[music] Welcome to PA Centered, a podcast designed to help listeners be a part of the solution to end sexual harassment, abuse and assault. Each episode, we will take on a topic or current event to help spark conversation and break down barriers to building communities free from sexual violence. [music] Hi, everyone. I'm Jackie Strohm, the Prevention and Resource Coordinator at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. I'll be your host today, as we're joined by staff attorneys, Andrea Levy and Jay Stark to talk about Sexual Violence Protection Orders. Welcome to both of you. Thank you, it's good to be here. Thanks, Jackie. Could we start by having you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background? Andrea, maybe you could start. Sure, I am a staff attorney currently at PCAR and I work within the Sexual Violence Legal Assistance Project, and I've been there for approximately, well, we'll be coming up on two years. The project that we are working under is going to be, I think it just turned two years old. Prior to that, I was a legal services lawyer and did a wide variety of work for indigent clients, including domestic violence and sexual assault. I also have worked as a Policy Analyst at Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence prior to joining PCAR. Thank you. Jay, could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Sure, be glad to. I also am a staff attorney at PCAR, working, as well, at the Sexual Violence Legal Assistance Project. And I've been working, like Andrea said, it's been about two years since we started our project. And prior to that, I worked at the Attorney General's Office for most of my career in civil litigation, throughout the state of Pennsylvania. It's great to be working for this non-profit, PCAR, which does such good work I think, and we're glad to be able to help whenever we can. Awesome, so you both shared that you work at PCAR's Sexual Violence Legal Assistance Project, and for those that are listening that don't know too much about it, could you give us an overview of the work that you're doing? At PCAR's Sexual Violence Legal Assistance Project, basically, provide free, holistic legal advice and counsel and also short-term representation to victims of rape and sexual assault. The project is designed to fill existing gaps where local or community legal services are unavailable, and gives priority, I should say, to victims of non-intimate partner sexual assault. That's what we do. Yeah, and this is, as Jay said, it's a statewide legal services project. So, we have worked in various counties across the Commonwealth as needed, to fill in the gaps where free legal assistance is not available. Typically, a lot of our work we have found in the last two years has occurred in more rural counties, and we've traveled to represent clients in court proceedings wherever they have that need in the Commonwealth. And just to give you some examples of some of the work that we've done, and I'm not limiting it to what I can think of off the top of my head that we've done, but some of the things we have done is Sexual Violence Protection Orders, we've represented clients in campus sexual assault cases, or Title IX. We have represented individuals in employment matters, criminal justice advocacy, housing issues, sexual harassment issues, and there's also maybe like a catch-all, just general legal advocacy. So if the person is a survivor of sexual assault, sexual abuse or sexual harassment and they have a legal need, we do the best under the terms of our grant to provide them some advice and/or assistance. Very cool. It sounds like you all are doing awesome work and like you said, filling in those gaps where they're needed. So today, we're here to talk about Sexual Violence Protection Orders. Could you tell us what that is and how it differs from a regular PFA or Protection From Abuse Order? Sure. The Sexual Violence Protection Act went into effect in July of 2015, and it was closely modeled on the Protection From Abuse Act, except for two points. One is that there are no relationship requirements between the plaintiff and the defendant, and the second difference is, under the Sexual Violence Protection Act there are no firearms relinquishment provisions. So in other words, if a victim of sexual violence is seeking an order of no contact and they do not have a family or household relationship, as that's defined in the statute, of course, with the defendant, then they would proceed under the Sexual Violence Protection Act to obtain an order of no contact. If the same person was a victim of sexual violence but the defendant or their perpetrator had a household or family relationship with them, they would proceed under the Protection From Abuse Act. So that's one of the main differences between the acts, and again, as I mentioned, the second really big difference is, for the court to order relinquishment of firearms, that can only happen under the legal authority set forth in the Protection From Abuse Act. It cannot happen in an action that occurs based on a Sexual Violence Protection Act. That makes sense. So Jay, could you tell us what is the benefit of having a lawyer at a final hearing. Sure, I'd be glad to. There are several benefits really. First, a lawyer can answer any legal questions a victim has and help her prepare for the final hearing. He or she can, of course, give legal advice to a victim before, during and after the hearing. If the abuser is contesting the entry of a final Sexual Violence Protection Order, then a full hearing will take place. This means that witnesses will be called, the victim will have to testify, and also be cross-examined by either the abuser or his counsel. In this situation, a lawyer will guide the victim through her testimony to the court. He will stand between the victim and the accuser and ask him questions on her behalf. A lawyer can also object to any questions or conduct by either the abuser or his counsel which violate a legal rule. It's important to remember that the burden is on the victim to prove her case by a preponderance of the evidence. So lawyers help with this by presenting and offering all relevant evidence to the court. We make sure that witnesses for the victim are present at the courthouse to testify and a lawyer can speak directly to the judge during the hearing and persuade him or her to rule in her