VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT

Key aspects of Administrative Law

Violence Against Women

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

Violence against women is a global problem in every culture and
social group
VAWA was originally enacted in 1994
Adoption and enforcement of national laws to punish all forms of
violence against is in line with international human rights
standards
Violence against women is largely unreported
Fundamental goals are to prevent violent crime; learn about
crime and change public attitudes
DEC 1999, the UN General Assembly declared November 25th
International Day for Elimination of violence Against women and
Girls
 

How Agencies enforce VAWA

Violence against women is prevented through collaborative efforts by social
service agencies, criminal justice and research institutions
Schools, public health organizations, and private organizations also take part
Federal government tries to achieve this goal through federal grant programs
Federal grant programs provide funding to state, territorial, tribal, and local
governments
Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) administers majority of VAWA-
authorized programs
OVW has awarded more than $8 billion in grants and cooperative
agreements
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Office of Justice Programs
also manage VAWA programs
 

Categories of crime (Domestic Violence)

 Is a pattern or behavior which involves abuse or violence by one person
against another in a domestic setting
 Can take many forms, but often labeled as family violence or intimate
partner violence
 Crimes may include sexual assault, homicide, simple or aggravated
assault
  From 1993 to 2017, the rate of serious intimate partner victimization
declined by 70%
 A survey conducted by CDC in 2015, estimates 21.4 % of women have
experienced several physical violence by an intimate partner
Percentage of domestic violence during
Covid-9 period
Intimate Partner Homicide
Since peaking in early 1990s, homicide and intimate
partner homicide has declined
Although it has increased over the past several years, it
remains far lower than it was during 1990s
Decline among young adults is a huge factor in the
decline of intimate partner homicide rates
Divorce and separation has also increased
Overall, homicide is mainly committed by males
Around 78% of intimate partner victims are female
Sexual Assault
 May include forcible rape, attempted forcible rape, statutory rape and other sexual
offenses
 For VAWA programs sexual assault is any non-consensual sexual act proscribed by state,
tribal, or federal law, including when victim lacks capacity to consent
 The FBI has revised the definition of rape several times
 Both the current definition and the legacy definition exclude statutory rape
 According to UCR data, 135, 755 forcible rapes were reported in 2017
 Using legacy definition, 99, 856 forcible rapes were reported to law enforcement
Stalking

Each state and US territories have varying stalking

laws
NCVS Supplemental Victimization Survey defines
stalking as a course of conduct directed at a specific
person that causes the person to fear
According to NCVS SVS, around 3.3 million people
were victims of stalking in 2006
CDC measures stalking differently than the NCVS
2015 data from CDC, 16% of women and 5.8% of men
have been stalked by an intimate partner  
National Domestic violence laws
Reports to police
About half of all intimate partner victimizations have
occurred btwn 1993 and 1998
Percentage of victimizations reported differed by race
and ethnicity
Reason for not reporting violence is belief it’s a
“private or personal matter”
Fear of reprisal is also another factor
Sometimes people don’t want to get offender in
trouble with law
Social norms and beliefs about gender
based violence
Social norms are contextually and socially derived
collective expectations
Harmful social norms that sustain GBV include:
 Women’s sexual purity
 Protecting family honor over women’s safety
 Men’s authority to discipline women and children
Challenges to implementing effective
reforms
Victim advocacy and lobbying
Most victimizations are not reported to authorities
Most women seek help as the last resort
Women who seek help encounter skeptical and even
hostile environments
Lawyers and law enforcement still subscribe to “rape
myths”
Influence of media on VAWA
Media is uniquely placed to stop violence before it
starts
Condoning of violence against women
Men’s control of decision-making
Rigid gender stereotyping
Male peer cultures that emphasize dominance,
aggression, and control
Victims of violence against women in legal
system
95% of allegations that come to attention of police are
‘misdemeanors’
Portrait of victims vary across communities
Women who seek legal relief are likely to be married
to perpetrator
Many victims are termed as “uncooperative witnesses”
Many who contact authorities reconcile together
FY2018-FY2022 Budget on VAWA
Objectives and impacts of statutory legal
reforms
Have diverse objectives
Some states, many assault misdemeanors were created
to facilitate prosecution
In some states many penalties have been attached
In sexual assault, victim report did not increase
substantially following legislative reforms
Violence reforms have increased caseloads for
prosecutors
Objectives and impacts of courthouse
practices
Sanctions are imposed infrequently on non random
groups of defendants
Many warrants expire before they are executed
Despite reforms in reducing demand on victims,
prosecution rate is still low
Imposition of legal restriction and penalties is
justified on multiple objectives
Post conviction sanctions are relatively rare in partner
and acquaintance violence cases
Innovations and recommendations
Some reforms are promising, but no research or
proper evaluation
Court-based victim advocacy programs
Histories of violence and civil court decisions
Evidence based prosecution
Coordinated community responses
Judicial training
Reference
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net environmental impacts and building’s cost performance of an adaptive reuse project:
a case study of the Waterloo County Courthouse renovations. Environment Systems and
Decisions, 39(4), 419-438.\
 Stylianou, A. M. (2019). Family court survivor-centered practice: A qualitative study of
advocate-IPV survivor safety planning interactions. Journal of family violence, 34(3), 245-
259.
 Sacco, L. N. (2019). The violence against women act (VAWA): historical overview, funding,
and reauthorization (Vol. 42). Congressional Research Service.
 Goodmark, L. (2022). Assessing the Impact of the Violence Against Women Act. Annual
Review of Criminology, 5, 115-131.
 Jennings, W. G., Powers, R. A., & Perez, N. M. (2021). A review of the effects of the
Violence Against Women Act on law enforcement. Violence against women, 27(1), 69-83.