Recommendations for Re-Authorization of the Violence Against Women Act 2005
Stop Abuse For Everyone™
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Recommendations for Re-Authorization of the Violence Against Women Act 2005
Review and Change Key Aspects of VAWA Language
Need:
A key component of the legislative intent of VAWA is to assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assaults through the allocation of federal funds to public and private agencies and bodies of government that provide services to victims of domestic and sexual assaults. Yet the language within the act, the very title of the Act itself, excludes men, and some of the recent revisions to the act exemplify this exclusion: For example, under the recent revisions to Grants to Combat Violence Against Women which include the STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant, the language for underserved populations states:
Redefines “underserved populations,” to include geographic location, race and ethnicity, language barriers, alien age status, age and any other populations determined to be underserved by the state planning process in consultation with the attorney general.
A realistic interpretation of this provision would recognize that men fall into the “other populations.” It seems reasonable and prudent that because men comprise 27% of all victims according to the National Crime Victimization Survey, 36% of all victims according to the Violence Against Women Survey (NCJ 18167), and 50% according to the National Family Violence Survey (see footnote 1), that men should be named specifically within the language of the Act and in all revisions of the Act. Specifically, the re-authorization of VAWA should include the following language: “The provisions of the Violence Against Women Act shall be applied and administered so as to ensure that men are eligible for benefits and services under all available grants funded by the Violence Against Women Act.”
Conforms to Congressional Intent:
We note that on Oct. 11, 2000 in the Congressional Record Co-sponsor of VAWA Senator Orrin Hatch, made the following statement: “Despite the need to direct federal funds toward the most pressing problem, it was not, and is not, the intent of Congress categorically to exclude men who have suffered domestic abuse or sexual assaults from receiving benefits and services under the Violence Against Women Act.” Despite Senator Hatch’s declaration, all grants administered by the Violence Against Women Office specifically exclude male victims from funding, either by limiting the grant offering only to women and children, or by administrative action declining applications that seek to serve men. Linda Mansour, a Justice Department Spokesperson, told the New York Times, “This is the Violence Against Women Act…We cannot fund the men’s groups.”
Additional Language Proposal:
Throughout the Act and in all revisions to the Act, the term, men, be added when women are specifically named as victims to reflect the legislative intent. The legislative intent could be significantly strengthened by legislation renaming the act: The Family Violence and Sexual Assault Act. The language of all federal grant applications should specifically name men victims as equal recipients of in-kind services when women victims are specifically named.