State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

‘Marsy’s Law’ Protections for Crime Victims Sound Great, but Could Cause Problems

Route Fifty: Voters in six states soon will face a ballot initiative that for some seems like a no-brainer: whether to grant crime victims certain rights under the state constitution, such as the right to be treated with fairness, the right to confer with the prosecution and the right to attend key court proceedings.

But even as a coordinated, billionaire-backed campaign spreads across the country, some lawyers and civil rights experts say the push to give crime victims constitutional rights equal to those of criminal defendants could set up a clash over core aspects of the U.S. legal system, such as the accused person’s Sixth Amendment right to due process and the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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