Georgia Voters Could Add Crime Victims’ Rights to the State Constitution
Vote to see how others feel about this issue
What the Referendum Does
Georgia Amendment 4 would amend the Georgia Constitution to provide crime victims with specific rights, including: 1) the right to be treated with fairness, dignity, and respect; 2) the right to notice of all proceedings involving the alleged criminal; 3) the right to be heard at any proceedings involving that release, plea, or sentencing of the accused; 4) the right to be informed of their rights; and 5) the right to be excluded from scheduled court proceedings. It’d also give the state legislature the power to further define, expand, and enforce these rights.
Argument in Favor
Accused criminals shouldn’t have more rights than crime victims. Adding Marsy’s Law to the Georgia Constitution would ensure that victims’ rights are respected as the criminal justice process plays out and they aren’t forgotten by the system.
Argument Against
Georgia law already provides statutory rights to victims. Rather than adding those rights to the state constitution in a way that will be expensive and difficult to implement, Georgians should focus on ensuring that the existing protections for victims of crime are upheld.
In-Depth
Marsy’s Law for Georgia is leading the campaign in support of Amendment 4 with the support of the Childhood Domestic Violence Association of Georgia, National Council on Family and Domestic Violence, Crime Victims Advocacy Council, R.I.S.E., and more. South Georgia Judicial Circuit District Attorney Joe Mulholland says:
“[Victims’ rights are] already technically part of Georgia law, but the legislature felt like being a part of the constitution is even stronger. Having that and knowing it’s part of the constitution, I think it gives peace of mind to prosecutors.”
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation opposes this ballot measure, which it says could have numerous consequences, including: 1) increasing judicial costs due to the need for more attorneys and support staff for victims, as well as detaining more people accused of crimes; 2) the risk of infringing the rights of the accused; 3) false accusations by purported victims; and 4) potential loss of the accused’s right to be presumed innocent until convicted. The organization argues:
“Part of being smart on crime is realizing that while law enforcement and its agencies fall short in some areas of the victim rights’ statute, that should be resolved with a targeted legislative remedy, not a constitutional amendment that quite possibly could undo years of progress.”
This proposed constitutional amendment was referred to voters by the Georgia legislature, which approved it on bipartisan votes of 169-0 in the House and 55-0 in the Senate.
The effort to institute Marsy’s Law across the U.S. is primarily backed by Henry Nicholas, co-founder of Broadcom Corporation, whose sister, Marsalee “Marsy” Nicholas, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. A week after his sister’s death, Henry and his mother encountered Marsy’s ex-boyfriend at a grocery store after he was released on bail — they hadn’t been made aware of his release.
Due to this experience, Henry founded Marsy’s Law for All, the national organization advocating for Marsy’s Law. The organization’s mission is to “amend state constitutions that don’t offer protections to crime victims and, eventually, the U.S. Constitution to give victims of crime rights equal to those already afforded to the accused and convicted."
As of 2018, six states have enacted Marsy’s Law amendments: California, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Ohio, and Illinois. A seventh state, Montana, initially approved a Marsy’s Law amendment, but it was struck down in 2017 as unconstitutional by the state supreme court.
Summary by Lorelei Yang
(Photo Credit: iStockphoto.com / LPETTET)
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