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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 5, 2019 02:01 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Michael H. Schlossberg |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Justice for Sexual Assault Victims |
| Sexual assault is a serious and widespread problem. As elected officials, we have an obligation to ensure the rights of those who are victims of sexual assault. We need to ensure the trauma a victim experiences is fully respected in all aspects. Very soon, I will introduce legislation to ensure all evidence of a sexual assault obtained by a health care facility—by request of the victim or with the victims consent—can be turned over to law enforcement anonymously. This would allow law enforcement to obtain evidence and ensure testing critical to capturing serial offenders, but would preserve the two year window for a victim to decide whether or not to file a report. Further, the victim may elect to receive notification of the results of the testing, but can elect not to be contacted for the purposes of investigation. Currently, Pennsylvania’s law does not allow for such actions. Instead, the victim is forced to either remain silent and deny testing or to relive the experiences and horrors to countless investigators. We all have a role to play in supporting survivors of sexual assault. I hope you will consider joining me in this effort. |
Introduced as HB1428