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The legislative House Bill 882(HB) sponsored by Representative Sharon Beasley-Teague

(among others) in the 2014 legislation session, is a bill aimed at the State Board of Education.
The bill seeks to incorporate the Love is Not Abuse Curriculum into rape prevention and
personal safety education programs to aid in the prevention of teen dating violence. There was
the traditional first and second reading of HB882 but it did not make it out of the education
committee with the favorable report necessary for HB882 to make it to crossover day on the
house floor. If HB882 made it to the house floor the bill would have received its third reading
once it was called from the rules committees calendar. On the house floor the sponsor of a bill
would have further debated, answered questions, addressed amendments and concerns then
requested favorable votes from their colleagues. If the bill was approved by a majority of the
house chamber members then the bill would have went to the senate chamber to be voted on. If
the bill was approved by the majority of senate chamber members it would become law in state
of Georgia if the Governor signs the bill or does nothing. If the governor desired to veto a bill the
requirements specify that two-thirds of the members, from both the house and senate chambers
have to vote in favor of the veto.
Teen dating violence is a growing epidemic that affects1 out 4 women and often leads to
tragic and fatal outcomes that stemmed from repetitious or final acts of violence. Relational
violence has been defined as a pattern of coercive and manipulative behavior that one person
exerts over their partner to establish and maintain power and control. (Powers, 2012) According
to the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence (GCADV) men have been reported as
victims of domestic violence, however 97% of the reported domestic violence survivors were
women. Out of an examination of 3,032 homicide incidents in 2010 39% of the deaths were
committed by an intimate partner (Catalano, S. 1993-2010). In 2009 Georgia was rated the 10th
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highest state in the nation, for the rate at which men kill women and reported 130 domestic
violence related deaths in 2010. (GCADV 2012).
There are many studies that are correlating early family violence with the perpetuation of
cycles of violence to be manifested in future relationships and throughout generations of
families. Early family violence contains parental intimate partner violence, parental violence
toward their children, or a combination of both. (Jouriles 2012) Studies have found that 21
percent of all girls and at 3- 10 percent of boys are sexually victimized by the age of 17 (Graff,
2012). Rape has been established as a link to mental health disorders, such as posttraumatic
stress disorder, major depressive episodes and substance abuse (Zinzo et al, 2012).
Youth dating violence sometimes begins with seemingly playful hitting and grabbing that
eventually escalates to more serious acts of violence. Youth who partake in premature dating at
earlier ages (12- 16 yrs old) often face victimization due to limited experience, lack of resources
unclear partner expectations and boundaries is coupled with low self esteem or a history of
abuse. Youth may face severe confusion when attempting to distinguish or define the difference
between violent relationships in contrast to normative relationships (as defined by societal
ideology). These distorted definitions can become the leading contributing factors to an inability
to distinguish between abuse and love. (Martin 2012)
Despite the difficulties involved in creating and implementing interventions,
professionals agree that developing prevention strategies for high-risk groups intended to target
both boys and girls is necessary and should be strategically administered at key times in
adolescent development in an attempt to stop the persistence of violence across generations.
(Tharp 2012). It has been said that since 2007, eleven states have passed laws mandating schools
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to teach teens about partner abuse or draw greater attention to the problem and that more than
11,000 schools and agencies have requested the free Love Is Not Abuse curriculum in the past
five years (Elias, 2012).
The GCADV provides legislative advocacy that is intended to inform Georgia legislators
of the severity of issues pertaining to domestic violence and they also contract with lobbyist who
advocate with legislators for or against specific legislation that can positively or negatively
impact victims of domestic violence. Every year GCADV campaigns with Stop Violence
Against Women Day at the Georgia Capitol. The senate bill passed in 2003 SB346 states, The
State Board of Education is required to develop rape prevention and personal safety education
program and a program for preventing teen dating violence for grades 8 through 12. Local boards
may implement such programs at any time and for any grade level local boards find appropriate,
and the state board shall encourage the implementation of such programs. In addition, the state
board shall make information regarding such programs available to the Board of Regents of the
University System of Georgia.
