In 2007, after extensive negotiations, federal prosecutors reached a secret non-prosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein, who sexually abused more than 30 minor girls between 1999 and 2007. (In exchange for immunity from federal prosecution, Epstein pleaded guilty to state crimes, spent parts of 13 months in jail.) Did prosecutors’ failure to apprise victims of the negotiations and the agreement—indeed, they took steps to conceal it—violate the victims’ right to be treated with “fairness” and “dignity,” as required by the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act of 2004? Two-thirds of an Eleventh Circuit panel says no; CVRA rights don’t kick in until criminal proceedings have been initiated.
