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"With the legislative season in Connecticut underway, we thought it was timely for Ms. Mancuso to address our task force members and the public,” task force steering committee member Juri Garone said in an email.
Mancuso is a legal advocate for Connecticut’s Domestic Violence Crisis Center. She advises victims about their own rights and how to deal with the state’s court system. On Friday she will explain proposed changes to Connecticut’s laws for domestic violence and sexual assault cases.
Among the changes being proposed are laws that would make it easier to for family violence victims to obtain restraining orders, having restraining order laws include provisions for temporary child and spousal support, utility maintenance, and rent and mortgage payments, eliminating eligibility from the statutory diversionary program for repeat offenders and changes to the law that mandates HIV testing for sexual assault offenders at the victim’s request.
The economic benefits are particularly important, Mancuso said in a press release. Financial difficulties are among the main reasons why victims stay in abusive relationships. More than 37 states have similar financial offerings as part of restraining order laws, but Connecticut does not yet have any.
The Weston Domestic Violence Task Force’s monthly meeting will be Friday, April 5 starting at 9 a.m. at Weston Town Hall. The meeting is open to the public.
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