Authorizes the use of closed-circuit television for vulnerable sexual assault witnesses

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Republican1

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◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Rachel May says this is needed

Data shows that the justice system consistently underserves survivors of sexual assault. For every 1,000 instances of sexual assault, 13 will be referred to a prosecutor. On the infrequent occasion that a sexual assault case makes it to the courtroom, the survivor of the assault risks their own safety-physical, mental, and emotional-to testify before a judge or a jury of their peers. We have seen the horrors that survi- vors have been through on the stand, which can frequently retraumatize them, as the accused looks on, or, in at least one recent case in Syra- cuse, is the one questioning them. This bill would allow survivors of sexual trauma to testify before the court via teleconference. Though the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment of the US Consti- tution provides defendants the right to "be confronted with all witnesses against him," the law already allows vulnerable minors to testify through closed circuit television, to give insulation against defendants harassing and retraumatizing victims. In 1990, the US Supreme Court decided Maryland v. Craig, which establishes that the right to a "face-to-face" meeting is "not absolute" and "must occasionally give way to considerations of public policy and the necessities of the case." The justices laid out a standard that allows remote testimony when it substantially upholds the core tenets of the Confrontation Clause: the ability of the accused to see, question, and consider the testimony of a witness against them. This bill uses the same standards provided for vulnerable minors in New York law to testify via remote testimony in certain cases to include adult sexual assault victims who are deemed vulnerable by the court.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.