The House on October 6 unanimously approved, 371-1, the conference report for the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (H.R. 3244). The conference report includes several other crime-related bills, including a bill (H.R. 1248) to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and a bill (H.R. 894) dealing with the release of violent sex offenders. The Senate is expected to approve the conference report next week.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) heralded the passage of the trafficking bill, as well as the reauthorization of VAWA, saying, “Both of these bills were top priorities of the Women’s Caucus.” Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD) said, “We can all celebrate the message being sent to women everywhere by passing this legislation—women’s minds and bodies are their own.”
However, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) reluctantly supported the conference report, saying, “I wanted a clean bill on trafficking and violence against women….The legislation doesn’t go far enough on VAWA. It leaves out many critical programs that were in the House-passed bill.”
Sexual Trafficking H.R. 3244 is sponsored by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Sam Gejdenson (D-CT), while the Senate version was a combination of a bill (S. 449) sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and a bill (S. 2414) sponsored by Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN).
The final version would authorize $95 million over two years for efforts to combat trafficking, including prevention activities, counseling and treatment services, food, shelter, translation and legal assistance for survivors, and monitoring efforts. Of this amount, $1.5 million would be authorized in FY2001 for the creation of an interagency task force within the State Department to address trafficking. Three million dollars would be authorized for the task force in FY2002.
The bill would allow the Immigration and Naturalization Service to provide temporary U.S. citizenship to survivors of international trafficking through the issuance of a newly-created “T” visa category. Under the final bill, individuals who are found to be victims of international trafficking, who are physically present in the United States, who have complied with law enforcement, or who have not attained the age of 15 but would suffer extreme hardship if deported, would qualify for the visa. The final bill also would grant the visa to the spouse, children, and parents of the individual if the Attorney General determines it is necessary to avoid extreme hardship. The provision is similar to language included in the House-passed bill.
Like, the House-passed bill, H.R. 3244 would cap the number of “T” visas at 5,000 each year. The Attorney General would be required to report to Congress on the number of individuals, if any, who are denied visas based on the cap.
Additionally, the bill would grant permanent residency to those individuals granted “T” visas if they have been physically present in the United States for three years; they have been a person of good moral character; they have complied with law enforcement; and they would suffer extreme hardship involving unusual and severe harm if deported.
The bill would authorize assistance to foreign countries to meet minimum standards with respect to the elimination of trafficking. These standards would include the drafting of laws to prohibit trafficking and punish traffickers, the investigation and prosecution of traffickers, the creation and maintenance of facilities, programs, projects, and activities for the protection of victims, and the expansion of exchange programs and international visitor programs for governmental and nongovernmental personnel to combat trafficking.
Under the bill, the State Department would be required to report annually to Congress on countries that are and are not complying with the minimum standards. Beginning in 2003, the President would be required to withhold nonhumanitarian and non-trade-related assistance from countries failing to meet the minimum standards, as well from countries that are not making significant efforts to meet the standards. The President would be allowed to waive the imposition of sanctions if it is determined that the sanctions would work against the countries’ efforts to deter trafficking; the sanctions would harm vulnerable populations, including women and children; or if it were in the U.S. national interest. The provision represents a compromise between the House and Senate measures. The House-passed bill would have imposed economic sanctions on those countries failing to meet the standards, while the Senate-passed bill would have withheld non-humanitarian aid from such countries.
H.R. 3244 includes a Senate-passed provision to provide for the establishment of economic initiatives to help prevent and deter trafficking, including microcredit lending programs, training in business development, skills training and job counseling, programs to keep girls in school, and educational curricula regarding the dangers of trafficking.
Additionally, the bill would require the State Department to include trafficking in its annual country reports on human rights practices.
VAWA Last week, the House unanimously passed H.R. 1248, but the Senate did not consider the measure (see The Source, 9/29/00, p. 1). In an effort to speed up final approval of the bill, lawmakers negotiated a compromise version and attached it to the international trafficking conference report. H.R. 1248 is sponsored by Rep. Morella. A similar Senate bill (S. 2787) is sponsored by Sens. Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT).
The final measure would authorize more than $3 billion over five years for current VAWA programs, as well as a number of new initiatives. The bill would authorize $185 million each year in FY2001 through FY2005 for Services and Training for Officers and Prosecutors (STOP) grants. Grants to encourage arrest policies would be reauthorized at $65 million for each of the five years. Rural domestic violence and child abuse grants would be reauthorized at $40 million each of the five years. The National Stalker and Domestic Violence Reduction grants would be reauthorized at $3 million per year.
H.R. 1248 also would add dating violence to the definition of domestic violence under STOP grants, grants to encourage arrest policies, and rural domestic violence and child abuse grants.
