Karen’s Law is a Pennsylvania statute that allows the state parole board to wait up to three years between parole hearings for sexually violent offenders, instead of holding a hearing every year. Governor Tom Wolf signed it on November 25, 2020 as Act 124 of 2020, amending Title 61 (Prisons and Parole) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. HB 1538 The point of the change is to spare survivors from being pulled back into the parole process year after year when the same inmate keeps reapplying.
What the Law Changes About Parole Hearings
Before Karen’s Law, inmates convicted of sexually violent crimes in Pennsylvania could apply for parole every year once they finished their minimum sentence, no matter how many times the parole board had already denied them.2CBS 21 News. Karen’s Law to Help Victims of Sexual Assault The board was required to run those hearings annually, and survivors who wanted their voices heard had to submit testimony on that same yearly cycle.
Karen’s Law gives the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole discretion to extend the gap between hearings to as long as three years for qualifying inmates.3Pennsylvania Senate. Sabatina: Karen’s Law Passed House by a Vote of 168-33 A few things it does not do are worth being clear about. It does not abolish parole review. It does not lengthen any sentence a court imposed. And the three-year interval is a ceiling the board may use, not an automatic rule applied to every eligible case.
Who the Law Applies To
The extended interval is not available for every inmate the parole board sees. It reaches two groups:
- Inmates who have been formally designated as Sexually Violent Predators under Pennsylvania law.
- Inmates serving sentences for specific violent or sexual offenses listed in the statute.
Anyone outside those categories remains on the ordinary parole review schedule.
The Survivor Behind the Law
The law is named for Karen Widdoss-Milewski. In 1994, when she was 16, she was raped and nearly killed by an ex-boyfriend who strangled her until she lost consciousness.2CBS 21 News. Karen’s Law to Help Victims of Sexual Assault He was convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 15 years. Once he became parole-eligible around 2009, he applied every year, and the board denied him each time.
Widdoss-Milewski described the annual hearings as “constant torment,” because each one required her to revisit the attack in detail.4ABC 27. Karen’s Law Would Reform Parole of Sexually Violent Predators In 2017 she took her experience to her state senator, John Sabatina, and the legislation grew out of that meeting.3Pennsylvania Senate. Sabatina: Karen’s Law Passed House by a Vote of 168-33 Donna Greco, policy director for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, said the change would let survivors who had been submitting testimony “year after year” have “peace of mind.”
When It Took Effect
Karen’s Law was enacted when Governor Wolf signed House Bill 1538 on November 25, 2020, after the Senate passed it 46-3 on October 21, 2020 and the House concurred 168-33 on November 18, 2020.3Pennsylvania Senate. Sabatina: Karen’s Law Passed House by a Vote of 168-33 It is on the books as Act 124 of 2020.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. HB 1538