Marsy's Law for Illinois, formally called the

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Crime Victims' Bill of Rights, amended the 1993 Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act by establishing additional protections for crime victims and their families. Voters approved the measure as a

constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly alt ...

on November 4, 2014. It became law in 2015. The law is modeled after a piece of 2008

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

legislation called Marsy's Law.

Overview

The Illinois Crime Victims' Bill of Rights amended the Constitution of Illinois to include protections for crime victims, including information on hearings, restitution and other protections. It was modeled after 2008 California legislation called Marsy's Law, named after Marsy Nicholas, a California college student who was murdered by an ex-boyfriend in 1983. Illinois' Marsy's Law was one of several efforts to expand Marsy's Law across the U.S. following its successful adoption in California. Voters in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

and

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

adopted their own versions of Marsy's Law in 2016, but the

measure was held unconstitutional by the

Montana Supreme Court The Montana Supreme Court is the supreme court, highest court of the state court system in the U.S. state of Montana. It is established and its powers defined by Article VII of the 1972 Montana Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court w ...

before it was implemented. There are efforts to introduce similar Marsy's Laws in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. The ballot measure in Illinois received close to $4.3 million in financial support from Henry Nicholas, the brother of Marsy Nicholas and the sponsor of the original campaign in California.

History

In April 2014, Illinois lawmakers in the state's

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

agreed to place a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on the fall ballot to amend the Illinois state constitution. The proposed amendment to Section 8.1 of Article I of the Illinois Constitution, the Crime Victims' Bill of Rights, appeared on the ballot of the November 4, 2014, general election. Seventy-eight percent of voters who answered the question approved the referendum. The state House approved HB 1121, the implementation bill reconciling the 1993 Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act with the constitutional amendment, on April 23, 2015. A month later, the state Senate approved the bill. Marsy's Law became effective immediately when Governor

Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, venture capitalist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he had a decades-long career in inves ...

signed the legislation on August 20, 2015. The

editorial board The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...

s of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', '' The Southern Illinoisan'', '' Herald & Review'', '' Rock River Times'', ''

The Pantagraph ''The Pantagraph'' is a daily newspaper that serves Bloomington–Normal, Illinois, along with 60 communities and eight counties in the Central Illinois area. Its headquarters are in Bloomington and it is owned by Lee Enterprises. The name is ...

'' and '' Rockford Register Star'' encouraged voters to approve the Marsy's Law amendment. The ''Chicago Tribune'' editorial board wrote that the measure gives victims legal standing to assert rights. "Because of the limits in the existing constitutional text," the editorial board wrote, "this change cannot be made by passing a law — only by revising the constitution." The ''

Daily Herald (Arlington Heights) The ''Daily Herald'' is a daily newspaper based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The newspaper is distributed in the northern, northwestern and western suburbs of Chicago. It is the namesake of the Daily Herald Media Group, a ...

'', ''

The News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana) ''The News-Gazette'' may refer to: * ''The News-Gazette'' (Champaign–Urbana), a daily newspaper serving the Champaign–Urbana Metropolitan Area and Danville, Illinois * ''The News-Gazette'' (Winchester, Indiana), a daily newspaper based in Wi ...

'' and ''

Quad-City Times The ''Quad-City Times'' is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area, including Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island, an ...

'' editorial boards opposed the amendment. Whereas ''The News-Gazette'' and ''Quad-City Times'' said the referendum offered no new protections, the ''Daily Herald'' said the constitution change "adds little aside from some enforcement provisions to rights already granted" and could increase court costs. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan supported Marsy's Law by saying victims are "owed a voice". The Illinois Family Institute sided with supporters of the amendment who said it would help enforce existing laws. Opponents of Marsy's Law included House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie,

Illinois State Bar Association The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) is among the largest voluntary state bar associations in the United States. Approximately 28,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISB ...

and defense attorneys (The Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys) . Currie said the proposal would slow court proceedings. The bar association argued the changes should be made through statutes, rather than amendments to the state constitution.

Provisions of the law

The Illinois Crime Victims' Bill of Rights amended the 1993 Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act by establishing additional protections for victims of crimes and their families. The law says crime victims have the right to be free from

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...

intimidation Intimidation is a behaviour and legal wrong which usually involves deterring or coercing an individual by threat of violence. It is in various jurisdictions a crime and a civil wrong (tort). Intimidation is similar to menacing, coercion, terro ...

and abuse throughout the court process. The law ensures victims receive timely notice of all court proceedings and the accused's

conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a ...

, sentence,

imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

and release. Additionally, the law allows victims the right to communicate with prosecution; to be heard at proceedings on post-

arraignment Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal charging document in the presence of the defendant, to inform them of the criminal charges against them. In response to arraignment, in some jurisdictions, the accused is expected to enter a plea; i ...

release decisions, pleas, or sentencings; to attend trials and other court proceedings, and to have an advocate attend hearings with them; restitution; and to have their safety and the safety of their family considered in bail decisions and conditions of release.

Constitutional changes

The amendment changed Section 8.1 of the Illinois Constitution of 1970. Section 8.1 was originally adopted with the 1992 ratification of the Crime Victim Rights Amendment. Section 8.1 was amended to read:

Results

In order to be approved, measure required either 60% support among those specifically voting on the amendment or 50% support among all ballots cast in the 2014 Illinois elections. The measure ultimately achieved both.

References

External links

Election resultsPublic Act 099-0413
{{Elections in Illinois footer Constitution of Illinois (1970) 2014 Illinois ballot measures Victims' rights