Conclusion

All crime victims must be able to communicate freely with their counselors. Not only is counseling helpful in moving victims toward recovery, it may be essential, in some cases, to enable a victim to escape an abusive relationship or to effectively assist in the investigation and prosecution of a crime. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling has given victim advocates and victim service providers an opportunity to urge their state legislatures to reexamine and strengthen state victim-counselor privilege laws so victims can get the counseling they need, secure in the knowledge that their privacy will be protected.