July 1, 2004 - Long-awaited Senate Bill 979, which allows videotape and closed circuit testimony for child victims and child witnesses, was signed by Governor Ed Rendell on July 15. With the stroke of the pen, children, often under serious emotional stress, will now be protected.
But this road has been traveled before. In 1986 the state legislature allowed videotaping testimony. By 1994 the state Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional, citing defendants’ rights to face accusers. In a referendum a year later and by a 2 to 1 margin, Pennsylvanians saw fit to protect our state’s children with an amendment. In a legal twist, the state Supreme Court struck it down again in 1999, ruling it should have been on the ballot as two questions rather than one.
In November 2003, Pennsylvanians once again overwhelmingly voted to approve two separate changes to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, thus offering young victims testimony options outside of face-to-face confrontation.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” commented PAAR Executive Director B.J. Horn. “For children, facing their abuser can be especially traumatic. We have to remember that adults are authority figures for youngsters. Children may not want to testify out of fear. Our primary concern has always been the welfare of children.”
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