VAWA: Mandate for Change

Violence Against Women Act:

Mandate for Change

Compiled by:

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments

www.saveservices.org

 

Over 11,500 victims of domestic violence have signed a petition demanding that the U.S. Department of Justice perform an audit of state domestic violence coalitions, charging the groups need to “be held accountable for refusing victims the resources and services they desperately need.” [1]

In addition, over 30 lawmakers, women’s groups, civil rights organizations, government agencies, researchers, attorneys, and others have expressed serious reservations about current domestic violence laws – see compilation of statements below. Collectively, these represent an incontrovertible Mandate for Change of the Violence Against Women Act.

In response to this mandate, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments has developed a bill designed to amend and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act. [2]

The SAVE bill accords first priority to victims of physical violence, curbs false allegations, removes discriminatory practices, encourages partner reconciliation when it is safe, requires accreditation of educational programs, strengthens the research basis, improves accountability, curbs immigration fraud, and reinvigorates constitutional protections.

Recognizing the necessity of making VAWA gender-inclusive, the proposed bill is named the Partner Violence Reduction Act.

Statements

Persons Affected:

• “Domestic violence cuts across all races, all income brackets, all levels of education – and both sexes.” – Jodi Rell (R), former Governor of Connecticut [3]
• “Men suffer from domestic violence, as well.” – Pedro Pierluisi (D-Puerto Rico) [4]
•  Some “scholars have suppressed data on violence by women. … History is full of atrocities carried out in the service of a moral agenda.” — Murray Straus, PhD, University of New Hampshire [5]

Effectiveness of VAWA Programs:

• Many domestic violence programs lack effectiveness because they are “driven by ideology and stakeholder interests rather than by plausible theories and scientific evidence of cause.” — National Research Council^[6]
• “We have no evidence to date that VAWA has led to a decrease in the overall levels of violence against women.” —Angela Moore Parmley, PhD, U.S. Department of Justice^[7]

Abuse Shelters:

• “Not Performing: Results Not Demonstrated” – Office of Management and Budget [8]
• “[W]e could not be assured that any survey data we obtained would be consistent and reliable enough for analysis of the specific information required.” – U.S. Government Accountability Office, regarding abuse shelter records [9]
• Domestic violence “victims in same-sex relationships are not receiving the help they need…Services for gay men are practically nonexistent.” – Center for American Progress [10]

Discriminatory Effects:

• “I certainly agree with equal protection under the law…So I’m open to changing the name. Domestic Violence Act. I like that phrase.” – Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) [11]
• “[I]n 2009, LGBTQ victims of crime still did not have consistent access to culturally competent services to prevent and address the violence against them.” — National Center for Victims of Crime [12]
•  “We do not shelter men in the shelter even if it’s empty.” — Judy King Smith, director of the Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, Morgantown, West Virginia [13]

Effects on Minority Communities:

• “Criminalization of social problems has led to mass incarceration of men, especially young men of color, decimating marginalized communities.” — Ms. Foundation for Women^[14]
• Domestic violence laws represent the “Biggest civil rights roll-back since Jim Crow era.” – Washington Civil Rights Council^[15]
• “Across the nation, many African-American communities are rife with social pathologies and other forms of distress.  VAWA is worsening this distress.” — Elizabeth Crawford, MS, African-Americans for the Reform of the Violence Against Women Act

Definitions:

• “VAWA needs to focus on ending those crimes [physical battering] rather than broaden the definition of violence to the point of meaninglessness.” – Concerned Women for America [16] 
• “Currently used definitions of domestic violence that are unacceptably trivial include calling your partner a naughty word, raising your voice, causing ‘annoyance’ or ‘emotional distress,’ or just not doing what your partner wants.” – Eagle Forum [17]

Restraining Orders:

• Restraining orders may “lull women into a false sense of security.” – Independent Women’s Forum [18]
• “Everyone knows that restraining orders and orders to vacate are granted to virtually all who apply … In many cases, allegations of abuse are now used for tactical advantage.” — Elaine Epstein, former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association [19]
• “A number of women attending the seminars smugly—indeed boastfully—announced that they had already sworn out false or grossly exaggerated domestic violence complaints against their hapless husbands, and that the device worked!”— New Jersey attorney^[20]

Mandatory Arrest and Prosecution:

• “Intimate partner homicides increased by about 60% in states with mandatory arrest laws.” — Radha Iyengar, Harvard University [21]
• “Increases in the willingness of prosecutors’ offices to take cases of protection order violation were associated with increases in the homicide of white married intimates, black unmarried intimates, and white unmarried females.” – Laura Dugan, PhD [22]
• “Evidentiary standards for proving abuse have been so relaxed that any man who stands accused is considered guilty.” —  Cheryl Hanna, Vermont Law School [23]

Effects on Families:

• Restraining orders amount to “state-imposed de facto divorce” through which the government “initiates and dictates the end of the intimate relationship as a solution to DV.” — Jeannie Suk, Harvard Law School [24]
• “These people have no idea of the damage they have done. I compare it to someone coming into your home and ransacking it.” – Laura P, domestic violence victim^[25]

Judicial Training Programs:

• “Your job is not to become concerned about all the constitutional rights of the man that you’re violating as you grant a restraining order. Throw him out on the street, give him the clothes on his back, and tell him, ‘See ya’ around.’” – Trainer at New Jersey judicial seminar^[26]
• Domestic violence cases are “hard to defend because these courts dispense a rather specialized kind of justice. In these cases, specially trained prosecutors plead cases before judges who’ve been specially trained to be ‘especially sensitive’ to a particular kind of crime.” – David Feige, public defender [27]

Immigration Fraud:

• “VAWA laws [are] being used within the immigration system to deny an American spouse a fair opportunity to present a defense to the USCIS when an allegation of abuse is made by a foreign spouse.” – Voice of American Immigration Fraud Victims [28]
•  “Over the years, I’ve talked with countless men and women who have similar stories to tell – American citizens who have lost access to their children, their homes, their jobs, and in some cases, their freedom because of false allegations of abuse.” – Julie Poner, victim of immigration fraud [29]

Financial Misconduct:

• “Simply put, in today’s economic environment, we cannot tolerate this level of malfeasance in federal grant programs.” – Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) [30]
• Our investigation “determined that the executive director of the [South Central Region Tribal Nations and Friends Domestic Violence] Coalition stole over $100,000 in grant funds, and two board members of the Coalition stole approximately $25,000 and $37,000, respectively.”  — U.S. Department of Justice [31]

False Allegations:

• A national survey of 10,000 households found 11% of respondents stated they had been falsely accused of domestic violence, child abuse, or sexual assault. — Stop Abusive and Violent Environments [32]
• We have witnessed the “immense, often irreparable harm caused to our clients by false allegations, not only to reputation and personal relationships, but often to the accused individual’s livelihood and even heath.” — National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers [33]
•  “If we prosecuted everybody for perjury that gets on a witness stand and changes their story, everybody would go to jail.” – Casey Gwinn, nationally recognized domestic violence prosecutor [34]
• “For someone to falsely accuse another out of anger and vengeance silences the voices of the many real victims.” – Judge Rucker Smith, Georgia [35]

 

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References

[1] Survivors in Action. Accessed July 30, 2011.  http://apps.facebook.com/causes/petitions/201?m=a4681d42, http://survivorsinaction.org/

[2] Partner Violence Reduction Act. www.saveservices.org/pvra

[3] Statement made August 2, 2007 http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48727521_connecticut_connecticut_governor_rell_signs_domestic_violence_prevention_bill

[4] House floor debate on HRES 817, October 26, 2009) http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/289628-101 Minute 61.

[5] Straus MA. Women’s violence toward men is a serious social problem. In Gelles RJ and

Loseke DR (eds.): Current Controversies on Family Violence. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 2004.

[6] Kruttschnitt C, McLaughlin BL, and Petrie CV (eds). Advancing the Federal Research Agenda on Violence against Women. Washington, DC: National Research Council, 2005, p. 6. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10849.html

[7] Parmley A. Violence against women post VAWA. Violence Against Women Vol. 10, No. 12, 2004. p. 1424.

