On July 19, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Enacted in 1994, VAWA was last reauthorized in 2000 and is set to expire on September 30, 2005. The committee heard impassioned testimony from Oscar-nominated actress and Avon Foundation spokesperson Salma Hayek, former NBA player and coach M.L. Carr, members of the law enforcement community, and victims’ rights advocates.
In his opening remarks, Chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) recounted his days as a prosecutor for the state of Pennsylvania and how the first case he ever lost was the result of a woman refusing to testify against her batterer. She had been beaten so badly that she had a cut running from her head down along her torso. “A big part of this is letting women know they have rights,” stated Sen. Specter.
“Over the next few months, Congress has the opportunity to reauthorize VAWA and make improvements to vital core programs, tighten criminal penalties, treat children victims of violence, augment health care for rape victims, hold repeat offenders and internet stalkers accountable, and help domestic violence victims keep their jobs,” said Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT).
VAWA established that “all persons within the United States have the right to be free from crimes of violence motivated by gender” and has led to the creation of new domestic violence laws and the appropriation of over $38 billion to implement programs to end domestic violence and sexual assault. Several bills have been introduced to reauthorize and expand VAWA: S. 1197, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE); H.R. 2876, sponsored by Rep. Mark Green (R-WI); and H.R. 3171, sponsored by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).
Sen. Biden, who was one of the authors of the original law, called the legislation “critical to ensuring the safety and well being of our nation’s women and children.” Speaking in support of VAWA 2005, Sen. Biden added, “It provides cities and towns with the tools to both craft big and small improvements that can make all the difference to victims of domestic violence.” He concluded his remarks by saying that “this is not the time to scale back our efforts. Instead, Congress must usher the Violence Against Women Act into the 21st century and plant the seeds with the next generation of children who must be taught that abuse will not be tolerated.”
The most recent National Crime Victimization Survey showed that non-fatal, violent crimes against women decreased by 49 percent between 1993 and 2001. Referring to this and similar statistics, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) acknowledged that “there are probably a number of factors that have contributed to these steep declines, but there is no doubt in my mind that VAWA has been an important one.” He further stated that “VAWA has succeeded for two important reasons. First, it sends a powerful message that domestic violence is a national problem. And second, it promotes a coordinated approach to domestic violence, one respectful of state authority, [which] brings together federal agencies with local law enforcement and service providers.”
The Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was created in 1995 to implement VAWA and provide national leadership on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Diane Stuart, director of the OVW, testified on the office’s accomplishments and the obstacles ahead. “Since the passage of VAWA, there has been a paradigm shift in how we approach and respond to violence against women. That change can be seen in local ‘coordinated community responses.’ It is an approach rooted in the belief that criminal justice officials, victim advocates, community leaders, health workers, elected officials, and others must work in collaboration to respond to violence against women,” she said. Listing some of VAWA’s accomplishments, Ms. Stuart stated that the rate of domestic violence has declined by 59 percent in the last 10 years and sexual assault has declined by 68 percent. However, she added that much more work needs to be done as there were still 2.5 million victims of domestic violence in 2003, and 200,000 rapes and sexual assaults are being committed yearly.
In addition to providing grants to help communities across the country develop innovative strategies to respond to violence against women, the OVW pursues “special initiatives” that address areas of particular need. Such initiatives include the creation of Family Justice Centers that serve as comprehensive one-stop domestic violence victim service and support centers across the country. “The goal of a comprehensive Family Justice Center is to make a domestic violence victim’s search for help and justice less burdensome and more efficient and effective by bringing professionals who provide an array of necessary services together under one roof,” she said. Among other suggestions, Ms. Stuart expressed her hope that the reauthorization of VAWA will maintain the grants program, increase resources to tribal and rural areas, and strengthen confidentiality provisions.
The committee also heard testimony from Ted Saxton, sheriff of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama and president of the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA), who spoke to the importance of VAWA programs for law enforcement. “We have seen the number of domestic violence cases rise from about 3,800 cases in 1997 to almost 5,600 cases last year. That increase is not the result of abusers looking for a haven in Alabama, but rather a direct result of the support systems that VAWA provides to victims through community groups, law enforcement, prosecutors and victim advocates. It is a result of a system that empowers the victim with the support and confidence they need to report the crime and take action to protect themselves from further abuse. In other words, VAWA works,” he said. Addressing the challenges posed by multicultural/multilingual communities, Mr. Saxton said, “This raises a new issue for law enforcement: how to deal with violence against women among an immigrant population unfamiliar with our legal system, unsure of local law enforcement, and completely unprepared to leave their spouse or partner for fear that they will have no assistance whatsoever. Training programs that address this particular issue are needed to help us prepare to meet the challenge.”
