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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2010 > January > 28 > Entry
Rep. Lehner introduces bill to combat domestic violence
Rep. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, today, Jan. 28, introduced legislation to combat domestic violence - to protect victims, punish abusers and prevent recurring violence.
The issue too often is discussed behind closed doors and “it’s time to bring out the issue into the sunshine,” Lehner said at a Statehouse press conference.
She teamed up with Rep. Marian Harris, D-Columbus, in a bipartisan effort.
University of Dayton graduate Jessica Bennett, 24, of Columbus was at the press conference and said she was in an abusive relationship for four years until just after entering college at 18. The physical scars heal but “it’s the mental and emotional ones” that stay, she said.
Lehner and Harris said they hope hearings will begin soon and would like to see the bill passed this year, although it could be difficult. Lehner said, however, it’s the kind of issue “people are afraid not to take up.”
The bill would:
*Require than an arrest be made when a protective order has been violated.
*Establish judicial review hearings for those convicted of domestic violence.
*Require a person convicted of domestic violence to enroll in a batterer intervention program certified by the court.
*Allow judges to impose a jail term of up to a year for first-time domestic violence offenders, up from six months.
*Create Domestic Violence Fatality Review Boards - Montgomery County already has one, said Lehner.
*Set up a tracking system to collect the number of civil and criminal protection orders issued in each county.
*Allow judges to extend the term of a protection order until the end of probation for a domestic violence offender.
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Comments
By Buy Ambien
April 5, 2010 8:08 AM | Link to this
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By Quentin
February 1, 2010 8:49 AM | Link to this
attorney, first we need to address the abuses of the system, secret trials with no defense allowed meaning you are guilty until proven innocent with many of your constitutional rights removed and also the official DOJ policy that states if too high a percentage of women are arrested as perpetrators of domestic violence, it is gender discrimination. They state that the level of evidence must be increased then and that retraining should be looked at to prevent gender discrimination against women being arrested for domestic violence. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/crime/intimate-partner-violence/practical-implications-research/ch3/gender.htm “If the ratio of male to female suspects and victims differs substantially from those found above, departments should be alert to potential gender bias in their response to domestic violence. Ongoing training and supervision can address overrepresentation of female versus male arrests.”
By attorney
February 1, 2010 5:02 AM | Link to this
Is there provision for an attorney when both parties go to hearing for restraint order? Expecting a victim to know how to represent themselves in court is ridiculous! Most battered women and men aren’t going to file that restraint order because they don’t have the means to hire an attorney! Let alone know beforehand if they cannot afford an attorney they are responsible to represent themselves in the intimidating court procedures. While I agree with aggressive DV laws, we need to adequately make sure both plaintiff and defendant is with legal aid or can appoint someone competent to help them with this procedure in restraint order.
By Quentin
January 31, 2010 2:42 PM | Link to this
EXACTLY Unjust!! When Children’s Protective Services threatened to jail me for attempting to report abuse telling me it was a “civil matter” while constantly investigating me on false allegations I tried the various law enforcement entities and was given the exact same treatment. They would simply tell me they wouldn’t investigate my complaints because yet again she would lie and claim I was tha abusive one. Since she was so “nice” they just decided to ignore me. I even have CPS tell me that if I waanted them to stop harassing me on the false claims I should “give her full custody and walk away like a good father.” Now I have been to jail since a teen does not want to be around her abuser after they finally couldn’t deny it any longer and had to grant me custody but for years refusing me access to my children or anything like the court ordered was excused no matter what. http://newsblaze.com/story/2009073110560200001.ew/topstory.html http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm
By unjust
January 31, 2010 8:34 AM | Link to this
A charge of DV means you can’t get a good job, most good companies won’t hire you. Then you fall behind on chid support because you can’t get a good paying job so you can still live and pay your child support. And when you fall behind on child support they take your drivers license even when you are trying. Then you can’t drive to get to work or pick-up your children for visitation. You can’t afford a good attorney and have to use coust appointed attorneys who usually just do the minimal things they have to do according to law. Then you are sent to jail for 30 days for falling behind or not paying child support because you can’t find a job.(Even if you have never been in jail before)The divorce process is about money and the destruction of families. It is our children who grow up without their fathers because they are driven into poverty and can’t afford to fight. This is legal DOMESTIC VIOLENCE against fathers and mothers who are non custodial parents who fight and after years of doing the right things as parents, give up and walk away or commit suicide because of not being able to have their children in their lives. State laws say equal parent rights,I don’t think so.
By UNJUST
January 31, 2010 7:34 AM | Link to this
The laws in this state are supposed to equal and not biased. They should protect everyone including the non- custodial parent and his children. A women can call the sherrifs department and claim anything and there will be an arrest. If a man calls the sheffifs department they will only say they cant do anything. Once a women is taught how to use the system by DV feminist groups who are recieving money from the state, they stop at nothing to hurt anyone they cannot control, it has now happened to my 15 yr old son who has never been in trouble in his life. We need better laws that arent biased and protect men and children, not just women
By Quentin
January 29, 2010 6:02 PM | Link to this
We need to get the issue out in the open from behind closed doors? What planet are they living on?!?!? Ads all over the place telling women to get help with their abusive men and a huge budget by the federal and state governments to support women. Now men who are abused are laughed at, blamed for the abuse, arrested for being a victim and find those tax payer supported resources are closed to them. THAT is what we need to get out in the open since 71% of domestic violence is by the woman! But it is better to ignore the majority of victims and ridicul them because we want more laws that feel right.
