hearings involving the critical 
stages of a criminal proceeding; and
  (c) Heard at all proceedings for the sentencing or release 
of a convicted person after trial.
  3.  Except as otherwise provided in subsection 4, no 
person may maintain an action against the state or any 
public officer or employee for damages or injunctive, 
declaratory or other legal or equitable relief on behalf of 
a victim of a crime as a result of a violation of any 
statute enacted by the legislature pursuant to subsection 2. 
No such violation authorizes setting aside a conviction or 
sentence or continuing or postponing a criminal proceeding.
   4.  A person may maintain an action to compel a public 
officer or employee to carry out any duty required by the 
legislature pursuant to subsection 2.
  5.  No person shall\\ be deprived of life, liberty, or 
property, without due process of law \.\\ [; nor 
shall private property]
  \6.  Private property shall not\\ be taken for 
public use without just compensation having been first made, 
or secured, except in cases of war, riot, fire, or great 
public peril, in which case compensation shall be afterward 
made.

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