Marsy’s Law: Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights Act of 2008

Marsy’s Law: Crime Victims Bill of Rights Act of 2008 announced today the most comprehensive crime victims’ Bill of Rights in the nation is on track for California’s November ballot.

“Every year thousands and thousands of Californians become victims of crime and are unjustly impacted by a sometime, and all too often, unfair criminal justice system,” said Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, Chairman of the Marsy’s Law campaign. “Marsy’s Law puts an end to this emotional suffering and will finally provide crime victims with the protections they rightly deserve.”

Marsy’s Law will ensure that all victims are treated with justice and due process by giving victims enforceable rights in our criminal justice system and our state constitution. Victims have the enumerated right to be heard, especially during critical points of the criminal justice process.

Parole reform, a significant element of Marsy’s Law, alleviates the suffering and hardship victims’ endure with annual, and often unnecessary, parole hearings. It also gives victims the right to be notified if the offender is up for a hearing. These simple rights will make a world of difference to the victims who have to relive their nightmare all too often.

“Marsy’s Law will ensure that all crime victims are afforded the respect and fairness they deserve,” said Marcella Leach, Marsy Leach’s mother and proponent of Marsy’s Law. “During pre-trial proceedings of my daughter’s murderer, I was never informed when her murderer was released on bail. I had to face the horror of running into him at our local grocery store in order to find out the man that murdered my daughter was walking free in our community. Marsy’s Law will ensure that no other victim will have to face the pain that our family had to endure because we were not informed throughout the criminal justice process.”

Marsy, the initiative’s namesake, was brutally murdered at the age of 21 by her ex-boyfriend in 1983 and her family was often treated as though they had no rights while battling to keep her killer behind bars.

“Marsy’s Law: The Crime Victim’s Bill of Right Act of 2008 will finally create a level playing field for crime victims in California,” said La Wanda Hawkins, also a mother of a homicide victim, Reggie, and a proponent of Marsy’s Law. “Too often in our criminal justice system the criminals accused and convicted of horrible crimes are provided more rights and respect in our justice system than the victims of the crime. The passage of Marsy’s Law will send a strong, clear message to all Californians that crime victims deserve better.”

This measure was inspired by hundreds of thousands of victims of crime who have experienced the additional pain and frustration of a criminal justice system that too often fails to afford victims even the most basic of rights.

“No one standing here today has asked for the impossible,” said Spitzer. “All they have asked for is basic and simple fairness. Simple fairness in our constitution, in our state laws and in our justice system.”

Constitutional amendments require 763,798 valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot. By the end of this week, Marsy’s Law: Crime Victims Bill of Rights Act of 2008 will have collected more than a million signatures from Californians who are demanding that crime victims receive constitutional rights.

The campaign expects to submit more than 1.125 million signatures to elections officials across the state next week.

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