The government needs to do more in support of crime victims panel members said at a discussion Thursday in the Lesar law building on the rights of criminals and their victims.

Panel member Charles Grace, a U.S. Attorney, began his short presentation by saying victims have no rights, the public has no rights, you have no rights.

Grace said only those who have committed a crime or are the subject of an investigation of a crime have rights.

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Grace quoted the Bill of Rights, to demonstrating how he said many of the amendments protect the rights of criminals but forget to mention the rights of victims. For example, Grace quoted the 6th amendment which guarantees a person accused of a crime the right to a speedy and public trial. Grace said the 6th amendment allows the rights of the accused to take precedence over the rights of victims.

Panel member and chair of the SIU administration of justice department James Garofalo said victims deserve more rights but not at the expense of offenders rights.

I’m strongly in favor of increasing victim’s rights, Garofalo said.

Although many people argue that criminals have more rights than victims, Garofalo said decreasing offender’s rights is not the way to increase victim’s rights.

Instead of decreasing offender rights, Garofalo suggested that the public hold the government accountable for protecting everyone’s rights, including victims.

Garofalo said the state protects society as a whole from crime, but he said it does not deal with individual victims. He said the state is good at dealing with potential victims but not real victims.

The police attempt to protect the general public from victimization, but there is not much help for the actual victims of crime in today’s society

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We must demand that the state take the best measurements to control crime, Garofalo said.

However, Garofalo said considering the large number of crime victims, extensive services provided to the victims by the state would be costly. He said civil suits are not an answer, because they are cumbersome for both the individual and the state.

Instead Garofalo suggested the state should help individual victims overcome the pains they have suffered and implement a concept of moral tort (making offenders take charge and be responsible for the harm they have done to their victims).