My personal district legislators are representative LaDawn Jones and Senator Vincent
Fort. I have learned that both legislators are passionate about education and the youth when I
examined some of the bills they have chosen to sponsor and co-sponsor. For example
Representative Ladawn Jones is co-sponsoring a child testimony bill that will allow a child
defendant to testify in a separate room away from an alleged child-abuser. Senator Fort
sponsored SB89 which requires every public and private school and every early care and
education program to have carbon monoxide detectors and warning equipment and co-sponsored
HR626 Supporting the strengthening of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. While meeting
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with Senator Fort he confirmed an allegiance to HB882 and stated that he would defiantly vote
for the bill if or when it makes it to the senate floor.
HB882 could benefit from advocates that are against domestic violence who can provide
supportive insight to legislative committee members as well as house and senate representatives.
Such professional insight can help state representatives understand key elements of a particular
problem in addition to viable solutions. The creators of loveisrespect.org promote youth and
parents to take political action on their webpage with downloadable letter templates to send to
elected officials and links to legislator web pages. This organization also encourages youth to
speak out by creating descriptive posters to place in permissible areas, create public service
announcements through YouTube for social media awareness and write stories or blogs on the
issue of domestic violence. There is sure to be powerful advocates associated with this
organization who could add beneficial perspectives to legislative debates.
The youth of our nation face an overwhelming amount of abuse in a multitude of forms.
Physical, mental, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse in addition to varying forms of neglect are
reported at astronomical rates on a daily basis. According to the National Crime Victimization
Survey in 2012, the violent victimization rate among persons age 12 or older was 26.1 per 1,000
persons (Data Collection, 2012 ).Cycles of violence have been proven to occur over
generations due to assimilation and enculturation that occurs during early developmental stages
of life. Therefore, I support education based awareness that leads to the empowerment of youth.
The formal education system is often the only source of learning that can combat negative
familial life lessons by presenting alternative perspectives on values. The formal education
system shapes the ideals and direction of many youth. It is imperative to utilize the influence and
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time constraint the education system has over youth empowering them promote healthy
purposeful lifestyles instead of placing a limitation at basic reading, writing and math.
















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References
Catalano, S. (1993-2010) Intimate Partner Violence: Attributes of Victimization, Bureau of
Justice Statistics: FBI, Supplementary Homicide Reports. Retrieved from
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ipvav9311.pdf
Data Collection: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). (2012) Bureau of Justice
Statistics Web site. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=245
#Documentation
Elias, M. (2012). Possession Obsession. Education Digest, 77(8), 42-44.
Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence retrieved from http://gcadv.org/about-gcadv/
Georgia General Assembly retrieved from http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-
US/display/20132014/SB/89
Graff, E. J. (2012). The News on Abuse. Newsweek, 160(1/2), 12-14.
Johnson, J. D., Adams, M. S., Ashburn, L., & Reed, W. (1995). Differential gender effects of
exposure to rap music on African American adolescents' acceptance of teen dating
violence. Sex Roles, 33(7-8), 597-605.
Jouriles, E., McDonald, R., Mueller, V., & Grych, J. (2012). Youth Experiences of Family
Violence and Teen Dating Violence Perpetration: Cognitive and Emotional Mediators.
Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review, 15(1), 58-68. doi:10.1007/s10567-011-
0102-7
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Love Is Respect retrieved from http://www.loveisrespect.org/take-action/take-action
Martin, C., Houston, A., Mmari, K., & Decker, M. (2012). Urban Teens and Young Adults
Describe Drama, Disrespect, Dating Violence and Help-Seeking Preferences. Maternal &
Child Health Journal, 6(5), 957-966. doi:10.1007/s10995-011-0819-4
National Conference of State Legislatures retrieved http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/teen-
dating-violence.aspx
Powers, J., & Kerman, E. (2006). Teen Dating Violence. ACT for Youth Upstate Center of
Excellence Research Facts and Findings.
Strack, F., & Deutsch, R. (2004). Reflective and impulsive determinants of social behavior.
Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8220247doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0803_1.
Tharp, A. (2012). Dating matters: the next generation of teen dating violence prevention.
Prevention Science: The Official Journal of The Society For Prevention Research, 13(4),
398-401. doi:10.1007/s11121-012-0307-0
Zinzow, H., Resnick, H., McCauley, J., Amstadter, A., Ruggiero, K., & Kilpatrick, D. (2012).
Prevalence and risk of psychiatric disorders as a function of variant rape histories: results
from a national survey of women. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47(6),
893-902. doi:10.1007/s00127-011-0397-1