The Homicide Victims' Families' Rights Act: Help for Families Who Lost a Loved One to Violent Crime

Justice Matters with Glenn Kirschner

We have nearly 300,000 unsolved murders in the United States. That's 300,000 families who sit by the phone waiting for a call to come from a detective saying, "we've got a break in your loved one's case." These calls almost never come.

When I retired from the Department of Justice, after decades of prosecuting murder cases in Washington, DC, I was determined to do something about that, and I proposed the Homicide Victim's Families Rights Act ("HVFRA") to Congressman Eric Swalwell, himself a former prosecutor. He heard me out and led the charge in an effort to bring long-overdue hope and help to homicide families.

In 2022, the HVFRA became law, and it provides that homicide families have a legal right to require the involved police department to review the homicide investigation of their loved one and, depending on the results of the review, a full reinvestigation by a new team of detectives. We are now in the process of pushing this federal law to the states as model legislation to help homicide families in all 50 states.

And we need your help - homicide families need your help. Below is a short, sample letter you can write to your state elected officials urging them to pass a state version of the HVFRA. Help bring hope - and legal rights - to homicide families in your state:

Dear Senator/Representative _______________,

I am writing to urge you to enact a state version of the federal Homicide Victims’ Families’ Rights Act (“HVFRA”). The HVFRA is designed to give families who lost a loved one to violent crime a legal right to have the relevant police department conduct a review of the homicide investigation once the case has grown cold and, depending on the result of the review, a full re-investigation.

Homicide families sit by the phone waiting for a call from a detective saying, “we have a break in your loved one’s case.” Those calls almost never come. Homicide families deserve to have a legal right to have their loved one’s homicide investigated fully, thoroughly, and professionally, and the HVFRA gives families that right.

Georgia has passed a version of the HVFRA, California is moving in that direction, and hopefully other states will soon follow suit.

Please give homicide families in our state some hope that their loved one’s case will be given a review/reinvestigation to ensure that everything that can be done will be done to bring some closure and healing to families that have suffered the loss of a loved one to violent crime.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

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Thank you friends.

It takes a team . . . Team Justice.

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