The Victims' Bill of Rights declared its purpose as to ensure that: The rights of victims pervade the criminal justice system, encompassing not only the right to restitution from the wrongdoers for financial losses suffered as a result of criminal acts, but also the more basic expectation that persons who commit felonious acts causing injury to innocent victims will be appropriately detained in custody, tried by the courts, and sufficiently punished so that the public safety is protected and encouraged as a goal of highest importance.
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.
[2] Section 28 finally provided that prior felony convictions "shall subsequently be used without limitation for purposes of impeachment or enhancement of sentence in any criminal proceeding".
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, harsher punishments for recidivists and the limitation of plea bargaining.