[8] Office of Management and Budget. Program Assessment – Family Violence Prevention and Services Program. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/omb/expectmore/summary/10002150.2004.html

[9] U.S. Government Accountability Office. Services Provided to Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, and Stalking. Report No. GAO-07-846R, July 19, 2007, page 3. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07846r.pdf

[10] Center for American Progress. LGBT Domestic Violence Fact Sheet. 2011. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/06/pdf/lgbt_domestic_violence.pdf

[11] Picket K. Rep. Poe looks to have VAWA rewritten as gender neutral. Washington Times. July 21, 2011. http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/jul/21/picket-vawa-supporter-capitol-hill-looks-have-law-/

[12] National Center for Victims of Crime/National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Why it Matters: Rethinking Victim Assistance for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Victims of Hate Violence and Intimate Partner Violence. March 2010.

[13] Deposition of  Judy King Smith, September 9, 2008, pp. 16, 18, and 72.

[14] Ms. Foundation for Women. Safety and justice for all. New York, 2003, p. 17. www.ms.foundation.org/user-assets/PDF/Program/safety_justice.pdf

[15] Mankey M. Biggest civil rights roll-back since Jim Crow era. Everett Herald Net. October 13, 2009.

[16] Crouse JS. Written Statement, Senate Committee on the Judiciary: Violence Against Women Act. Concerned Women for America. May 5, 2010.

[17] Schlaffly P. Violence Against Women Act must be re-written. Townhall. July 12, 2011. http://townhall.com/columnists/phyllisschlafly/2011/07/12/violence_against_women_act_must_be_rewritten

[18] Independent Women’s Forum. Domestic Violence: An In-Depth Analysis. Washington, DC, 2005.

[19] Epstein E. Speaking the unspeakable, Massachusetts Bar Association Newsletter, 1993.

[20] Kiernan T. Re: False Claims. New Jersey Law Journal, April 21, 1988, Vol. 121, p. 6.

[21] Iyengar R. Does the certainty of arrest reduce domestic violence? Evidence from mandatory and recommended arrest laws. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, June 2007.

[22] Dugan L, Nagin D, and Rosenfeld R. Exposure reduction or backlash? The effects of domestic violence resources on intimate partner homicide. NCJ Number 186194. 2001. http://www.ncjrs.gov/app/Publications/Abstract.aspx?ID=186193

[23] Hanna C. The paradox of hope: The crime and punishment of domestic violence. William and Mary Law Review Vol. 39, 1998.

[24] Suk J. Criminal law comes home. Yale Law Journal, Vol. 116, No. 2, 2006. http://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/116-1/Suk.pdf

[25] Sacks G. Domestic violence system manhandles woman, family. October 31, 2006. http://www.glennsacks.com/enewsletters/enews_10_31_06.htm

[26] Bleemer R. N.J. judges told to ignore rights in abuse TROs. New Jersey Law Journal, April 24, 1995. http://www.ancpr.org/amazing_nj_legal_journal_article.htm.

[27] Feige D. Domestic silence: The Supreme Court kills evidence-based prosecution. March 12, 2004. http://www.slate.com/id/2097041/

[28] Voice of American Immigration Fraud Victims. About Us. www.immigrationfraudvictims.com .

[29] Poner J. Testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, July 13, 2011. http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=3d9031b47812de2592c3baeba61af68b&wit_id=3d9031b47812de2592c3baeba61af68b-1-4

[30] Grassley C. Hearing on “The Violence Against Women Act: Building on Seventeen Years of Accomplishments.” July 13, 2011.  http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=3d9031b47812de2592c3baeba61af68b

[31] Office of the Inspector General. Semiannual Report to Congress, April 1, 2007 – September 30, 2007. Page 34. http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/semiannual/index.htm

[32] Stop Abusive and Violent Environments. 11% Falsely Accused of Abuse, Survey Shows. Rockville, MD. June 2, 2011. http://www.saveservices.org/press-releases/11-falsely-accused-of-abuse-survey-shows-2/

[33] Stop Abusive and Violent Environments. 11% Falsely Accused of Abuse, Survey Shows. Rockville, MD. June 2, 2011. http://www.saveservices.org/press-releases/11-falsely-accused-of-abuse-survey-shows-2/

[34] Atty. Casey Gwinn, part 2 admits Perjury not Prosecuted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOClDr5DviU&feature=related

[35] Hudson Z. Jury acquits Rucker Smith. Americus Times-Recorder, May 5, 2006. http://www.americustimesrecorder.com/siteSearch/apstorysection/local_story_125003348.html