WHEREAS, as a country devoted to liberty and justice for all, America must increase its efforts to protect, restore and expand crime victims’ rights and services so they apply to every victim, every time; and

        WHEREAS, 23 million Americans are victims of crime each year, and of those, 5.2 million are victims of violent crime; and

        WHEREAS, all victims of crime deserve respect, resources, restoration and justice; and

        WHEREAS, all fifty states, the District of Columbia and the federal government grant crime victims certain legal rights; and

        WHEREAS, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week offers us all the opportunity to recommit ourselves to ensuring that every victim is afforded his or her legal rights and treated as a crucial participant in our criminal justice system; and

        WHEREAS, as we carry crime victims’ rights into 2007 and beyond, we must strive to create a nation where the legal rights of victims are honored and individuals are accountable for their treatment of victims; and

        WHEREAS, despite significant progress in providing rights and services to crime victims over the past two decades, large segments of our population, including crime victims with disabilities, victims with mental illness, victims who are immigrants, victims who are teenagers, victims who are elderly, and victims in rural areas, are still underserved; and

        NOW, THEREFORE, I, C.L. “BUTCH” OTTER, Governor of the State of Idaho, do hereby proclaim April 22-28, 2007

NATIONAL  CRIME  VICTIMS’  RIGHTS  WEEK

in Idaho.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Idaho at Boise, Idaho, on this 20^th day of April in the year of our Lord two-thousand and seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred thirty-first and of the Statehood of Idaho the one hundred seventeenth.       

BEN YSURSA
SECRETARY OF STATE