When the Governor recently signed the Budget Repair Bill, Act 109, the bill included three key pieces of legislation aimed at increasing safety and protection for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The changes provide key reforms to Wisconsin’s stalking and domestic abuse restraining order laws.

Act 109 also creates a new provision that ensures privileged communication between domestic violence and/or sexual assault victims and advocates working in domestic violence/sexual assault programs.

The most significant changes occur in Wisconsin’s domestic abuse restraining order law. The new provisions create two new relationship categories for purposes of obtaining an order: dating relationships and caregiver relationships. Additionally, the new law will allow a legal guardian to apply for an injunction on behalf of an incompetent adult. The length of time for a temporary restraining order was expanded from seven to 14 days and the time for an injunction was expanded from two to four years. The changes also clarify several enforcement issues.

Although stalking occurs relatively frequently, it is rarely charged in Wisconsin. Law enforcement and prosecutors have long cited the difficulty of meeting the legal definition of stalking in our law. Act 109 broadens the definitions of stalking behaviors to include a wide array of behaviors that stalkers exhibit including:

• following;
• repeated phone calls;
• leaving objects at the victim’s residence or on/near other personal property;
• approaching friends, family, co-workers and/or neighbors to either gather or give information about the victim, and more.

The bill also recognizes the seriousness of stalking behaviors by making stalking a felony rather than a misdemeanor crime.

Finally, victims of domestic violence and sexual assault must know that communications that occur between them and their advocates will be held as confidential. Without any form of confidentiality, the safety of victims could be compromised and many of them could be at further risk of harm. Those that fund domestic violence and sexual assault programs have long understood the necessity of confidentiality of communications between victims and advocates, making it a requirement for programs in order to receive public funds.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin law did not protect the communications that victims have with victim service providers. Act 109 created an evidentiary privilege for communications between victims and their advocates, ensuring that records and communications will not be made public in any way without a court order. More than 30 other states have passed similar confidentiality laws.

Patti Seger is the policy development coordinator for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 608-255-0539.

This article first appeared in the September 2002 issue of the Wisconsin Women's Network's newsletter, The Stateswoman.