Constitutional amendment on victims’ rights passes Ill. Senate

SPRINGFIELD — A push to change the state Constitution and give victims of violent crimes and their families new legal standing overwhelmingly passed the Illinois Senate Wednesday and could wind up going before voters this fall.

The measure known as Marsy’s Law, named after a California murder victim, advanced out of the Senate by a 55-1 vote and now moves to the House, which approved an earlier version of the proposed constitutional amendment.

Under the plan, victims of violent crimes and the families of murder victims or minors would be guaranteed the right to be informed about court proceedings, to make victim-impact statements during sentencing, to get “timely” notification when prosecutors are seeking a plea deal and to have their safety considered at bail hearings, among other things.

The state Constitution now contains victim-rights language, but there is no mechanism by which victims or their families can enforce those rights before, during or after trials by seeking relief from the courts.

“What this constitutional amendment does is ensure that those who have been victims of molestation, of rape, whose family members have been murdered, will now be confident their rights can, in fact, be enforced, that their right to have a voice and to be informed of what’s happening in trial proceedings are enforceable,” said Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago), the legislation’s chief Senate sponsor.

The plan, backed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan and an assortment of other victims-rights advocates, would make Illinois the fourth state with such language in its Constitution.

Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins — whose sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and Richard Langert, of Winnetka, were murdered in 1990 with their unborn child — has lobbied for the change, saying it would have allowed her a means to circumvent Cook County prosecutors who blocked her from making a victim-impact statement during the sentencing of her family’s killer, David Biro.

“We did everything we were told. We didn’t speak to the press. We were obedient and cooperative. But when it came to the day of his sentencing and he was convicted of triple homicide, we were looking forward to making our statement in front of this guy and making him hear what he’d taken,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday.

“But we were told because it was a mandatory sentence he was facing, it was too inconvenient to do victim-impact statements. So we weren’t allowed to make a victim-impact statement, and I have forever regretted that,” said Bishop-Jenkins, director of Marsy’s Law for Illinois.

The only opposition to the plan comes from the Illinois State Bar Association and the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has opposed it as well.

An Alvarez spokesman did not immediately respond when asked about her rationale in fighting the measure.