Tagged: abuse

Sixteen new pieces of legislation are being introduced in the Pennsylvania State Senate this week in an effort to update and improve the state's child abuse laws.

The bills, sponsored by a bipartisan mix of 24 senators, come as a response to recommendations made by the Pennsylvania Task Force on Child Protection in its November 30th report.  

State Sen. Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) said the effort was born out of a 2011 Senate Aging and Youth Committee meeting where members were informed that current laws are vague, confusing and focus on perpetrators rather than victims.

On Friday, March 8, in observance of International Women’s Day, the Thomas Merton Center will screen The Invisible War, a documentary about abuse of women in the American military.

The Academy Award-nominated film addresses sexual assault against women in the armed forces. According to the military’s official statistics, 20 percent of women have experienced sexual assault. An estimated 80 percent of those cases go unreported.