HOUSE BILL 2525 SIGNED INTO LAW: LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD FOR VICTIMS

On Tuesday, November 15, Governor Tom Wolf signed House Bill 2525 into law. This new legislation amends the Criminal History Record Information Act (CHRIA) and grants crime victims the ability to seek relevant criminal investigative information when they bring an action against a defendant in civil court. CHRIA often prevented crime victims from obtaining the information needed to seek fair compensation. The bipartisan-supported legislation was crafted to help crime victims seek damages within the Commonwealth’s civil justice system.
These types of civil actions are brought forth by crime victims as a result of the harms and trauma they experienced by the defendant. This bill will allow crime victims to access pertinent criminal investigative information about the defendant in order to pursue civil litigation.
Crime victims can seek compensation from a defendant for the damages they suffered as a result of the crime but are often prevented from obtaining certain investigative information from law enforcement.
Any information requested by the crime victim must be directly related to the civil action and must be necessary to the investigation or preparation of the civil matter.
However, there are exceptions prior to dissemination. It requires a criminal justice agency to deny the request or redact certain information, if: it endangers a person or public safety; adversely affects an investigation or ongoing prosecution; relates to law enforcement’s use of confidential informants or discloses investigative techniques and procedures.
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli was honored to advocate for HB2525.
Ziccarelli said, “A critical purpose of our office is to protect victims of crime. This bill provides a significant measure to help those victims of crime fight for justice and level the playing field with defendants who already have access to the criminal investigative information. I am elated House Bill 2525 was supported across the aisle and signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf. It was a pleasure to work collaboratively with state lawmakers, the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and the Pennsylvania Association for Justice.”