Battered women’s shelters would be authorized at $175 million for each of FY2001 through FY2005, while the National Domestic Violence Hotline would be authorized at $2 million for each of the five years. The Court Appointed Special Advocates program would be authorized at $12 million for each of the five years. Child abuse training programs for judicial personnel would be authorized at $2.3 million each year, and grants for televised testimony would be authorized at $1 million for each of the five years. Federal victims counselors grants would be authorized at $1 million each year for FY2001 through FY2005.
Rape prevention and education grants would be authorized at $80 million each year for FY2001 through FY2005. Community initiatives to prevent domestic violence would be authorized at $6 million each of the five years. Grants for education and training for judges and court personnel in state courts would be authorized at $1.5 million for each of the five years. Identical grants for federal courts would be authorized at $500,000 for each of the five years.
H.R. 1248 includes a number of new VAWA programs and initiatives aimed at strengthening the original Act. Grants to reduce violent crimes against women on campus would be authorized at $10 million per year. Additionally, under this program, the bill would amend the definition of domestic violence to include dating violence. The bill would also authorize $30 million for a school security program that would include the placement and use of metal detectors, security assessments, security training, and coordination with law enforcement officials.
Under the bill, $40 million would be authorized each of the five years for legal assistance for victims of domestic violence. Not less than 25 percent of the funds could be used for direct services, training, and technical assistance to support programs focused solely or primarily on providing legal assistance to victims of sexual assault.
A transitional housing pilot program would be authorized at $25 million for FY2001. Five million dollars for each of the five years would be authorized for a training program dealing with elder abuse. The bill would authorize $15 million in FY2001 and FY2002 for a Safe Havens for Children pilot program, which would provide supervised visitation of children by parents who have been involved in a domestic dispute. An education and training program on domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault against women with disabilities would be authorized at $7.5 million.
The final bill includes language aimed at improving the enforcement of full faith and credit protection orders. Also, the bill includes language that would expand the definition of stalking and federal jurisdiction over such an act. Additionally, the bill includes provisions designed to restore protections to battered immigrant women that were implemented under the original VAWA, but subsequently changed with the enactment of immigration legislation in 1996. These provisions also improve upon those included in the original Act.
The final measure includes a number of studies dealing with violence against women. One study would examine state laws regarding insurance discrimination against victims of domestic violence. Another study would examine the workplace effects of violence against women. The third study would look at the use of unemployment compensation for victims of violence against women who are forced to leave their jobs because of that violence. Another study would direct the National Institute of Justice to develop a research agenda pertaining to violence against women.
The bill would authorize $200,000 in FY2001 for the Attorney General to conduct a study of federal and state laws relating to child custody, including custody provisions in protection orders, and the effects of those laws on child custody cases in which domestic violence is a factor. The study would also examine the sufficiency of defenses to parental kidnapping charges in cases involving domestic violence.
Another $200,000 would be authorized to study the standards, practices, and training for sexual assault forensic examinations. The final bill also would establish a Domestic Violence Task Force that would coordinate research on domestic violence and report to Congress on any duplication of efforts. For FY2001 through FY2004, $500,000 would be authorized each year.
H.R. 1248 also includes several miscellaneous provisions including one that requires convicted sex offenders who enroll in a college or university to notify that school of their status and another that would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study on teen suicide prevention.
Saying that the bill was the “strongest commitment that Congress has ever made to violence against women,” Rep. Morella, added: “This has been quite a struggle and this is the reward for the American people….It will make a difference.”
Aimee’s Law A bill (H.R. 894) intended to deter states from granting early release to convicted murderers, rapists, and child molesters was originally passed by the House on July 11. The Senate has not considered the legislation.
The legislation, known as “Aimee’s Law,” is named after a young woman who was raped and brutally murdered in Pennsylvania by a man who had been previously convicted of murder in Nevada and released after serving 11 years of a life sentence.
Sponsored by Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ), the bill would require a state granting early release to an individual convicted of murder, rape, or child molestation to pay for the costs of prosecution and incarceration if that individual were later convicted of one of the three listed crimes in another state. The penalty would be taken out of federal law enforcement assistance allocated to the state granting early release. The law would apply only to states that have not adopted the federal “truth in sentencing” guidelines, have an average prison term that is less than 10 percent of the national average for the crime in question, or do not require offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before release.
The bill also would require the Attorney General to collect data from the states regarding the number of convictions for murder, rape, and child molestation, as well as the percentage of repeat convictions for those crimes. The Department of Justice would be required to submit an annual report on the findings to Congress.
Rep. Bobby Scott opposed the inclusion of H.R. 894 in the conference report, saying that Aimee’s Law was “onerous and unworkable” and constituted a “bureaucratic nightmare for the states and the federal government.”
