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May 30, 2007

Senate committee passes dating violence curriculum

PROVIDENCE -- Legislation requiring a dating violence curriculum in Rhode Island schools has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, the office of Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch said in a news release today.

The bill, S-0875, would require each school district to come up with and carry out a "zero tolerance" dating violence policy and establish guidelines and discipline procedures in response to any incidents that happened on school grounds.

The legislation is named the Lindsay Ann Burke Act, in memory of the 23-year-old North Kingstown woman who was murdered by Gerardo Martinez, her former boyfriend, in Warwick in September 2005.

Martinez is serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the homicide.

The bill's prime sponsor is Sen. Beatrice Lanzi, D-Cranston, and it is among bills the attorney general has pushed for.

Lynch said in the statement that he was pleased "with the momentum" the bill has gained and that he hopes "our state will soon have a new law crafted to prevent young people from being victimized by dating violence."

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:24 PM | Permalink

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