SENATE AMENDED

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

INTRODUCED BY PARKER, HARPER, BISHOP, B. BOYLE, K. BOYLE, BRADFORD, BRENNAN, BRIGGS, R. BROWN, V. BROWN, BROWNLEE, CALTAGIRONE, CARROLL, CLYMER, D. COSTA, CREIGHTON, DAVIS, DAVIDSON, DePASQUALE, FLECK, FREEMAN, GINGRICH, GRELL, HARHART, HENNESSEY, HESS, HORNAMAN, JOSEPHS, KIRKLAND, KORTZ, KULA, LONGIETTI, MAHER, McGEEHAN, MICOZZIE, MIRABITO, MUNDY, MYERS, M. O'BRIEN, PAYTON, PICKETT, QUINN, REICHLEY, ROEBUCK, ROSS, SABATINA, SANTARSIERO, SHAPIRO, STURLA, VEREB, VULAKOVICH, WAGNER, WATSON, WHEATLEY, WILLIAMS, YOUNGBLOOD, PETRI, FARRY, RAPP, DERMODY, MURT AND DELOZIER, APRIL 1, 2011

SENATOR GREENLEAF, JUDICIARY, IN SENATE, AS AMENDED, MARCH 27, 2012   

AN ACT

Amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the

Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in depositions and

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witnesses, providing for expert testimony in certain criminal

proceedings.

The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:

(1)  Research indicates that victims of sex crimes behave

in many different ways, but because of the prevalence and

persistence of myths and misunderstandings regarding sex

crimes, jurors often perceive common victim behaviors as

counterintuitive and mistakenly believe that they are

compelling evidence of a victim's lack of credibility.

(2)  One of the misconceptions of jurors is that a sexual

assault victim would ordinarily be expected to make a prompt

complaint to law enforcement authorities. As such, jurors

often incorrectly draw an adverse inference against the

credibility of a sexual assault victim.

(3)  Jurors bring their biases into the jury room and the

process of jury selection often fails to reveal jurors'

mistaken beliefs about crimes of sexual violence and victim

responses to sex crimes.

(4)  To overcome these myths and misunderstandings

related to victim behavior, many courts have recognized that

expert testimony is necessary to provide jurors with the

proper context in which to evaluate a victim's behaviors.

(5)  Counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, victim

advocates, social workers and others who work with sexual

assault victims possess specialized knowledge about common

victim behaviors and victim responses to trauma and that

expertise is beyond the experience and knowledge of the

average juror.

(6)  Without an accurate context in which to evaluate

victim behaviors, it is common for jurors to fail to

recognize a victim's behavior as a common response to trauma.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Title 42 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated

Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:

§ 5920.  Expert testimony in certain criminal proceedings.

(a)  Scope.--This section applies to all of the following:

(1)  A criminal proceeding for an offense for which

registration is required under section 9795.1 (relating to

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registration) Subchapter H of Chapter 97 (relating to

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registration of sexual offenders).

(2)  A criminal proceeding for an offense under 18 

Pa.C.S. § 3122.1 (relating to statutory sexual assault).

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(b)  Rule.--In an action subject to this section, a witness

Pa.C.S. Chapter 31 (relating to sexual offenses).

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(b)  Qualifications and use of experts.--

(1)  In a criminal proceeding subject to this section, a

witness may be qualified by the court as an expert if the

witness has specialized knowledge beyond that possessed by

the average layperson based on the witness' witness's 

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knowledge, skill, experience, training or education that will

assist the trier of fact in understanding the dynamics of

sexual violence, victim responses to sexual violence and the

impact of sexual violence on victims during and after being

assaulted. If qualified as an expert, the

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(2)  If qualified as an expert, the witness may testify

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to facts and opinions regarding specific types of victim

response responses and victim behaviors. The witness'

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(3)  The witness's opinion regarding the credibility of

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any other witness, including the victim, shall not be

admissible.

(4)  A witness qualified by the court as an expert under

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this section may be called by the attorney for the

Commonwealth or the defendant to provide the expert

testimony.

Section 2.  The addition of 42 Pa.C.S. § 5920 shall apply to

actions initiated on or after the effective date of this

section.

Section 3.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.