Mary Lou Leary, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime focused her testimony on sexual assault and stalking. Through training, prevention, and educational programs, “VAWA has changed the way our nation responds to victims of sexual assault and stalking,” stated Ms. Leary. She explained that VAWA funded the creation of Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) in many jurisdictions and funded special prosecutors and police units for sexual assault and stalking. However, she added that sexual assault programs around the country are under-funded and lack sufficient resources to provide services to all those in need. “In response to this overwhelming need, VAWA 2005 would provide increased resources to serve sexual assault victims. It includes for the first time, a dedicated federal funding stream for sexual assault programs that would fund direct services to victims, including general intervention and advocacy, accompaniment through the medical and criminal justice processes, support services and related assistance.” She also noted that the legislation would provide additional funding and resources for rape crisis centers, outreach to immigrant and minority populations, and anti-stalking initiatives.
In terms of stalking, Ms. Leary added that VAWA 2005 would prohibit harassing communications via the Internet, expand the definition of prohibited conduct to include surveillance through the use of new technologies, redefine the harm a victim must sustain to constitute stalking, and expand current grant programs to help communities create appropriate responses to stalking.
Pointing to the success of VAWA, Lynn Rosenthal, executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said, “We all pay for domestic violence. Recent studies indicate that domestic violence costs $5.8 billion per year. Of those costs, over $4 billion stem from health care-related expenditures, while $1.7 billion are lost annually in productivity and lifetime earnings. Yet the original VAWA…is estimated to have saved $14.8 billion in net averted victimization costs (including productivity, medical and mental health care, police and fire services, social victim services, and property loss and damage). It is estimated to have cost $15.50 per woman, while it saved $159 per woman. VAWA was not only the right thing to do, it was also fiscally sound legislation.” Furthermore, “It has also allowed us to train police officers, judges, prosecutors, victim advocates and child welfare workers across the country,” she said, adding, “VAWA has provided victims with hotlines to call, shelters to provide safety, legal representation, and advocacy.” The result has been an almost 50 percent decrease in domestic violence.
Ms. Rosenthal also provided the committee with an overview of VAWA 2005 (S. 1197), saying that it will continue the progress made over the past ten years in three fundamental ways. First, it will reinforce core programs, like STOP grants, which have brought communities together and provided training for hundreds of law enforcement officers. Second, it will meet the needs of uniquely vulnerable communities, such as rural areas where victims may live several hours from the nearest shelter program, and develop linguistically accessible programs to better serve the immigrant population. And third, it will help victims rebuild their lives and create long-term security for themselves and their children to ensure that they become independent of their batterers.
M.L. Carr, president of WARM2kids, highlighted the impact of domestic violence on children: “Up to 10 million children witness domestic violence annually–with tragic results. They are much more likely to become both victims and perpetrators of violence. They also experience notably increased rates of depression, suicide, alcohol and drug use as well as higher rates of incarceration. Two-thirds of all sexual assaults happen against children under the age of 18. The highest rates of domestic violence exist among young people between the ages of 16 and 24.”
Mr. Carr spoke about VAWA 2005’s focus on prevention and mentoring of children. “Our young people are witnessing violence and in many cases growing up to perpetrate the same violent patterns found in their families and communities. We can no longer be satisfied with locking people up after the violence and saying, ‘at least they didn’t get away with it.’ If the violent act has been committed, then they have already gotten away with it as far as the victim is concerned. We must end violence before it starts. The new VAWA helps us do that. It provides program funding for children who have grown up witnessing violence, support for families at risk of violence, and for the first time, it targets resources toward men and boys to help change the behavior and attitudes of other young men,” said Mr. Carr.
“We hear the numbers but when we think about domestic violence it’s a battered woman. I believe this is a wrong image. The effects of domestic violence go far beyond that,” testified actress Salma Hayek, spokesperson for the Avon Foundation’s Speak Out Against Domestic Violence campaign. She later stated that “witnessing domestic violence in the childhood home is the most common risk factor for becoming a batterer in adulthood.” As such, “it affects our whole society because we are all connected.” She went on to say that “we need to make sure that law enforcement and the courts hold every single perpetrator of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking accountable for their crimes. The Violence Against Women Act has done so much to meet this goal…But the work is not yet done. These crimes still occur everyday. We must continue training helping professionals to understand how these crimes occur. We must have the protections available to victims that allow them, finally, to leave in safety.”
