KETTERING — Governor Mike DeWine signed Ohio’s Marsy’s Law which puts more teeth into protecting victims of crime.
Ohio voters, by a vast majority in 2017, said that crime victims deserve a large voice after becoming crime victims on Ohio streets. This new law puts procedures and forms in place to make sure all victims can stay informed and have a voice as a criminal case moves forward.
“We don’t want to revictimize victims,” Ohio State Representative Andrea White (R-Kettering) said.
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White told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell that passing a constitutional amendment was great, but it’s taken another five years to make sure victim’s have the rights they were guaranteed.
“Giving victims the rights to be treated with respect, fairness, dignity, safety and privacy,” White said.
The state representative said the moments and days after a crime can be a blur for victims. Most of the attention usually goes to the people responsible, but victims of crimes, like murder or sexual assault, haven’t always felt prioritized.
Sophia Fifner told Campbell she was raped 20 years ago. She said the crime against her impacted her life for 20 years and she often didn’t know where to turn.
“Most people don’t wake up thinking they will be victims of crime,” Fifner said.
Fifner turned to the Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center where the traditional system seemed to shut her out or fail to keep her informed.
“I thought the criminal justice system was there to protect us. I hade no idea what I was in for,” Cathy Lee Harper said.
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Harper said her own nightmare at the hand of a sexually criminal stepfather made her join the Crime Victims Justice Center. She said she and others have worked for 29 years to make improvements.
“It’s been a long journey to get here to establish meaningful and enforceable rights,” Harper said.
White told News Center 7 that the Ohio Supreme Court has come up with a standard crime victims rights form that police or prosecutors will offer every crime victim.
“It’s all about consistency and having policies in place so no matter where a crime occurs, that a victim is being treated with the same respect,” White said.
All victims of violent crime are covered by this new adjustment to Marsy’s Law. The only ones that are not are people of crime that can be paid through the Traffic Violations Bureau.
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