May 14, 2001

Arizona Voice for Crime Victims has been interested in amending the definition of a victim in Arizona law.  Our endeavors were successful.

The definition used to read, "Victim means a person against whom the criminal offense has been committed, or if the person is killed or incapacitated, the person's spouse, parent, child or other lawful representative, except if the person is in custody for an offense or is the accused."

We were seeking to expand the definition to include immediate family, as defined in ARS 13-4401(11) "Immediate family means a victim's spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent or lawful guardian."

The new definition, as defined in ARS 13-4401(19) now reads as follows: "Victim means a person against whom the criminal offense has been committed, or if the person is killed or incapacitated, the person's immediate family or other lawful representative, except if the person is in custody for the offense or is the accused."