Connecticut advocates on Wednesday called on legislators to pass a bill to protect victims of domestic violence.
State data shows one in five women and one in seven men in Connecticut have suffered from domestic violence.
Senate Bill 5 would prohibit abusers from collecting alimony from their victims, expand the state's domestic violence offender electronic monitoring system and provide funding for victim services.
Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence Director of Legal Advocacy Rhonda Morra said victims sometimes agree to lower charges against their abuser to speed up the legal proceedings, just to end up back in court for alimony.
Morra said victims should be allowed to move on with their lives without returning to court with their abuser.
“If the offender was successful in their attempts and had actually killed the person, they would not be able to collect their life insurance, they would not be able to collect their pension benefits” Morra said. “Because they are unsuccessful in their attempts to assault or to kill somebody, shouldn't give them the right to collect alimony.”
The bill has 30 co-sponsors and is currently in the Judiciary Committee.
