“No one should live in fear every day.”

During this year’s legislative session, a survivor gave her testimony in support of HB 38, introduced by Representative James Tipton. 
 
She received a standing ovation from the Senate floor. Read more about her story here.

The legislation, passed with bipartisan support and signed into law in March, responds to repeated violations of protective orders. A third violation may now be charged as a felony. 

In an interview with WKYT our executive director Darlene said –

“Survivors are told and informed that violations are serious, and I do believe our system tries to take those seriously, but I find that they’re often disappointed to realize that everything is a misdemeanor. 

Every violation to a survivor says that that party is willing to walk through that protective order and not listen to it because they don’t believe there will be serious repercussions. 

We do have criminal law that has three fourth-degree assault convictions that get boosted, but in domestic violence, a lot of times, it’s not an assault, so the legislature really looking at the cumulative type of ongoing violating behavior, I think, speaks volumes to survivors.”