Officials Gather to Better Understand Marsy’s Law

SUPERIOR, Wis. — Stakeholders in the Wisconsin criminal justice system and victim service organizations got together to look at victim’s experiences through the system.

Marsy’s Law for Wisconsin, Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, and Wisconsin Department of Justice collaborated to map victims’ journeys.
The project looked at who victims interact with in the process, what they do well and where they can improve.

“We are essentially walking through a mock case and talking about what happens, how are victims’ rights implicated at each stage in the case? And are there things that we’re doing really well? Are there things that we need to address? Are there things that, are there gaps? Are there people that are falling through the cracks, and how, how do we fix that, or what sorts of things can we do to alleviate those concerns?” said Martina Tendrup, a Victim Witness Co-coordinator in the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office.

Marsy’s law provides victims with rights and protections more equal to the defendants in cases.
Some examples of the rights include a right to privacy, timely notice of release of the accused, restitution, and more.

“It gives victims a more recourse, I guess, if their rights are violated, there are more opportunities for them to get remedies. I have seen, I have, I have seen proceedings paused for the very basic reason that a victim’s rights have not been complied with. And I don’t know that that’s something that would have happened prior to five years ago.” said Tendrup.

Marsy’s law was originally created in California and was voted into Wisconsin Law in April 2020.