New Pennsylvania law allows expert testimony on victims’ response in sex-assault cases

PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Michael Macagnone
Inquirer Staff Writer

HARRISBURG – Psychologists and doctors will for the first time be able to testify in Pennsylvania courtrooms as experts on sexual assault victims’ behavior.

Gov. Corbett on Tuesday signed a bill allowing such testimony in criminal trials, saying momentum for the law grew out of the publicity surrounding the child sexual-abuse case against former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and the charges against Philadelphia-area Catholic priests.

“If there is a positive side to what happened, this [bill] is one of the positives,” Corbett said.

Corbett – who as state attorney general oversaw the Sandusky investigation – said Pennsylvania was the last state to allow such testimony.

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