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(AVfM News, Washington November 30) Today the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act was introduced to the U.S. Senate. This follows an announcement on the Senate floor by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Monday evening. VAWA has been re-authorized in 2000 and 2005 and the current authorization expired in September. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), is cosponsoring.
This comes just weeks after an initiative by Leahy to introduce into VAWA a virtual copy and paste job of the “Dear Colleague” letter issued by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in which educational institutions receiving Title IX funding from the federal government were mandated to reduce the standard of evidence in disciplinary actions concerning sexual assault. That language was removed from the draft after an outcry from civil rights organizations as well as legal professionals.
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments, an organization dedicated to reforming domestic violence legislation nationwide, distributed an email today urging people to take this opportunity to call their senators and urge them to support the Partner Violence Reduction Act. SAVE also sent emails to senate staffers urging them to support the PVA as well and also directing them to a special report in which SAVE points out the civil rights violations imposed by VAWA. The SAVE report concludes, “The pervasive constitutional violations that emanate from domestic violence laws are now challenging Americans to dramatically recast our basic conceptions of a civil and just society.” The PVA is intended to correct the constitutional violations of VAWA and to acknowledge male victims of domestic violence.
In a press release posted on Leahy’s website the senator stated, “The Violence Against Women Act has been successful because it has consistently had strong bipartisan support for nearly two decades. I am honored to work now with Senator Crapo to build on that foundation. I hope that Senators from both parties will join us to quickly pass this critical re-authorization, which will provide safety and security for victims across America.”
It is rumored, however, that support for VAWA is no longer ubiquitous and that efforts from SAVE and other organizations have had an effect of causing more stringent scrutiny of domestic violence laws.
Sources:
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=ede57362-831d-4371-8b94-fb2cb6f35814
http://www.saveservices.org/pvra/overview/
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