Proposition 8 (or The Victims' Bill of Rights
[), a law enacted by ]California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
voters on 8 June 1982 by the initiative process, restricted the rights of convicts and those suspected of crimes and extended the rights of victims. To do so, it amended the California Constitution and ordinary statutes.
Provisions
The Victims' Bill of Rights declared its purpose as to ensure that:
Amendment of the constitution
The Victim's Bill of Rights added Section 28 to Article 1 of the constitution. This section has since been substantially added to and amended by Marsy's Law, enacted in 2008. Section 28 granted victims of crime the right to restitution
Restitution and unjust enrichment is the field of law relating to gains-based recovery. In contrast with damages (the law of compensation), restitution is a claim or remedy requiring a defendant to give up benefits wrongfully obtained. Liability ...
from the perpetrator unless there were "compelling and extraordinary reasons" to the contrary. It also conferred a right to school safety; it reads "All students and staff of public primary, elementary, junior high and senior high schools have the inalienable right to attend campuses which are safe, secure and peaceful".
Section 28 introduced a "right to truth in evidence". This means that state courts cannot exclude any "relevant evidence" even if gathered in a manner that violates the rights of the accused. The U.S. Constitution takes priority over the California constitution so courts may still be obliged to exclude evidence under the federal Bill of Rights. In practice the law prevented the California courts from interpreting the state constitution so as to impose an exclusionary rule more strict than that required by the federal constitution.[P. 165, ''Constitutional Politics in the States: Contemporary Controversies and Historical Patterns'', G. Alan Tarr, 1996.] Exceptions may be made to the "truth in evidence" rule by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the California Legislature.
Section 28 provided that public safety should be the primary consideration in determining whether to grant bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...
. The Victims' Bill of Rights proposed to repeal Article 1, Section 12, which contained the existing constitutional provisions on bail, but this conflicted with another proposition enacted on the same day. The other proposition received a higher number of votes and so, under the California constitution, it took precedence.
Statutory changes
The Victims' Bill of Rights made various changes to the California Penal Code
The Penal Code of California forms the basis for the application of most criminal law, criminal procedure, penal institutions, and the execution of sentences, among other things, in the United States, American state of California. It was origin ...
and the Welfare and Institutions Code. Victims of crime were granted the right to be notified of, to attend, and to state their views at sentencing and parole hearings. Other provisions related to the defense of insanity and diminished capacity
In criminal law, diminished responsibility (or diminished capacity) is a potential defense by excuse by which defendants argue that although they broke the law, they should not be held fully criminally liable for doing so, as their mental fun ...
, harsher punishments for recidivists and the limitation of plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...
ing.
References
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8
1982
Criminal penalty ballot measures in the United States
Initiatives in the United States
U.S. state criminal legislation
United States evidence law