Measure targets abusive daters

A bill that would give abused girlfriends or boyfriends the same legal protections as abused husbands and wives advanced out of committee Tuesday.

HB10 would allow a person to get a protective order against someone he or she is dating, something that is currently not legally permitted, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake. Under existing law, protective orders are available only for somebody who is married, co-habitating or has a child with the accused abuser.

"This is domestic violence," Litvack said about abuse in a dating relationship. "The only difference is that they don't live together. . . . Everything that we've learned about domestic violence is true for dating violence."

The bill was passed unanimously by the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee. But law enforcement has concerns with the proposal.

The protections would apply to anyone 16 years and older, which could pose some problems for law enforcement, said Art Haney, a Weber County sheriff's lieutenant representing the Utah Sheriffs Association. For one, police do not send juveniles to detention for a misdemeanor, and because violating a protective order is a class B misdemeanor, the law may not provide any enforcement power to help victims.

Haney also had concerns about how a protective order could be enforced on a teenager who attends the same school as the victim. The order, which can be tailored to specific situations by a judge, could prevent someone from attending classes or extracurricular activities. And a teen may suffer serious consequences for inadvertently violating the order.

"The concern is that this will create a class of these minors who are haunted for the rest of their life" by a crime they didn't mean to commit, Haney said.

A protective order can be a valuable tool for somebody trying to escape an abusive relationship, since violating the order is a criminal offense, said Sarah Southerland, who left an abusive marriage 10 years ago. Now, she hopes that the same protections can be given to somebody in a dating relationship, before they find themselves in a more permanent relationship.

"I knew it wasn't a magic shield — he could still find me," she said. "But it meant that I had more legal protections, and for me it helped."

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E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com