Violence against Women in Kentucky by Carol E. Jordan

Author:Carol E. Jordan [Jordan, Carol E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Violence in Society, Women's Studies, Law, Family Law, General, History, Social History
ISBN: 9780813144948
Google: 9jnnAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2014-06-03T04:05:08+00:00

LEGISLATIVE REFORMS ADDRESSING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The 1980s may be best known for establishing Kentucky’s safety net for rape victims and battered women. In the first session of the decade, legislation passed allowing victims of domestic violence to petition the courts for civil protection, foreshadowing passage of the more comprehensive Kentucky Domestic Violence and Abuse Act later in the same decade. General Assemblies in the 1980s would also financially support the state’s domestic violence programs (called spouse abuse centers in that era) and rape crisis centers for the first time; when the initiation of funding for spouse abuse centers raised significant public controversy, the initiation of rape crisis center funding was accomplished by keeping it out of the public eye. The beginnings of specialized tools for law enforcement officers responding to domestic violence cases began in the 1980s with passage of a law allowing peace officers to make arrests in domestic violence cases without warrants under specified circumstances. Advocates would see mixed results in response to their push to amend the rape law, achieving changes in the definition of force contained in the sexual offense chapter but failing to eradicate extant barriers to criminal justice protections for victims of marital rape. State financial support for forensic rape examinations was accomplished in the decade, and communications between rape victims and counselors in rape crisis centers became privileged. The rights of crime victims also received significant attention from the General Assemblies of the 1980s (Legislative Research Commission, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988). Select laws passed during the decade with a direct impact on rape, domestic violence, stalking, and related crimes against women are described below.

Arrest Powers for Peace Officers in Domestic Violence Cases (1980)

The first legislative session of the new decade began with an effort to strengthen law enforcement’s response to domestic violence. Democrats Gerta Bendl (from the Thirty-Fourth District), Jim LeMaster (from the Seventy-Second District), and Alice “Dolly” McNutt (from the Third District) sponsored legislation to give peace officers the authority to make warrantless arrests in cases of domestic violence. Interestingly, as introduced, the bill would have amended the family offense chapter of the Penal Code (KRS Chapter 530) by establishing the crime of domestic abuse and then providing that a peace officer could make an arrest if the officer had probable cause to believe that an act of domestic abuse had occurred. The House Judiciary-Criminal Committee did not agree with that approach, however, and drastically remodeled the bill to amend the provisions of the warrantless arrest statute that was already included in KRS Chapter 431, with no new criminal offense established. The committee’s substitute and the final version of the bill as passed by the 1980 General Assembly provided that a peace officer could arrest a person without a warrant if the officer had reasonable grounds to believe that the person had caused physical injury to a spouse, parent, grandparent, child, or stepchild and if the officer had reasonable grounds to believe that the individual would present a danger to others if not arrested.

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