The unintended consequences of a Florida law meant to help victims

ORLANDO, Fla. — On Nov. 6, 2018, Florida voters approved an amendment to the State Constitution to establish a set of rights and protections for crime victims.

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The law, known as “Marsy’s Law” helps shield victim information from the public, preserving their privacy after an incident.

However, in the years since the law was passed, victims’ rights groups say serious problems have arisen that have not been addressed.

“It’s impacting our ability to reach survivors on some pretty significant levels,” said Tammy Douglass, the executive director at Help Now of Osceola. “We are trying to find other strategies around it.”

For almost four decades, Help Now has provided a temporary shelter for survivors of domestic abuse, aiming to reach victims within 24 hours of a reported incident. The group notes that prior to 2017, it could rely on incident reports to get the information for victims and reach out to them to offer services.

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Now, the group says almost all of that information is private, even to aid groups, leaving many victims unaware of the services available to them across the state.

“It has been really challenging and unfortunate, but I understand the intention of it,” Douglas said. “That’s one of the challenges with big legislation pieces an sometimes you’ll see the unintended consequences after the fact.”

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Across the state, other nonprofits and victim’s services are running into similar problems, seeing the number of people they help fall sharply in the years since Marsy’s Law passed.

“There are so many victims that need our assistance,” said Larry Coggins, the regional executive director at Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

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MADD points to two stats: the number of drunk driving crashes in the state and the number of victims it has been able to reach. The group notes that while alcohol-related fatalities have increased, the number of people it has been able to serve has decreased.

“The people have spoken, and we agree victims deceive rights, there needs to be some clarification or directive from someone with a higher pay grade than myself that says that these organizations that are legitimate and bonafide organization that provides victim services and victim advocacy can have the victim’s information,” Coggins said. “We are on law enforcement side; we are on the victim’s side we just need to bridge the gap.”

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For their part, Florida lawmakers say they are aware of the gaps, but have yet to put forward any legislation to ensure victims are protected while at the same time service providers can reach out to help in a timely manner.

“I have previously proposed implementing language in the Florida Senate to ensure the will of the people who voted to amend Florida’s Constitution to enshrine victims’ rights and believe that if there are ways to improve implementation, we should always consider how to do so,” wrote Senator Lauren Book (D-Broward) in a statement to 9 Investigates.

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For its part, the group behind Marsy’s Law said in a statement: “Our focus has always been on crime victims and their rights, and we would be happy to serve on a working group dedicated to ensuring crime victims are aware of the service organizations in their area that are dedicated to helping them.”

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The unintended consequences of Marsy’s law Victims of a crime: Protecting their identity comes at a cost that they might not even realize. (WFTV)

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