favour. This takes the responsibility for doing all these things off of her. For these reasons, having a lawyer present at a final hearing is a good idea and it makes it more likely that the final protection order will be granted and the victim will get the result she wants. Could you give an example of a case where having an attorney made a difference? Yes, one case that comes to mind involved the Sexual Violence Protection statute itself. Interestingly, the law provides that a court can grant any appropriate relief sought by the plaintiff. So that's sort of like an open door, it's a very broad statement and it includes a possible award of money among other things. Using this part of the law, a lawyer can argue that a victim is entitled to compensation for expenses she has that are directly related to and caused by the sexual assault. This could be rent, moving or other expenses she has incurred. We had a hearing where the landlord was the abuser, and in that case, using the appropriate relief language in the law, we were able to void the rental contract the victim had with the abuser. That contract would have obligated her to pay several additional months of rent. We also were able to include in the protection order that she didn't have to pay the rent for the current month. So not only did the victim benefit from the protection order itself, the court also granted her monetary and contractual relief. I would just like to comment that the victim really benefited from having Jay as a lawyer because that is all Jay's ability as a zealous advocate on behalf of his client to get that type of relief. It is not typical, but it is something he accomplished for the client through just excellent representation. Thank you, Andrea. [chuckle] I mean, it is true. Jay is an amazing litigator. Well, it sounds like the clients that you represent are very lucky to have both of you doing this work. Andrea, could you tell us more about how you've worked with Rape Crisis Centers to represent survivors at hearings. Sure. Typically, the way we interact with Rape Crisis Center advocates is if we receive a referral. They might call and say, "Is this the type of legal work you would be able to do?" Without, of course, identifying a victim or giving specifics. And if we are able to provide the type of service that they're asking about, we would ask that they tell a potential client to call the Legal Assistance Project directly. When we receive the call, we of course do screening and gather more information and sort of take it from there. Additionally, besides maybe making some inquiries about potentially providing representation, we have interacted with advocates in that... So we go to a lot of rural counties, ones in which maybe we haven't had a lot of experience practicing in and it's really helpful if we happen to have a hearing in one of these rural counties to get some feedback from an advocate as to what are the local customs there, or how do the judges react to certain processes in the courthouse that might help us out. Sometimes they can help, the advocates can help us by providing documents, providing us information. Of course, that's if the client allows them to and wants that type of help. And oftentimes we meet the advocates. When we arrive at the courthouse, they're there to support the survivor, and it's always very helpful for us to have that contact to the extent that the survivor would like that to happen. So it's really very important, that relationship between the project and the advocates that are in these counties wherein there's a need for this free legal service. [pause] I would just add to that, that we are very much on the same page as the Rape Crisis Centers, and that we want to see that the legal needs of all victims of sexual violence are taken care of. And our goal is not to duplicate services, but to fill in any gaps in services that may exist. So we always try at least to have a close working relationship with the centers. I know that some of the centers have their own legal representation there, right? So do you work directly with them then? Yes, we can and we have in the past. Sometimes the lawyers that work at the centers do different kind of work, they don't necessarily do the exact kind of work that we do. They may do custody battles, they may be involved in other things that we don't concentrate on. But yes, we do have a relationship with them as well. That's great. And you said that oftentimes, you get referrals from Rape Crisis Centers, but do survivors ever reach out to the project on their own? They do, and sometimes those are also situations where we reach back out to advocates. Many times we have survivors call in, maybe they've seen the telephone number, your Legal Assistance project on the PCAR website, or maybe they've heard about it at a victim witness office and they will call directly in describing a legal problem that they need help with. We always try to make sure that that same survivor is aware of the local services at the Rape Crisis Center, whether it be safety planning or counseling that's available. So we always... If the client didn't come through for referral from the Rape Crisis Center, we are always referring that individual back to all of the services that the local Center has to provide. That's great. It sounds like you're really working to make sure that all the systems are being connected and getting the client all the different kind of advocacy services that they can use. Very much so. And you had mentioned that, of course there are centers across the Commonwealth who have their own lawyers or have access to maybe a local legal services program. However, we still can sometimes provide services, because as Jay mentioned, we might provide certain levels of services under our grant that the local lawyers are not able to provide for free. So just because a free lawyer exists locally for a victim of sexual assault, it's not necessarily true that that local counselor can provide assistance. And that may be when someone should think of our project, to fill that gap of the particular service required. Another example, when there are local counselors and I mean legal counselors available where we might be able to help is, if there's a conflict of interest. So if a survivor of sexual assault is seeking service, but for some reason, their perpetrator had already sought service there, it