ALERT: New Voter Registration Address Confidentiality Law For Domestic Violence Survivors And Other Crimes, Passes In Ohio
On October 6, 2016, Governor John Kasich signed a new law that allows domestic violence victims, as well as victims of rape, sexual battery, menacing by stalking and human trafficking, to secure an Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) number, assigned to a P.O. Box at the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, to be used for all governmental records in Ohio. Ohio’s “Safe at Home” law allows victims to apply for a confidential address from the Secretary of State’s office, which will not be accessible to an abuser trying to track them down.
State Rep. Mike Duffey (R-Worthington), a primary sponsor of the legislation, said in a released statement, “In one case, a woman was tracked three times as she moved to avoid her abuser, but because her address wasn’t confidential, that abuser was able to find her and climb into her bedroom window at night carrying a gun. No person should have to choose between the right to vote and simply being safe at home”.
Emergency Protection To Victims of Domestic Violence
This law will permit victims the freedom to register to vote, register … Read More... “Domestic Violence Law Creates an Address Confidentiality Program for Victims”
Domestic violence is never an easy subject to talk about or, in my line of work, to defend. To be honest, there really is no run of the mill domestic violence case. Some domestic violence cases have no defense and I just work out the best possible deal for my client. For other domestic violence cases, after reading the police report and witness statements, I ask myself “how the hell did this person get charged with domestic violence?”
A couple weeks ago, my brother and I went back to our homeland of California to visit our parents and help them get ready for their move back to Ohio. Nothing too crazy, just packing and re-sodding the yard. And an occasional beer or two in the morning hours while we worked. Don’t judge. We were on “vacation” and that whole time change thing was happening. In any event, one morning we finished up our chores and were watching some television. While flipping through the channels we came across Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Not wanting to pass up a great slasher movie, we started to watch it. About fifteen minutes in it became more of a comedy than a slasher movie. But back in the 1980s that movie was crazy scary! Like most slasher movies it had all the elements of the main characters getting messed with by Freddy until the big finale where they have to take Freddy on. By now you have to be asking yourself what the hell does Freddy Krueger have to do … 
A recent study published by The Review of Economics and Statistics concludes that combat assignments increase the probability of intimate partner domestic violence and child abuse by active-duty military members. Resul Cesur of the University of Connecticut Finance Department and Joseph J. Sabia of San Diego State University Department of Economics, claim to have produced the first study to consider the effect of war service on domestic violence. While they admit that several studies exist which explore the effect of war and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on violent crime in general, they assert that none exist which focus specifically domestic violence. To access the complete study click 
As the month of October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I chose to update an Ohio Family Law Blog article I had posted six (6) years ago on October 25, 2008. Click