When State Rep. Angel Arce’s father, Angel Arce Torres, was struck and killed during a hit-and-run in Hartford back in 2008, Arce and his family had no choice but to relive the horrific scene over and over again. The disturbing incident, captured on videotape, barraged them not only on television, but around the Internet on popular networks like YouTube and Facebook.
That repeated trauma prompted Arce to take action on a piece of legislation focusing on the privacy of crime victims, which was being advocated by the families of the Newtown shooting victims.
By making their case before the Connecticut General Assembly to prevent crime scene photos from being released to the public, the shooting victims’ families were building on a controversial legal precedent.
However, it was Arce (D-Hartford) and the Black and Latino Caucus who argued for a categorical exception for all families of future crime victims, including Latinos in high-crime, urban areas, and opened up the argument to fight for a universal standard.
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