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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20170&cosponId=22320
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House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: January 20, 2017 08:53 AM
From: Representative Tina M. Davis
To: All House members
Subject: Teen Dating Violence Education
 
In the near future, I plan to reintroduce legislation that will amend the Public School Code of 1949 to provide for teen dating violence education and peer support training. While Act 104 of 2010 provided for optional teen dating violence education in high school classrooms throughout this Commonwealth, my bill would go further by making such educational programs mandatory in our schools as a means of protecting the youth of our state. My bill would also extend teen dating violence education to middle school students.

According to the United States Department of Justice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Liz Claiborne, Inc., women ages 16 to 24 experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence. Teen girls face relationship violence three times more than adult women. In fact, one in five high school girls report being physically or sexually hurt by a dating partner, and one in three teens experience some kind of abuse in their romantic relationships. Shockingly, many teens think such behavior is normal, and the majority of parents of these teenagers are unaware of the abuse.

My legislation would require school districts to develop a specific dating violence policy that includes a statement of district-wide intolerance of dating violence. Further, my legislation requires the training of district faculty and administration in the basic principles of dating violence, as well as the warning signs of possible dating violence in teenagers. This legislation will also ensure that friends and peers receive training in how to appropriately respond if they witness acts of dating violence.

Please join me in helping to better educate our youth and protect them from dating violence.



Introduced as HB567