A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning state and local administration.

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Domestic Violence Lethality Assessments

This bill requires police officers to conduct a lethality assessment for people involved in domestic violence incidents and sends the results to local and state review teams.

What This Bill Does

• Requires police officers to administer a lethality assessment for anyone who reports domestic or family violence.
• Sends information from these assessments to local and statewide review groups that study fatal cases of domestic violence.
• Ensures that statements made during the safety check cannot be used against victims in court.
• Directs police to use all reasonable means, including administering a lethality assessment, to prevent further violence.

Who It Names or Affects

• Police officers who respond to calls about domestic or family violence.
• Victims of domestic and family violence.
• Local and statewide review teams that study fatal cases of domestic violence.

Terms To Know

lethality assessment

A safety check done by police to see if someone in a domestic or family violence situation is at risk of serious harm or death.

domestic violence fatality review team

A group that looks into cases where people die because of domestic violence and tries to learn how to prevent future deaths.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if a police officer fails to give the lethality assessment.
• It is unclear when this law will take effect since there is no effective date listed in the official summary.

Official Summary Text

A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning state and local administration.
Domestic violence investigations.

Current Bill Text

A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning state and local administration.

Domestic violence investigations.

Requires a law enforcement officer to administer a lethality assessment for domestic violence incidents. Requires data to be transmitted to a local domestic violence fatality review team and the statewide domestic violence fatality review committee. Provides that a law enforcement officer responding to the scene of an alleged crime involving domestic or family violence shall use all reasonable means to prevent further violence, including administering a lethality assessment. Provides that all statements communicated in a lethality assessment are not admissible as evidence against the victim in any judicial proceeding and not discoverable in any litigation. Provides that the statewide domestic violence fatality review committee shall collect and analyze data concerning domestic violence lethality assessments. Makes conforming changes.