Updated December 7, 2000
The Violence
Against Women Act of 1994
David M. Heger
National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center
University of Missouri - St. Louis
Political Analyst
History
In 1994, the United States Congress passed the first
comprehensive package of legislation aimed at preventing violent acts
against women. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), signed into law
by President Clinton on September 13, 1994 as Title IV of the Violent
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (commonly referenced as
the 1994 Crime Bill), increases criminal penalties and provides grants
to address rape, sexual assault, domestic abuse and other gender-related
violence. These legislative initiatives were first introduced in 1990
and received final passage four years later in the form of a compromise
between proposals authored by former Representative Patricia Schroeder
(D-Colorado) and Senator Joseph Biden (D-Delaware). Criminal statutes
provided by the VAWA were permanently incorporated into U.S. Code and
can only be amended by an act of Congress. However, money authorized
by the Act is temporary; the VAWA provided funding for its programs
only through fiscal year 2000 (FY ’00), which ends September 30,
2000. Congress can continue to fund these programs through a new act
addressing violence against women or one of the thirteen annual appropriation
bills.
Introduction to the Legislation
The 1994 Crime Bill consists of 33 titles, each title
pertaining to a separate policy or technical issue, such as public safety
and policing (Title I) and prisons (Title II). Many of these sections
are organized further into subtitles and chapters. The VAWA is Title
IV of the Crime Bill and is separated into seven subtitles: Safe Streets
for Women, Safe Homes for Women, Civil Rights for Women, Equal Justice
for Women in the Courts Act, Violence Against Women Act Improvements,
National Stalker and Domestic Violence Reduction, and Protections for
Battered Immigrant Women and Children. These subtitles give some indication
as to where specific provisions of the VAWA can be found (i.e. most
initiatives pertaining to domestic violence and battered women shelters
are found under Safe Homes for Women). The full text of the Crime Bill,
including the VAWA, can viewed at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c103:H.R.3355.ENR:
A more user-friendly version of the VAWA only can be found on
the Web site of the Violence Against Women Office of the Department
of Justice (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo/laws/vawa/vawa.htm).
Outline
VIOLENT CRIME CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT OF
1994
Title IV – Violence Against Women
Subtitle A – Safe Streets for Women
Ch. 1 – Federal Penalties for Sex Crimes
Ch. 2 – Law Enforcement and Prosecution Grants to Reduce Violent
Crimes Against Women
Ch. 3 – Safety for Women in Public Transit and Public Parks
Ch. 4 – New Evidentiary Rules
Ch. 5 – Assistance to Victims of Sexual Assault
Subtitle B – Safe Homes for Women
Ch. 1 – National Domestic Violence Hotline
Ch. 2 – Interstate Enforcement
Ch. 3 – Arrest Policies in Domestic Violence Cases
Ch. 4 – Shelter Grants
Ch. 5 – Youth Education
Ch. 6 – Community Programs on Domestic Violence
Ch. 7 – Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Amendments
Ch. 8 – Confidentiality for Abused Persons
Ch. 9 – Data and Research
Ch. 10 – Rural and Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Enforcement
Subtitle C – Civil Rights for Women
Subtitle D – Equal Justice for Women in the Courts Act
Ch. 1 – Education and Training for Judges and Court Personnel
in State Courts
Ch. 2 – Education and Training for Judges and Court Personnel
in Federal Courts
Subtitle E – Violence Against Women Act Improvements
Subtitle F – National Stalker and Domestic Violence Reduction
Subtitle G – Protections for Battered Immigrant Women and Children
Grants & Other Monies
The VAWA authorizes $1.6 billion over six years for
personnel, training, program development, research, etc. in the effort
to combat violence against women. Except for $35 million channeled to
the Departments of Interior and Transportation to increase safety in
public transit and public parks, VAWA money is administered by the Department
of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).
Some of the program funds are pre-authorized for several years (through
FY ’00), which means they are not subject to the annual appropriations
process in Congress whereby each executive department’s budget
is voted upon. However, other programs must be reviewed each year as
discretionary spending measures.
