Violence Against Women Policy Trends Report 3

November 3, 2000

David M. Heger
National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center
University of Missouri - St. Louis
Political Analyst

Federal
With the 2000 elections just days away, the political atmosphere in Washington has turned especially contentious. The Senate recently adjourned with the budget left undone, leading to intense "finger-pointing" from both Democrats and Republicans. Meanwhile, the House remains in session, but little work is likely to get done given that its sister chamber has shut down operations until mid-November. As recently as a week ago, analysts reported being optimistic that a budget deal could be reached between the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House before the November 7^th election. The impasse between President Clinton and members of Congress over fiscal year 2001 spending appeared to have ended when the two sides reached a tentative deal on an important bill financing the Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. However, the agreement broke down only 12 hours later when Republican leaders balked at provisions in the deal relating to ergonomics regulations. In an apparent reaction to the move, President Clinton vetoed a separate spending bill he had previously intended to sign, thereby eliminating any chance of completing the budget in the near future.

Judicial
The debate over federalism once again took center stage last week as the Supreme Court took up a case involving the power of the Army Corps of Engineers to enforce the Clean Water Act. Last May, the land's highest court struck down provisions of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, claiming Congress had wrongly invoked the Commerce Clause of the Constitution in allowing victims of sexual assault to sue their attackers in federal court. The current case, Solid Waste Agency v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, is being watched closely by a wide range of activists who are concerned about the power of Congress to regulate activities that affect interstate commerce.
 
State
With elections looming close on the horizon, state legislative activity is expectedly slow. For the most part, interim committee work has also given way to the furious pace of re-election campaigning. Most states have adjourned for the year; however, a handful of state lawmaking bodies may meet in post-election special sessions. Mississippi provides an exception to the lull in activity, as lawmakers there will meet on November 6 for a one-day special session addressing economic development.
 
Three recently released reports place states' feet to the fire in relation to addressing male violence against women, especially homicide. A study by the Washington, D.C.-based Violence Policy Center, When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 1998 Homicide Data, drew coverage last week from several newspapers located in states that have high rates of females murdered by males. The top ten highest rates are in South Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina, Wyoming, Maine, Oklahoma, Nevada, Alabama, and Colorado. According to the report, 86 percent of the females killed by males in 1998 knew their murderer. When Men Murder Women can be viewed at www.vpc.org
 
A new report by the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women (www.mcbw.org) analyzes domestic killings of women in Minnesota from 1988 to 1999 and finds that such murders are on the rise in the state. According to a story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "The information (the report) provides is unprecedented in Minnesota and across the country. State agencies have no separate category for domestic crimes. That led the coalition to begin compiling such data."
 
In anticipation of the upcoming legislative session, The Clarion-Ledger, a Mississippi newspaper, reported recently on the state's low grade passing laws addressing health care response to domestic violence. In a study by the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), Mississippi, along with 35 other states, received a "D" in passing laws related to domestic violence and five critical areas: training, screening, protocols, reporting, and insurance. Only one state, Pennsylvania, received an "A" in the report card published on FVPF's Web site, www.fvpf.org/statereport.
 
In other developments, the Wyoming Supreme Court unanimously upheld the sentence of life without parole for a repeat sex offender. In Colorado, Governor Bill Owens' (R) Task Force on Violent Crime recently received pleas from police and prosecutors to repeal the state's mandatory arrest law. The call came after the arrest of a Colorado professional hockey player in an incident involving a "domestic dispute." Political analysts indicate that mandatory arrest could become a contentious issue in the next state legislative session. Note that Governor Owens voted in favor of the law in 1994 when he was a state senator.