Rep. Stanley Supports Domestic Violence Bill
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and Attorney General Martha Coakley today announced a comprehensive domestic violence bill which creates new criminal offenses and elevated penalties, boosts prevention efforts and seeks to empower victims.
The legislation establishes a first offense domestic assault and battery charge that will allow officials to immediately contextualize charges as domestic in nature and take appropriate punitive action. It also creates a separate and specific charge of strangulation and suffocation, actions that statistically indicate an abuser is more likely to commit domestic violence related homicide in the future.
“We, as public officials and as a society, must do everything in our power to stem the tragic tide of violence against women,” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo (D-Winthrop) said. “This legislation represents some of the strongest, most comprehensive domestic violence legislation in at least a generation. I thank Attorney General Coakley for her collaboration on this bill and offer my sincere gratitude to the advocates and individuals who so courageously shared their experiences.”
“This bill will better protect our families by strengthening our laws against abusers and providing victims with the support they need,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley. “We must do better to break the cycle of intimidation and violence committed by serial abusers. With this bill, we will. I want to thank Speaker DeLeo for his partnership and unwavering commitment to address domestic violence in a comprehensive and meaningful way.”
“I applaud Speaker DeLeo and Attorney General Martha Coakley for working together on such important legislation,” State Representative Thomas M. Stanley (D-Waltham) said. “Domestic violence not only has a severe impact on victims’ personal and family lives, it can also have serious ramifications on a victim’s professional life and their ability to work. I am very happy to see that many of the proposals in the Employment Leave Bill (H.1764) I filed this session are included in the Speaker’s Domestic Violence Legislation.”
The bill gives law enforcement officials, attorneys, judges and medical professionals updated resources to help balance prevention and punishment. By streamlining and standardizing records it ensures key decision-makers have the most accurate information and that parties across the jurisdictions have access to an offender’s complete history. Additionally, under this legislation judges must evaluate whether domestic violence was a predicate or concurrent factor to certain crimes.
The bill abolishes the antiquated practice of allowing accord and satisfaction in domestic violence cases and establishes the below crimes:
- Domestic assault or domestic assault and battery near a court house;
- Domestic assault or domestic assault and battery with the intent to intimidate or prevent access to courts.
In an effort to consistently improve prevention efforts and find effective solutions to combat domestic violence the legislation establishes enhanced training programs and creates Domestic Fatality Review Teams to investigate domestic violence related fatalities. The state-level review teams will serve as a tool to establish best practices and help officials understand any shortcomings present in current protocol.
The bill also includes the following provisions:
- Delays the issuance of bail for offenders to provide the victim with time for safety planning and authorizes the revocation bail in certain cases;
- Establishes employment leave for victims of abuse;
- Increases victim confidentiality by prohibiting information regarding domestic violence complaints from being included in daily police logs which are public record;
- Establishes fees for domestic violence offenses which are deposited in the newly created Domestic Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance fund and requires a judge who waives the fee for an indigent defendant to impose 8 hours of community service;
- Broadens court authorization to issue limited custody and support orders;
- Requires law enforcement agencies to provide information on batterer’s intervention to defendants when serving them with a Chapter 209A restraining order.
The legislation also promotes innovative approaches such as multi-disciplinary high risk teams and a grants program to provide assistance to victims of domestic violence.