Originally posted at http://minneapolitanmademoiselle.blogspot.com/
Welcome to Day 6 of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Today's topic is the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
VAWA was originally drafted by then-Senator Joe Biden and was passed into law in 1994. It was reauthorized by Congress in both 2000 and 2005.Senators Patrick Leahy and Mike Crapo have introduced a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Act.
The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act includes several updates and improvements to the law, including:
An emphasis on the need to effectively respond to sexual assault crime by adding new purpose areas and a 25 percent set-aside in the STOP state formula grant program and the Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforcement of Protection Orders Program, to ensure continued intensive response to domestic violence and other offenses;
Improvements in tools to prevent domestic violence homicides by training law enforcement, victim service providers, and court personnel on identifying and managing high risk offenders and connecting high risk victims to crisis intervention services;
Improvements in responses to the high rate of violence against women in tribal communities by strengthening concurrent tribal criminal jurisdiction over perpetrators who assault Indian spouses and dating partners in Indian country;
Measures to strengthen housing protections for victims by applying existing housing protections to nine additional federal housing programs;
Measures to promote accountability to ensure that federal funds are used for their intended purposes;
Consolidation of programs and reductions in authorizations levels to address fiscal concerns, and renewed focus on programs that have been most successful;
Technical corrections to updates definitions throughout the law to provide uniformity and continuity throughout the law.
It is really great to see an increased focus on violence against women in tribal communities because the rates of violence in these communities are, on average, much higher than in other communities.
It's also worth noting that we Minnesotans have a reason to be proud - Sen. Al Franken’s provision to protect women who are victims of domestic or sexual violence from being kicked out of their homes was included in the Reauthorization Act. I have to say, Senator Franken has been one of the best advocates for victims/survivors of domestic and sexual violence that we've had in a long time! Thank you, Senator Franken!
All in all, it looks like some good changes coming with the reauthorization... well except for the less funding part - can't even protect programs for victims of violence from cuts these days. Sigh.
Oh well, here's to a bipartisan reauthorization of this necessary legislation!
Sources:
Ms. Magazine, Feminist Wire. "Violence Against Women Act Introduced for Reauthorization Today." Available at: http://www.msmagazine.com/...
Press release: "Leahy, Crapo Introduce Bipartisan Bill To Reauthorize Landmark Violence Against Women Act." Available at: http://vtdigger.org/...