Friday, December 27, 2002
New York anti-violence groups call for greater protection of abused victims
A story published today by the Democrat and Chronicle reports that New
York is the only state where domestic-violence laws don’t fully cover
unmarried couples living together -- and anti-violence groups hope to change
that in next year’s legislative session.
The groups plan to push for more protection for unmarried victims of abuse,
longer orders of protection barring accused abusers from contacting victims,
and a new requirement that judges take into account any history of violence
or threats when determining bail for accused abusers.
Gov. George Pataki proposed many of the changes in a bill this year, but it
did not advance in the Legislature.
"Battered women need the law to pass," said Charlotte Watson, executive
director of the state Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence.
"Victims would greatly benefit from it. It could potentially save their
lives."
Some of those proposals, though, have languished in the Legislature for
years.
Anti-violence groups said one of their main goals in the 2003 legislative
session would be to ensure that unmarried victims of abuse can go to Family
Court to get orders of protection.
"Every other state in the country has access to civil orders of protection
for live-in couples, except New York. Why is New York so far behind?" asked
Sherry Frohman, executive director of the Coalition Against Domestic
Violence.
Now, unmarried victims of abuse have to go to criminal court, where
standards of evidence are higher, and it’s more difficult to get orders of
protection. Also, some women don’t want their partners charged with crimes
-- they just want protection, Frohman said.
