Bill Text: VA HB1492 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Trauma-informed training and education; work group to study.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-01 - Continued to 2025 in Rules by voice vote [HB1492 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB1492-Introduced.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. §1. That the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia shall convene a work group of relevant stakeholders to make recommendations on the development, adoption, and implementation of trauma-informed training and education for judges, magistrates, and court personnel and to determine the frequency of delivery of such training.
The work group shall include (i) the Executive Secretary or a designee; (ii) pertinent staff of the Office of the Executive Secretary; (iii) at least one judge from the juvenile and domestic relations district courts, general district courts, circuit courts, Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Virginia; (iv) a representative of the Office of the Chief Magistrate; (v) a representative from the Office of the Attorney General; (vi) a member of the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance; (vii) a member of the Virginia Victim Assistance Network; (viii) a representative from the Victim Witness Assistance Program; (ix) a member of the Virginia Poverty Law Center; (x) a member of the Virginia Access to Justice Commission; (xi) a representative from legal aid services; (xii) a representative from the Department of Social Services; (xiii) a plaintiff's attorney; (xiv) an attorney for the Commonwealth; and (xv) at least two victim-survivor stakeholder representatives.
The work group shall consider the frequency of required training delivery and the content to be provided for judicial training on trauma-informed practices in proceedings involving victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking, including content on (a) adult and child sexual abuse; (b) physical and emotional abuse of a family or household member; (c) implicit and explicit bias; (d) coercive control; (e) the impacts of domestic violence on children; (f) victim and perpetrator behaviors; (g) the neurobiology of trauma, the tenets of trauma-responsive services, an understanding of lethality, and the implications of such information within a judicial setting; (h) stereotypes and misconceptions that can undermine the judicial process; and (i) factual information that judges, magistrates, and court personnel need in order to minimize victim retraumatization without undermining the rights of defendants.
The work group shall submit a report with its recommendations to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees for Courts of Justice by December 1, 2024.
