Unofficial results show that Kentucky voters approved Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1 to add rights for crime victims on Tuesday. The amendment, also known as Marsy’s Law, provides crime victims with specific constitutional rights, including the right to be treated with fairness and due consideration in court proceedings and the right to reasonable protection from the accused.

The unofficial results show Kentucky’s ballot initiative passed by 63.26 percent to 36.74 percent. The amendment was presented in its entirety on the ballot. Marsy’s Law requires judges to protect victims’ constitutional rights with the same vigor as they defend the rights of the accused. Furthermore, when victims and their attorneys come to court, judges and prosecutors would be required to listen to them. The constitutional change will serve to “secure for victims of criminal acts or public offenses justice and due process and to ensure crime victims a meaningful role throughout the criminal and juvenile justice systems.”

Kentucky voters passed a similar law in 2018, but the state’s Supreme Court overturned it, ruling that the wording on the ballot was too vague and that the entire 556-word amendment should have been presented on the ballot. “The meaning of the phrase ‘such proposed amendment or amendments shall be submitted to the voters’ is plain and its direction is clear: The amendment is to be presented to the people for a vote,” Chief Justice John Minton wrote for the court.

The ACLU of Kentucky criticized Marsy’s Law, arguing that the law “uses inconsistent and confusing language that would be at odds with Kentuckians’ constitutional rights and create significant unintended consequences.” The group expressed concern that the bill promises to create a new set of rights and standing for victims “without any detail, funding, resources, or direction.”