Abstract
In a 1982 referendum, the voters of California approved Proposition 8-the first state "victim's rights" amendment-revising a number, of provisions of the California Constitution. I wrote The Wrongs of Victim's Rights in response to that referendum and the Reagan Administration's Task Force on Victims of Crime Final Report. At the time I wrote the article, I had recently been a victim of a violent rape committed by a burglar; I had had two friends murdered in separate killings; and I knew others who had had family members killed, as well as many friends who were victims of other crimes. I had also practiced law briefly as a prosecutor and then for a longer time as a defense attorney. I was concerned that Proposition 8 appeared only incidentally to be aimed at the concerns of victims; its real purpose was to serve crime control, conservative, and 'prosecutorial interests. As it turned out, Proposition 8 was apparently inadequate to serve crime control interests or to mollify victims. California voters approved yet another amendment in 1991, Proposition 115, The Crime Victims Justice Reform Act.
Recommended Citation
Henderson, Lynne
(1999)
"Revisiting Victim's Rights,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 1999:
No.
2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol1999/iss2/6