Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Camp Hill, is pictured during a March House of Representatives hearing.

A state lawmaker wants to increase penalties for those found violating Protection from Abuse orders.

House Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Camp Hill, is circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation she is drafting that will specify the grading for a Protection From Abuse order and increase its grading if the defendant has been found in contempt previously.

Delozier said in the last 10 years, more than 1,500 people have died from domestic violence-related incidents in Pennsylvania. In 2023 alone, 119 victims lost their lives to domestic violence in Pennsylvania.

In 2023 there were 41,736 PFAs filed in Pennsylvania. That was a 3% increase from the year before and over 7,000 more than in 2020.

Violating a PFA can lead to a person being held in indirect criminal contempt, which can result in a fine from $300 to $1,000 and/or imprisonment up to six months or supervised probation up to six months.

“However, there is no enhanced penalty or grading if the defendant continues to ignore the courts and violate the PFA repeatedly,” Delozier wrote in her co-sponsorship memorandum. “My bill will remedy this by increasing the penalties for individuals who repeatedly violate PFA orders and continue to torment their victims. These individuals pose the greatest risk to their victims, and we must ensure that judges are equipped with the sentencing discretion necessary to hold them properly accountable. It is imperative that we stand with victims of domestic violence and do whatever we can to help keep them safe and make the PFA more than just a piece of paper but a form of actual protection for victims of abuse.”

In 2018, legislation sponsored by Delozier was signed into law requiring courts to have complete records regarding whether a child subject to a Protection from Abuse proceeding has been abused or is the subject of a child abuse investigation. Act 92 of 2018 requires a plaintiff in a PFA case to notify the courts if he or she has knowledge of a substantiated child abuse investigation so that the courts will know that a PFA order issued may have a legal impact on the defendant in the realm of child abuse.