98 CASSELL ET AL. [Vol. 104 the criminal justice process.*!* Moreover, every state has adopted a statute that either enforces its constitutional amendment or creates independent statutory rights for crime victims.*'? As a result, state legislatures and state employees have attempted to give victims a voice in the criminal justice process across the country. Notably, while the strength of these rights varies from state to state,”° nearly forty states require the prosecuting attorney to notify or confer with the victim regarding plea negotiations.**’ Several jurisdictions involve the victim in the charging decision.*”* In some states, law enforcement and prosecutors must involve the victim at any “critical”?”? or “crucial”? stage of the criminal proceeding; and in a minority of jurisdictions, the judge must ascertain whether the prosecutor has afforded the victim statutory protections prior to accepting a plea agreement.””° The general contours of state provisions suggest that several state governments have recognized the value in informing victims of their nghts and involving them in the criminal process prior to the formal filing of charges.”*° Indeed, a brief look at the statutory protections illustrates the extent to which states have attempted to afford protections to victims long before the formal filing of charges. 218 See Victims’ Rights Laws by State, NAT’L CRIME VictTIM L. INsT. (Oct. 17, 2013), http: //goo.gl/pdDx1 w (listing and linking to state laws and constitutional amendments). 719 See LAFAVEET AL., supra note 168, § 21.3(f), at 1041-42. 220 See generally DEAN G. KILPATRICK ET AL., NAT’L INsT. oF Justice, U.S. DEp’T oF JUSTICE, THE RIGHTS OF CRIME VICTIMS—DOES LEGAL PROTECTION MAKE A DIFFERENCE? (1998), available at http://goo.g//EzH61S. 21 See Peggy M. Tobolowsky, Victim Participation in the Criminal Justice Process: Fifteen Years After the President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime, 25 NEw ENG. J. oN CrIM. & CIV. CONFINEMENT 21, 64 & n.168 (199