Marsy's Law
| Marsy's Law (Proposition 9) California Victims' Bill of Rights |
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| Definition: | Crime Victims Bill of Rights |
| State: | California |
| Passed: | November 4, 2008 |
| Key people: | Henry T Nicholas, III, Todd Spitzer, Steve Ipsen |
| Namesake: | Marsalee Nicholas, murdered 11-30-1983 |
| Website: | Marsy's Law; California Office of the Attorney General |
Marsy's Law, the California Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008, enacted by voters through the initiative process in the November 2008 general election, is an Amendment to the state's Constitution and certain Penal Code sections The Act protects and expands the legal rights of victims of crime to include 17 rights in the judicial process, including the right to legal standing, protection from the defendant, notification of all court proceedings, and restitution, as well as granting parole boards far greater powers to deny inmates parole. Passage of this law in California has led to the passage of a similar law in Illinois, and efforts to pass similar laws in Hawaii, Montana, Nevada and South Dakota.
Marsy Nicholas was the sister of Henry Nicholas, the Co-Founder and former Co-Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcom Corporation. In 1983, Marsy, then a senior at UC Santa Barbara, was stalked and murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Her murderer, Kerry Conley, was tried by a Los Angeles jury and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Although Conley died in prison one year before Marsy's Law passed in November 2008, the Nicholas family attended numerous parole hearings, which haunted them for years.
Nicholas was the main organizer of the campaign to pass Marsy's Law, whom former California Governor Pete Wilson called the "driving force" behind the constitutional amendment. In late 2007, Nicholas convened a group, including Wilson, to consider putting a comprehensive victims' rights constitutional amendment on the ballot in California. He recruited legal scholars and former prosecutors to draft, rework and write the final version of the bill. In addition to Nicholas and Wilson, contributors included:
In late February 2008, California non-profit corporation Marsy's Law: Justice for Crime Victims proposed Marsy's Law as a way of giving crime victims constitutionally protected rights such as notifications to victims and informing those involved in the criminal justice process of the Marsy's Law victim rights. Voters passed the Constitutional Amendment in November 2008 by a margin of 53.84% to 46.16%, despite being opposed by nearly every major newspaper in the state.
In 2009, Henry Nicholas formed Marsy's Law for All, which has the following objectives:
Since its passage, Marsy's Law has had a major impact on how victims are treated in the state's judicial system. Now, when any victim of crime is contacted by law enforcement, just as the accused are read their Miranda Rights, that victim is immediately informed of his or her Marsy's Rights and provided with "Marsy's Card" a small foldout containing a full description of each of the 17 Marsy's Rights, which is also available for download in 17 languages on the California Office of the Attorney General website. The California Attorney General has published these rights, which now are utilized by every law enforcement agency in the state. In addition, each of 58 county District Attorney's offices are required to inform victims of these rights at the time a case is filed for criminal prosecution. In 2010, the California Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) amended its Learning Domain 04 to include Marsy’s Law Training in its Basic Police Academy.
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