The state has certified a proposed constitutional amendment giving crime victims and their families the same rights as the accused. The move clears the measure to go before voters this fall. Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports.
The Secretary of State has certified signatures submitted by backers of what’s known as “Marsy’s Law”, meaning it’ll be on this fall’s ballot. If voters approve this law, crime victims would have the right to notification of all legal proceedings involving their case and would have the right to be heard in the process. Victims would also have the right to weigh in on plea deals for offenders and would have the right to restitution. Marsy's Law is a national movement named after a California woman who was killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. But critics in the criminal justice field say they're worried the law could be unconstitutional, and that it could result in prosecutors not taking some cases or convicts getting out of prison because their rights were violated.