would present a conflict of interest. That could be referred to our program. That makes a lot of sense. It sounds like there are a lot of different reasons why someone could contact you all for your services, and I know we were here to talk a lot about Sexual Violence Protection Orders. So if someone did want a Sexual Violence Protection Order, how could they get in touch with you and what would be those steps to make that happen? So at our project, we typically receive telephone calls requesting service from potential clients. Our telephone numbers, just FYI is 717-901-6784. The client will call, we do a conflicts check, we then try to get an understanding of what service is needed. And if the client is seeking a Sexual Violence Protective Order, we would take the information and basically start the process at the local level, wherever that client is calling from. And the process to obtain a Sexual Violence Protective Order is substantially identical to obtaining a Protection From Abuse Order. The plaintiff files at no cost a petition for Sexual Violence Protective Order. Typically that is done locally at a Crime Victims Services office or sometimes at the Crisis Center itself. The petition goes to the Prothonotary's Office. Just as an aside, and if the victim is an adult, they filed a petition for their own Order. If the victim is a minor, there must be an adult to file the petition on their behalf. And then based on what the allegations are in the petition, the court holds what's called an ex parte hearing to determine whether or not a temporary order is granted. I can say in most cases, a temporary order is granted. And then just like in a PFA, a final hearing must be held within 10 business days from when the petition is filed. The Sheriff's Office or some other agency has the task of serving the defendant a copy of the petition and providing the defendant notice of when the hearing will occur. So that's scheduled relatively quickly and at the hearing, as Jay already mentioned, it's a full-on evidentiary hearing, we can issue subpoenas for witnesses, records, present the evidence. As Jay also mentioned, the burden is on the survivor. And what the survivor needs to be able to prove at the hearing would be, first they have to assert or claim that they're a victim of sexual violence committed by the defendant, and again, this is a defendant who is not a family or household member, and then the survivor would need to prove by preponderance of the evidence that they are at a continued risk of harm from the defendant. If they're successful, they are entitled to the relief outlined in the Sexual Violence Protection Act, and that relief is a no contact order, which can include preventing a defendant from entering the plaintiff's residence, their job, their school, and it can also prohibit indirect contact through third parties. And really, as Jay had mentioned, any other appropriate relief. So that's a big catch-all that the statute provides and with help of an attorney sometimes you can sort of argue innovative strategies to get relief that your client would need and if they're successful and the judge enters an order, it can last for up to three years. I would only add to what Andrea has said that when someone does call our hotline number, that any information they give us is confidential. So if someone has any privacy concerns, they should know that their privacy here will be respected. Right, and that's when a potential client calls, it's regardless if we can end up taking the case or not. Any communication is protected by attorney-client privilege whether or not we can end up providing service or not. And also, probably should mention it, this is a very important point too, that under the Sexual Violence Protection Act, not only is the civil remedy for victims of sexual assault provided which is an order of no contact and maybe the catch-all we were talking about, but also the act provides certain legal protections to the victim throughout that process. One of the protections is having their address and location kept confidential, so that address would not have to appear in the pleadings that are filed with the court. Also, sexual assault counselors or advocates will have complete privilege and confidentiality with their communications with the victim, and they're permitted to accompany the victim to court as it relates to obtaining a Sexual Violence Protective Order. And another part of the statute that's interesting is that it states that the address of a Rape Crisis Center shall always remain confidential throughout that process. I'm really glad that all of this takes into account survivor's confidentiality because we know it can be really hard to reach out and get help, so I think that that is an even added bonus of all of the work that you do. Another point is it does give a survivor some level of personal choice. It is up to a survivor to pursue this civil remedy or not, that is their choice, they are empowered to choose to do that or not, whereas criminal charges that may relate to the same act of sexual assault are typically decided by the District Attorney. So in that case, where a plaintiff can talk or report that the crime was committed, they do not have the ability to make the decision about whether or not criminal charges are actually filed. However, with this civil remedy it is within their choice to pursue it if they want. So I think that can also be helpful to the healing process to have that ability that rests solely with them to make that choice. Absolutely, empowerment and choices is so important in a survivor's journey to find healing, so that's great. I wanna say, Jay and Andrea, thank you so much for joining us to talk about Sexual Violence Protection Orders today. That's about all the time we have, but I wanna thank everyone for listening to this episode of PA Centered and to find more resources about the Legal Assistance Project, you can visit pcar.org or call 717-901-6784. Thanks so much Jay and Andrea. Thank you. Thanks, Jackie. [music] If you or a loved one needs help, a local Sexual Assault Center is available 24/7. Call 1888-772-7227 for more information or find your local Center online at pcar.org. Together, we can end sexual violence. Any views or opinions expressed on PA Centered by staff or their guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of PCAR or PCAR's funders.