Department of Justice Money
- STOP (Services*Training*Officers*Prosecutors) Grants –
Appropriates $800 million over six years for DOJ grants to the states
to strengthen law enforcement, prosecution strategies, and victim
services related to reducing violence against women. (Subtitle A,
Chapter 2)
- Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies – Provides $120
million in grants over three years, administered by the Attorney General,
to encourage state governments to treat domestic violence as a serious
violation of criminal law. (Subtitle B, Chapter 3)
- Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Enforcement Grants
– Allows $30 million over three years for DOJ grants to rural
states and entities serving rural women and children in efforts to
develop a coordinated community response to domestic violence and
child abuse. (Subtitle B, Chapter 10)
- Victims of Child Abuse Programs – Re-authorizes over
$50 million for three standing child abuse programs: Court-Appointed
Special Advocate Program (CASA), Child Abuse Training Programs for
Judicial Personnel and Practitioners, and Grants for Televised Testimony.
(Subtitle A, Chapter 5)
- National Stalker and Domestic Violence Reduction Grants –
Provides $6 million over three years in grants to states and local
government to "improve processes for entering data regarding stalking
and domestic violence into local, state, and national crime databases."
(Subtitle F)
- $2 million is appropriated over two years for training programs
to assist probation and parole officers who work with released sex
offenders. (Subtitle A, Chapter 5)
Department of Health and Human Services Money
- Grants for Battered Women’s Shelters – As an amendment
to the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, appropriates $324
million over five years for battered women’s shelters. (Subtitle
B, Chapter 4)
- The National Domestic Violence Hotline – Grants authority
to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to contract with a private,
non-profit organization to establish and administer a national domestic
violence hotline. Sets spending at $3 million over six years. (Subtitle
B, Chapter 1)
- Education and Prevention to Reduce Sexual Abuse Among Runaway,
Homeless and Street Youth – Allows $30 million over three
years for HHS grants to private, non-profit organizations for street-based
outreach and education for runaway, homeless, and street youth who
have been subjected to or are at risk for sexual abuse. (Subtitle
A, Chapter 5)
- Education and Prevention Grants to Reduce Sexual Assaults Against
Women – Under the Preventative Health Block Grant, administered
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), provides
$205 million over five years for rape prevention and education programs
conducted by rape crisis centers or similar entities. (Subtitle A,
Chapter 5)
- Coordinated Community Responses to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence
– Appropriates $10 million over two years for the CDC to provide
grants to non-profits for projects to coordinate existing community
intervention and prevention programs. (Subtitle B, Chapter 6)
Criminal and Other Legal Provisions
The VAWA provides more than just a financial commitment
to preventing violence against women: the legislation toughens penalties
for offenders and grants aid to victims in the legal system. The Act
opens by imposing double prison sentences on repeat sex offenders and
mandating restitution of victims’ losses by defendants. (Subtitle
A, Chapter 1) Provisions also make it a federal crime for anyone to
cross state lines or enter or leave Indian country in violation of a
protective order or to intentionally cause bodily harm to his or her
partner. Additionally, a protection order issued by one state must be
accorded "full faith and credit" by the court of another state. (Subtitle
B, Chapter 2) The VAWA makes inadmissible with some exceptions evidence
to prove the victim’s "other sexual behavior" or sexual predisposition
in a criminal case. (Subtitle A, Chapter 4) By citing the 14th
Amendment and Article I of the Constitution, Congress attempted to establish
the right of victims of gender-motivated violence to sue their offenders
in federal court; however, this provision was struck down in May 2000
by the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Morrison. (Subtitle C)
On-line Resources
National Task Force to End Violence Against Women (http://www.vawact.org/)
Senator Joseph Biden – sponsor of the VAWA
(http://www.senate.gov/~biden/issues/vawa.htm)
Family Research Council – chapter by chapter summary
of the VAWA
(http://www.frc.org/infocus/if95a4cr.html)
DOJ – Violence Against Women Office
(http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo/)
HHS – Office on Women’s Health
(http://www.4woman.gov/owh/prog/violence.htm#VAWA)
CDC - National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
(NCIPC)
(http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/ncipchm.htm)