Marsy’s Law for Wisconsin Marks Six Years of Providing Strong Rights for Badger State Crime Victims

For the past six years, Marsy's Law has provided essential protections for crime victims to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect in the criminal justice system.

This week marks the sixth anniversary of the ratification of Marsy’s Law, Wisconsin's constitutional crime victims’ rights amendment. Passed during the April 2020 spring election with overwhelming bipartisan support (75 percent of voters, totaling more than 1.1 million Wisconsin residents), the amendment guarantees crime victims with essential, enforceable rights including the rights to privacy, to notice, to confer with the prosecution, to be present, to be heard, to restitution, to know their rights, and to have these rights enforced.

“Six years ago, Wisconsin took an essential step forward to transform our criminal justice system, putting the rights of crime victims at the forefront of the criminal justice process,” said Nela Kalpic, state director for Marsy’s Law for Wisconsin. “There are now countless examples of survivors exercising their rights under Marsy’s Law to be more engaged and involved in their cases. Put simply, Marsy’s Law has completely changed the culture in our courtrooms for victims.”

Over the past six years, Marsy’s Law for Wisconsin has concentrated its efforts on raising awareness of the rights and resources available to crime victims. Among those efforts are silhouette events, where the amendment's rights are brought to life through eight silhouettes representing the unseen survivors in our communities who have been impacted by crime. The organization has also partnered with local victim advocates and the Wisconsin Department of Justice to map the full journey a crime victim travels through the criminal justice system – from the initial call to law enforcement through post-conviction proceedings – to educate stakeholders on how best to connect victims to their rights and available services.