The provisions include enhanced penalties for repeat offenders and a GPS pilot program in Pasco and Pinellas counties.<\/p>\n
LUTZ, Fla. \u2014 Nine days until the grand opening, tranquility fills the Creations Med Aesthetics & Wellness Spa<\/a> in Lutz.<\/p>\n But for CEO Elizabeth Remis, her own story wasn’t always this peaceful.<\/p>\n “I felt trapped. I felt like there was not a solution to the situation that I was in,” Remis said.<\/p>\n Remis is among a number of domestic violence survivors who have had to overcome hardship. She believes a new bill<\/a> that was passed by Florida lawmakers this week can help protect other survivors and hold abusers accountable.<\/p>\n The bill enhances penalties for repeat domestic violence offenders and creates a pilot program in Pinellas and Pasco counties by allowing courts to order electronic monitoring for certain offenders on probation who pose a threat to victims.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two-year pilot program through the Department of Corrections in the Sixth Judicial Circuit, which covers Pinellas and Pasco counties. The GPS electronic monitoring for repeat offenders would create a 500-foot geofence around the victim’s home and workplace, and be monitored with an app, so the victim would know if the abuser is within 500 feet.<\/p>\n The bill also increases financial assistance for victims trying to escape abusive situations from $1,500 to $2,500.<\/p>\n The Spring of Tampa Bay CEO Mindy Murphy said the bill focuses on perpetrator accountability and sends a message that domestic violence crimes are to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n For instance, perpetrators who have a misdemeanor charge can have penalties enhanced to a felony if they repeat crimes.<\/p>\n “It’s about indicating to people loud and clear that when you commit these crimes, law enforcement and the courts are going to take them seriously,” Murphy said.<\/p>\n Murphy also notes the military protective order in place that may be taken into account in a civil court if the bill is signed into law.\u00a0<\/p>\n Survivors may also write if partners have used violence against a family pet or have threatened violence against the pet in their domestic violence petition. Murphy notes there has been a close correlation between the abuse of animals and family members.<\/p>\n “Being able to include that in a petition as a cause for a protective order is also a win for survivors,” Murphy said.<\/p>\n While the bill can act as a preventative measure, Murphy said more awareness is needed for people to understand how dangerous perpetrators can be and stresses that protecting survivors is a collective effort.<\/p>\n Remis said it took years to recover from addiction tied to a difficult past. With the help of others, she was able to overcome those challenges and now hopes to offer that same support to others.<\/p>\n She hopes her business can be a sacred and restorative space, especially for people going through difficult times.<\/p>\n “I want the survivor to think that what has happened to them or this experience is not their fault,” Remis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawmakers hope that if the pilot program gets the go-ahead and is signed into law, the data can be used to roll out a more comprehensive program statewide next legislative session.<\/p>\n If you are or someone you love is experiencing domestic violence, you can call the Florida Domestic Violence Hotline<\/a> at 1-800-500-1119 or The Spring of Tampa Bay<\/a> 813-247-7233.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The provisions include enhanced penalties for repeat offenders and a GPS pilot program in Pasco and Pinellas counties.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-190190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}