Assemblyman Mike Norris (R,I-Lockport) took action to stop domestic violence at the YWCA “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” awareness walk this weekend in Lockport by announcing his sponsorship of bipartisan legislation, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act – Brittany’s Law. Norris is also circulating a public petition, which can be found on his Assembly website.

“As your representative in the state Assembly and, more importantly, as your ally and neighbor, it pains me to know that crimes like domestic violence impact so many in our community. No one should feel unsafe in their home, particularly children,” said Norris at the event. “I am proud to join with the YWCA, survivors and so many constituents who are working to raise awareness and to say together that domestic violence is a crime we do not accept as a community and we will work together to prevent.”

Norris is asking the public to help advance the bipartisan legislation to create a public online database of convicted violent felons so that both law enforcement and the public would have a valuable tool to better protect themselves. A 30-state recidivism study from the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that more than 50 percent of convicted criminals were rearrested within the first year of release and two-thirds had been arrested again within three years of release. Within five years of release that statistic jumps to a 76.6 percent recidivism rate. Furthermore, the bureau reports that 15 percent of all those incarcerated for violent crimes were for crimes committed against a member of the convict’s own family – accounting for 3.5 million incidents of violent crime.

Domestic violence is a crime that disproportionally impacts women and children, with the state of New York reporting that 80 percent of the 97,038 domestic violence assaults reported to police agencies (outside of New York City) in 2015 were crimes committed against women and children. More national data from the bureau found that 58 percent of family murder victims are female and 23 percent are children under the age of 13.

The brutal murder of 12-year old Brittany Passalacqua sadly puts a face on these statistics and is the New Yorker for whom the Domestic Violence Prevention Act – Brittany’s Law is named. Both Brittany and her mother, Helen Buchel, were savagely murdered by her mother’s boyfriend – a man who was a convicted violent felon. Helen was not aware that he had been previously convicted of assaulting his own infant daughter just a few years earlier; had she known, perhaps both Helen and Brittany would still be alive today.

Norris said, “Brittany’s Law would give all New Yorkers a life-saving tool so you can check to see if someone poses a life-threatening risk to you or your loved ones before you invite them into your life.”