"Amanda's Law" in Kentucky was passed & signed in April, and went into effect July 15th.. Hailed especially by advocates and victims, it amended several portions of that state's domestic violence and abuse statutes, included the use of monitoring-related restrictions and sanctions in domestic violence cases.
The law contained provisions for "emergency protective orders to permit a court to restrain a respondent from going to or near specified locations" (and) to permit a petitioner in a domestic violence order case to inform the court of places the petitioner does not want the respondent to go into or near. It was suppose to create a new section of the Kentucky statutes "to require the court to assess a person's dangerousness, require that person to wear or carry a global monitoring system device and permit a petitioner to carry a device notifying the petitioner that the respondent is nearby…."
But even with its passage limitations were foreseen. Wave 3 News in Louisville prophetically reported two of them on July 15th. : "First, judges can only use it after a substantial violation of a domestic violence order, like an assault, stalking, kidnapping or harassment. Second, it's up to individual counties how to administer the GPS devices."
Yesterday morning the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that a key component hasn't been implemented. "A provision to place GPS tracking devices on people who have protective orders filed against them is an unfunded mandate that counties are struggling to find money to operate, according to some county officials and their lobbying arm in Frankfort."
One reason counties are not quickly adopting the GPS tracking provision is that the legislation is "vague" on who will pay for it, Denny Nunnelley, the executive director of Kentucky Association of Counties, a lobbying group based in Frankfort, told the Enquirer.
"One option allowed under the law is for counties to join forces and operate a regional GPS tracking system, said Linda Bramlage, the sole family court judge for Boone and Gallatin counties. … The problem is that system doesn't meet the new law's specifications. The law requires that the GPS tracker not only record one's movements, but also directly alert the person who requested the protective order if the person being monitored gets within 500 feet. 'Nobody has any money,' she said, 'but we are going to have to figure out how to do it.'"
2 comments:
The offender should have to pay for the monitoring device as long as they are using it! Why should my tax dollars and the victims be paying for it??
MS
I like this idea. It makes much more sense than having people who solicit prostitutes have to register as a sex offender. Really who thinks of these things?
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