By jodie
January 29, 2010 2:23 AM | Link to this
before I judge someone, I give them a chance to do what they promise to do on DV.. But I feel a woman is just as guilty as a man when it comes to abuse, and they should get the same as a man. In a 4 year relationship of my sons he had more scares on him then when he rode his dirt bike! Why? She would con the devil and get by with it and win. I also feel she should had been put in jail after she admitted hitting him first but NO they let her even wash some of the blood off (she told me herself and to her parents)did not take the clothes to check for powder burns, the gun still being tested for finger prints and boom the cornor talk to his wife and boom my son shot himself? Did anyone talk to any of my sons family, friends or work place to see if he was down in the dumps NO. I, his wife and his family wrote a letter to the miami valley cornor but he never answered, we wrote 2 or 3 and still no answer, Why and how can he be the judge and jury over how my son or anyone dies just by what one person (maybe the guilty)tells him. I was told by our own police department that the case on Him was not investagated the right way and there were a lot of mistakes made and one was my doors were left unlocked the whole week almost while I was with my son at miami valley until his death January 31,2000.! Please reopen some of the cases like my sons, he loved his daughter of 5 months, in fact that is one of the main reasons she was so nervious she knew he was a better parent because she even told her mother that and her mother agreed that he was. Please I need help or tell me how to re-open his case and have certain legal people to do their job again only the right way! One question if a person is on coke will that screw up a truthful lie-detecter test. I mean so high that the other friend told me that her hand got caught in the window when she was flipping out her cig. the officer that she had her hand back in, but she just laughed. Now tell me is the law for the honest or the victim whether they are Male or Female. Lonely mother who wants closer I need the truth..
By Lea
January 28, 2010 2:03 PM | Link to this
Women can beat men… Children can hurt parents… Nothing happens. We cannot get help for the kids. Look at all the news reports lately about women stabbing boyfriends etc. Come on wake up America! It’s not just a guy issue.
By Abused In Kettering
January 28, 2010 1:49 PM | Link to this
Where was Ms. Lehner when my ex attacked me in Kettering? I was pregnant with his twins and he caused me to lose one. The babies were then only considered embryos. He was arrested, spent 4 days in jail and when we went to court the wonderful prosecutor dropped his charges down to a disorderly. 5 years probation was his sentence!!! In my own research I found out that he had beat his ex-wife and their 15-month old daughter and his previous 2 girlfriends before me. I was the only one to file a report. I got screwed and he’s out there hitting and hurting other women. What kind of justice is that? The emotional scars are there forever. Wish someone would lock him up for good.
By Abused In Kettering
January 28, 2010 1:48 PM | Link to this
Where was Ms. Lehner when my ex attacked me in Kettering? I was pregnant with his twins and he caused me to lose one. The babies were then only considered embryos. He was arrested, spent 4 days in jail and when we went to court the wonderful prosecutor dropped his charges down to a disorderly. 5 years probation was his sentence!!! In my own research I found out that he had beat his ex-wife and their 15-month old daughter and his previous 2 girlfriends before me. I was the only one to file a report. I got screwed and he’s out there hitting and hurting other women. What kind of justice is that? The emotional scars are there forever. Wish someone would lock him up for good.
By JD
January 28, 2010 1:21 PM | Link to this
Does this bill include parents hurting kids, kids hurting their parents, or kids hurting their siblings? I see a lot of dv charges of those types of incidents and most people never hear about them.
By Terry
January 28, 2010 1:06 PM | Link to this
These are women’s laws, if a woman get a burr up her butt in a relationship a man is guilty until he can prove his innocence. I thought we were innocent until proven guilty. Once you get the Domestic Court into your bedroom it never leaves…
By More $$
January 28, 2010 12:29 PM | Link to this
I agree with fortress. Make the punishment for any assault (abuse) the same and stop cluttering the lawbooks with all these specialized “feel good” laws. All this extra stuff costs lots of money to do tracking and etc. Lock them up and let time take of matters.
By It's Great in Dayton!
January 28, 2010 12:26 PM | Link to this
With the downturn of the domestic auto industry, I’m surprised that domestic violence can compete with imported violence.
By ed
January 28, 2010 12:22 PM | Link to this
Oh great. All the major problems in this state and they have to keep digging into this.
By More $$
January 28, 2010 12:17 PM | Link to this
I agree with fortress. Make the punishment for any assault (abuse) the same and stop cluttering the lawbooks with all these specialized “feel good” laws. All this extra stuff costs lots of money to do tracking and etc. Lock them up and let time take of matters.
By fortressdayton
January 28, 2010 11:34 AM | Link to this
Just make it a hate crime and up the punishment… assault is assault, abuse is abuse… We don’t need to keep breaking these offenses by sub-codifying them. Just enforce the laws. If I beat my disobedient wife because my religion says I should, am I exempt? That is coming too. Wait and see.