House lawmakers look to close confidentiality gap for victims of domestic abuse

Anyone who watches TV crime dramas and legal procedurals knows about attorney-client privilege: Defendants can spill their guts to their lawyer without fearing that information will be heard in the courtroom.

Minnesota has similar privileged information laws that, for example, protect doctors from being compelled to divulge sensitive information on patients.

However, information a domestic abuse victim divulges to a domestic abuse advocate can be heard in court if a judge allows it.

That aspect of the statute is “potentially chilling,” said Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL-Shoreview), and can often prevent domestic abuse victims from seeking help from victim advocacy groups.

To that end, Moller sponsors HF1083, which would prohibit courtroom disclosure of such information unless a victim consents to it.

The House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee approved the bill Tuesday and sent it to the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee.

“Because those communications are so important, we want to make sure that people are able to say what they need to say to get the services they need,” Moller said.

Domestic assault advocates are typically social workers connecting with victims in the immediate aftermath of a crime to help them find emergency shelter and other crisis support.

There’s an unnecessary distinction in state law that gives more confidentiality rights to sexual assault victims than domestic assault victims, said Rep. Marion Rarick (R-Maple Lake). She has sponsored similar legislation in past sessions and co-presented the bill with Moller Tuesday.

Because there is often a lot of overlap between sexual assault and domestic assault, this bill would sort out the difficulties victim advocates can have determining what kind of information they receive has what level of confidentiality, she said.

“This is a really important bill for fairness and clarity,” Rarick said.

Rana Alexander, a domestic assault advocate, said victims deserve to have the same protected conversations with domestic abuse advocates that they can have with a sexual assault counselor.

Alexander has heard many domestic violence victims say they are afraid to report their abuse or seek help for fear of losing their anonymity and privacy.

“Victims often express feeling re-victimized by the system when their records from a domestic violence program are sought,” she said.