Prop. 115: Right to Privacy and Crime Victims’ Reform Act

This is my first letter to the editor and I am writing in hopes that maybe this will reach people who are not aware of how important Prop. 115 is to all of us. Five years ago before my son was murdered I would not of known or really thought about how important this one proposition was. Many who have not suffered the devastation of losing a loved one should be angry enough about the price that lengthy trials cost us the taxpayers let alone having a torturous rapist set free to live among us because he has served his sentence. Those of us who have had to deal personally with the system have had our eyes opened to the reality that it is not only our sorrow that makes us suffer. This is our chance to make our system more fair.

Prop. 115 is the most important criminal justice reform measure to be put before the voters in 15 years. It will speed up trials by shortening preliminary hearings and the jury selection process. It will create a new crime of torture.

Prop. 115 changes California law so that those accused of crimes would have the rights already guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, but no more.

If Prop. 115 passes, the scales of justice may even out a little more instead of swaying so heavily for the criminals.

HAZEL BROWN

Fountain Valley