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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 2, 2022 10:37 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Vincent J. Hughes and Sen. Jay Costa |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Allowing Electronic Monitoring of Defendants as an Option of Relief in Protection From Abuse (PFA) Orders |
| In the near future, we plan to reintroduce Senate Bill 638, which amends Title 23 to allow a judge to order an electronic monitoring device on a defendant in a protection from abuse (PFA) order. Domestic violence continues to plague our communities. According to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV), 109 victims died from domestic violence in 2020, 54% of whom were killed by a current or a former intimate partner. Domestic violence has an estimated lifetime economic burden of intimate partner violence in Pennsylvania of $156 billion according to data from PCADV. Nearly 39,000 new PFA cases were filed in Pennsylvania in 2021 according to data from the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts. This bill amends Title 23 to allow a judge to order a defendant to wear an electronic monitoring device if a defendant is found, by a judge, to present a substantial risk of violating a protection from abuse order. This would not be a mandatory requirement; it would be another option for relief a judge can order. Co-sponsors of this legislation last year included: Bartolotta, Boscola, Brewster, Cappelletti, Comitta, Fontana, Haywood, Kane, Muth, Phillips-Hill, Santarsiero, Stefano, Tartaglione, and K. Ward. We hope that you will join us in sponsoring this legislation. If you have any questions, please contact Michael Deery in Senator Hughes’ office at 717-787-7112 or at Michael.Deery@pasenate.com or Stephen Bruder in Senator Costa’s office at 717-787-7683 or at Stephen.Bruder@pasenate.com. |
Introduced as SB221