Heritage Foundation report on victim legal counsel (VLC) program

Here is the full report, and here is the conclusion:

If the military needed the VLC program at one point, those reasons are no longer present with the advent of the OSTC. To be sure, the VLC program has provided a benefit to victims at a time when the JAG Corps did not have career prosecutors. As lawyers trained to focus like a laser on one client and her rights, VLCs brought a degree of professionalism to their task that gave victims of crime in the military more confidence in the system.

Today, most victim cases can be handled professionally and properly by well-trained military prosecutors who understand victims’ rights, victim dynamics, and the services available to victims in the military. The DOD has a vast array of professional victims’ services spread across the military that are fully capable of addressing their non-legal needs. For the most part, the professionals providing those services have backgrounds that are far more appropriate for providing counseling and support services to victims of crime than are the skillset and experience of attorneys.

All of the VLC program’s non-legal counseling and support features of the job should be moved to existing victims’ services in the DOD, and the OSTC, not the VLC, should be the primary entity that works directly with and on the behalf of victims. The OSTC, consistent with common practice in the civilian sector, should be responsible for filing all pretrial motions, including those related to MRE 412 and 513, on behalf of victims. In the rare instance where, in the judgment of the OSTC, a VLC’s legal services are required, the OSTC should be given the responsibility to refer cases to a VLC.

Finally, modifying the VLC program will save the services money that can be used to enhance the OSTC and other essential services provided by the JAG Corps.