Crime Committee Report e.indd - New York State Senate

S6987-A
Chapter 405 of the Laws of 2010
Schneiderman*/A A10161-A, LENTOL
Strangulation bill – discussed in previous chapter
S7141-A
Schneiderman*/No same as
Senate passed 6/16/10
Would strengthen the current crime of witness tampering to better address attempts to
induce or coerce a domestic violence survivor into not seeking an order of protection or not
testifying against her or his abuser.
S7856
Stavisky/ A11441, Meng
Senate passed 6/15/10
This bill would create the crime of persistent criminal contempt, which would create a remedy
for addressing those abusers who violate an order of protection again after having already
been found guilty of violating an order of protection.
Local and National Policy Initiatives
The Senator and members of the Task Force continued to work in partnership with community
groups, educators, corporate groups, clergy and youth programs to combat the alarming
increase in teen dating violence. They have collaborated with companies like Liz Claiborne,
Inc. to bring MADE: Moms and Dads for Education to Stop Teen Dating Abuse program to
schools in the community. This is part of the Love Is Not Abuse campaign to stop the violence
before it happens.
Members of the Task Force joined many others on December 3, 2009 on the radio for “IT’S
TIME TO TALK DAY” to focus national attention on domestic violence and teen dating abuse.
Future efforts of this effort include a special focus on digital abuse – sexting, texting and teen
dating abuse and control using cell phones as control objects - timely and important issues to
explore in 2010 and beyond.
Budget 2010
The economic meltdown will continue to have dire ramifications on the ability of domestic
violence providers to offer the critical services needed to help victims escape from their abusers,
stay safe, and obtain the counseling and support services they need for themselves and
their children.
Two proposed cuts in the Governor’s budget were particularly harsh; a cut of the entire
$609,000 amount funded for civil legal services for victims of domestic violence (funded by
the Senate for the first time in 2009) and $3 million TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families) dollars that was ‘zeroed out’ by the Executive. The TANF money is used to fund nonresidential
domestic violence services for the most underserved and hard to reach residents,
including domestic violence victims who do not speak English, the disabled, LGBT victims and
victims of sex trafficking.
Senator Hassell-Thompson had asked for these two programs to be restored.
Standing Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction | 2009-2010 Report 39