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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia: Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, H. Res. 119 recognizes this week as National Crime Victims' Rights Week in order to increase public awareness of the rights, needs, and concerns of victims and survivors of crime in the United States during this week and throughout the year. Obviously, we are very attuned to victims this week as we mourn the tragic deaths and injuries of the Virginia Tech shootings last week, though this resolution was scheduled for victims generally, without any reference to specific victims.
In 2003, the last year for which we have compiled figures, there were 24.2 million criminal victimizations of people over the age of 12 in the United States. Of those, 5.4 million were violent victimizations and 18.6 were property victimizations. Unfortunately, there were many more crimes than those figures suggest. It is estimated that only 48 percent of violent crimes and only 38 percent of property crimes are reported to police in each year.
We talked about the large group of victims in the resolution preceding this one involving sexual assault victims. Clearly we want to be aware of the need of victims of all crimes and do whatever we can, not only to address victimizations that occur but also to prevent the crimes occurring in the first place. Supporting the mission and goals of the National Crime Victims' Rights Week will increase the public awareness of the rights, needs, and concerns of victims and survivors of crime, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. |
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