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Marsy’s Law Gives Victims 19 More Rights

Under the court of law, victims of any crime are given certain rights in order to protect themselves. These rights have just recently been expanded to include 19 more. Marsy’s Law was a victim’s right ballot passed last year. It was until recently under a review by an attorney general who produced an 11-page report on how it is to be implemented.

Some of the new rights that are included are to be treated with respect, protection from harassment and to be protected from the accused.  This measure also includes a clause about redacting information to protect witnesses of crimes.

The county state’s attorney office said that these new laws are going to be tough on local level police. Redacting information is time consuming according to the office and this time can lead to an increase in prices for the offices of the police department, leading to a $4 million increase over the next two years. This spending increase comes from the need to hire additional workers to redact the info as well as paying current workers more for the new redactions.

Currently, there is not a lot of research behind this measure as it’s relatively new. There is a lot of unanswered questions according to the chief deputy attorney general’s office. Most of the information about these new laws are going to have to come from the courts. Once there have been cases, the system of courts will know a little more about what to expect from this ruling.

The current budget that offices were given to complete the Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification was $815,000. This is just enough to complete this project in two to three years the Chief Deputy Attorney General’s office said. The new rights will go into effect starting this month.

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