Committee reviews H.222 to let courts order completion of domestic-violence accountability programs

The Judiciary committee reviewed H.222, a bill that would add completion of a certified domestic-violence accountability program to the list of measures a court may include in a final relief-from-abuse order.

Michelle Childs of the Office of Legislative Council told the committee that the bill addresses civil protection orders, not emergency ex parte orders, and that “this bill is just talking about the civil orders of protection.” She summarized existing practice by noting the civil and criminal tracks can run separately and that final protection orders are issued on a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard.

The bill would add a new item to the statutory list of possible relief, permitting the court “to order the defendant to complete a domestic violence accountability program that’s approved by the Council on Domestic Violence,” Childs said. Witnesses from Vermont advocacy and program networks told the committee they support the change as a way to close a referral gap between the civil court process and the domestic-violence accountability programs (DVAPs) that currently take most participants from criminal…