Thursday, 11 March 2010

Senate Fixes Amanda's Bill

Early on I opposed Amanda's bill because it would have allowed the government to legally track a citizen who hasn't committed a crime. The original bill would force anyone subjected to a domestic violence order to undergo electronic surveillance by the government. I understand the need to protect victims of domestic abuse, but snatching freedom away from law abiding citizens is not the answer. The senate today fixed the obvious flaw in the bill.

A Senate panel made significant changes to a bill Thursday that would allow judges to order electronic tracking devices to protect some victims in domestic violence cases.
One of the changes made by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which gave unanimous approval to the amended version of House Bill 1, known as “Amanda’s Bill,” would only allow electronic monitoring after a domestic violence order is violated.

These changes makes sense to me. If you violate a court order, you are no longer a law abiding citizen and thus could be subjected to electronic surveillance. The amendment to the bill helps to protect legitimate victims while shielding law abiding citizens from an atrocious abridgment of their freedoms.