A package of domestic violence bills will protect women in dating relationships.
The 24-bill package passed into law last month by Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus is aimed to help stop domestic violence and to protect survivors of domestic violence. The laws will go into effect April 1.
The package of bills was put together by the Michigan Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Task Force, chaired by Posthumus. The task force went through a series of hearings by survivors, victims’ family members and law enforcement agencies to put together recommendations on changes.
Holly Rosen, director of MSU Safe Place, a domestic violence shelter, said for many students in dating relationships, the law is very significant.
“Women that have been in dating relationships haven’t been offered the same protection as married women or a couple with a child in common,” she said. “Just adding the dating dynamic will really change the way law enforcement can respond.”
Rosen said the problem of domestic violence in dating relationships isn’t any higher at MSU than anywhere else, but it still happens, and now police may know how to handle it better.
“Sometimes with dating violence some police officers may not think to refer the victim to Safe Place,” she said. “In the eyes of the law, dating violence was not seen as domestic violence.”
Debi Cain, a task force member and executive director of the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, said protecting women in dating relationships is an important part of the measure.
“It’s not unusual for violence to start when (people) are teenagers or college-aged,” she said. “The law recognized that some special protections extend to dating relationships.”
The law also honors personal protection orders that are issued in other states.
“Battered women often flee,” Cain said. “If they flee to another state they will have protection there. If they flee to Michigan they will be protected here.”
The law also will beef up protection for victims and form fatality review teams. Those teams will look at the cases of women who have died as a result of domestic violence and look at mistakes done in the system, said Kristyn Sorensen Schabel, a spokeswomen for Posthumus.
“Domestic violence is a crime and does result in death,” she said. “The review team will look at maybe more that can be done to help women survive.”
Rosen said that while she does not know if the law will reduce the incident of domestic violence, she said it will hold the violent partner more accountable.
“It makes it safer for victims,” she said. “It also lets people know that if they are violent there will be legal consequences - that is really important.”
Cain said the minute the law goes into effect there will be a safeguard for battered women that wasn’t there before.
“There is significant protection for victims if we can stop violence and get the message to batterers,” Cain said. “The sooner they get that message the sooner things will stop.”
