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How Domestic Violence Laws are Changing

Marit and Toomas Hinnosaar/flickr

Each year, thousands of Marylanders are abused by spouses or people they live with – in 2012, the most recent statistics we have, nearly 18,000 crimes of domestic violence were reported in the state.

No wonder the General Assembly considered about a dozen bills to deal with domestic violence, and approved about half of them to send to Gov. O’Malley for his signature
 
Yesterday, Sheilah Kast spoke about the legislation with Dorothy Lennig, an attorney and Director of the House of Ruth’s ‘Domestic Violence Legal Clinic.'  This morning Sheilah Kast spoke with Leigh Goodmark,  a visiting law professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. She's written a book called “A Troubled Marriage: Domestic Violence and the Legal System.” We get her perspective on how the legal system works and doesn’t work in domestic violence cases.
 

Dorothy Lennig is a registered lobbyist for the House of Ruth, a non-profit that works with battered women. House of Ruth supported some of these bills.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Jamyla Krempel is WYPR's digital content director and the executive producer of Wavelength: Baltimore's Public Radio Journey. She collaborates with reporters, program and podcast hosts to create content for WYPR’s online platforms.