Thank you.
That initial contact is done through a letter, but what we certainly heard at our last study—the classification study—is that a trauma-informed approach, frankly, can't be done through a letter.
In each case, where the victim or their family is at the time of the trial and sentencing versus years later into the sentence where changes might start to happen, that approach can't just.... In my opinion, and based on what we've heard, victims really want that contact with a human who can explain it to them in a way so they understand the system. Frankly, it is a case-by-case basis.
That's why, at its core, I do support this legislation, because any improvement to share that information...but it can't just be to send an additional letter. I would think it needs to have those additional resources.
In my last round of questioning, I brought up the numbers that Commissioner Kelly...and thank you to my team who scoured the blues. I think there are 40,000 contacts and 8,000 registered victims. Would this bill change anything? The big question we have is who those registered victims are and how they know to register. Even with this amendment, if it's a proactive reach-out, you would still have to know to register as a victim. Is that correct?