Assemblymember Brindisi Supports Measures to Protect Victims of Domestic Violence

April 22, 2013

“We must do all we can to ensure the well being and security of victims of domestic violence,” Assemblymember Anthony J. Brindisi (D – Utica) said. “The measures we passed today would go a long way towards helping victims recover, heal and of course keep them safe from further harm.”

Assemblymember Brindisi voted for legislation to provide more assistance to, and increase protections for, victims of domestic violence. The Assembly’s legislative package would:

• prohibit employment discrimination against domestic violence victims (A.898);
• prohibit housing discrimination against victims of domestic violence by forbidding landlords and property sellers from denying an individual the right to purchase, rent, lease or inhabit housing (A.5387);
• require orders of protection issued in family court to be interpreted into the native language of the individuals involved (A.1084);
• expose individuals or parties who fail to obey or enforce an order of protection to joint liability for all non-economic damages sought by a claimant after a fact-finding by a judge or jury (A.899);
• require hospitals to establish policies and procedures regarding domestic violence, establish ongoing training programs on domestic violence for staff and designate a hospital staff member to coordinate services to victims (A.2562); and
• provide notice on orders of protection affirming that the protected party cannot be held to violate the order nor be arrested for violating the order (A.6547-A).

Each year, roughly 450,000 incidents of domestic violence are reported in the state,ⁱ and in 2011, New York State courts issued a total of 301,021 orders of protection, of which 218,872 were required to be recorded in the United Court System’s Domestic Violence Registry.ⁱⁱ One in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime and in the United States, it’s estimated that each day, three women are murdered by their intimate partner.ⁱⁱⁱ

“I hope the State Senate will join the Assembly in passing these measures into law,” Assemblyman Brindisi concluded.

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i. www.opdv.state.ny.us/help/fss/theproblem.html#facts

ii. www.opdv.state.ny.us/statistics/nydata/2011/nys2011data.pdf

iii. www.dvrc-or.org/domestic/violence/resources/C61/

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