HARTFORD – State Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex) today joined the state Senate to approve a bill that will expand the definition of domestic violence in state law to include the “coercive control” so often exhibited in domestic abuse situations that follows a pattern of threatening, humiliating, or intimidating acts that harm a person and deprive them of their freedom, autonomy and their human rights.
The bill also establishes a new legal aid program to provide legal representation for victims of domestic violence who file restraining orders, and it changes the standard for a hate crime to allow someone to be charged if their assault on a person’s race, religion, country of origin was motivated “in substantial part” by those characteristics, and was not simply the “sole” motivating factor for that assault, as current state law requires.
Senate Bill 1091, “AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, REVISING STATUTES CONCERNING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, CHILD CUSTODY, FAMILY RELATIONS MATTER FILINGS AND BIGOTRY OR BIAS CRIMES AND CREATING A PROGRAM TO PROVIDE LEGAL COUNSEL TO INDIGENTS IN RESTRAINING ORDER CASES,” passed the Senate today and then move on to a vote in the House of Representative.
“Domestic violence comes with horrific consequences, one of the most significant being that sometimes it’s not even recognized as domestic violence,” said Sen. Needleman. “Abusers often include control and possession in their actions against their victims. We need to reflect that intimidation and threatening are as damaging to victims as physical violence and take action accordingly so fewer victims will suffer. Additionally, this bill’s actions to provide legal aid to victims and to ensure hate crimes are taken as seriously as they must be will further strengthen our state’s laws and protect more people from others’ wrongdoing. I’m in full support and look forward to its passage by the House.”
SB 1091 is the result of months of work by Democrats to update Connecticut’s domestic violence laws to allow more favorable and fair treatment of victims seeking restraining orders, divorce, child custody, and other matters in family court. If passed by the House and signed into law by the governor, Connecticut would join at least 17 states that have already incorporated more than physical violence into the criteria necessary for issuing a restraining order.
SB 1091 creates a more efficient restraining order process, allowing victims to email marshals the forms needed to serve a restraining order on the alleged abuser. Currently, the forms must be physically delivered by the applicant to the courthouse. The bill also allows victims the option of testifying remotely in court proceedings — and not in presence of their alleged abuser — if they have a hearing for a restraining order, a protective order, or a standing criminal protective order.
The bill requires that a safe space be provided to victims of family violence in all court locations constructed after July 1, 2021; it allows the state Department of Social Services to expedite general assistance to victims of domestic violence by not factoring in the income of the alleged abuser when determining the amount of assistance available to them; it requires court officials to consider cash-only bonds when previous family violence court orders have been violated; and it establishes a process for tenants to change the locks on their apartments after obtaining a protective order or a restraining order.
The bill’s creation of a new, so-called “Civil Gideon” program will, through the Connecticut Bar Foundation, provide grants to non-profits to provide legal services in the five judicial districts with the highest number of applications for restraining orders: Fairfield (Bridgeport), Hartford, New Haven, Stamford-Norwalk and Waterbury.
In one study, victims of domestic violence with access to legal counsel reported substantially less revictimization. Another study found that domestic violence victims with legal counsel had higher employment rates and used less government programs, thereby saving the sponsoring state twice as much as the program’s cost.
Various aspects of the public policies included in SB 1091 have been supported by a broad range of state and national organizations, including: The Center for Family Justice; Child USA (National); CT Alliance to End Sexual Violence; CT Voices for Children; CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence; CT Legal Services; CT Women’s Education and Legal Fund; CWCSEO; Domestic Violence Crisis Center (lower Fairfield County); Greater Hartford Legal Aid; Legal Momentum, The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund; New Haven Legal Assistance Association; Prudence Crandall Center (New Britain and surrounding towns); Safe & Together Institute (Canton); Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury; Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund (National); and the YWCA of Greenwich.