Violence against Women Act of 1994

Elizabeth M. Schneider

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) (P.L. 103-322, 108 Stat. 1902) was introduced in Congress in 1990 and enacted as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to address the widespread problems of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other forms of violence against women. VAWA is a comprehensive law that includes measures to reduce the frequency of violence against women, provide services to victims of gender-based violence, and hold perpetrators accountable.

FEATURES OF VAWA

The act effected the following changes:

  • • the creation of a national domestic violence hotline
  • • increased funding for battered women's shelters
  • • new criminal penalties for domestic violence committed across state lines and interstate violations of protection orders
  • • required states to enforce orders of protection issued by other states
  • • increased prison sentences for certain federal sex crimes, with perpetrators required to make restitution to victims
  • • the creation of a mechanism enabling battered immigrant women to obtain lawful immigration status without relying on the assistance of an abusive citizen husband
  • • provided funding for increased education on sexual assault and domestic violence and for studies of gender bias in federal courts
  • • the creation of a civil rights remedy for victims of gender-motivated violence, which would allow victims of such violence to bring suits in federal court against perpetrators for violation of the victims' civil rights—a remedy later deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court

PROPONENTS OF THE ACT

Support for VAWA came from a broad range of organizations, and much of the organizing around this legislation occurred at the grassroots level. Proponents of VAWA argued that violence against women is a form of discrimination based on sex. Because a climate of fear prevents women from participating equally in society, gender-based violence has the effect of turning women and girls into second-class citizens. Proponents argued that violence against women is a pervasive problem that keeps women from fully participating as citizens in their homes, workplaces, and in society in general. Existing state and federal laws, they claimed, were inadequate to address this problem.

Congress heard testimony from a wide variety of witnesses, who presented the following information in support of VAWA:

  • • three out of four American women will be victims of violent crimes sometime during their life
  • • as many as 50 percent of homeless women and children are fleeing domestic violence
  • • an estimated four million women are battered each year by their husbands or partners
  • • the incidence of rape rose four times as fast as the total national crime rate
  • • an individual who commits rape has only about 4 chances in 100 of being arrested, prosecuted, and found guilty of any offense
  • • less than 1 percent of rape victims has collected damages
  • • almost one-quarter of all convicted rapists never go to prison and another quarter received sentences in local jails where the average sentence is eleven months
  • • almost 50 percent of rape victims lose their jobs or are forced to quit because of the crime's severity

After intensive lobbying by supporters, VAWA gained wide bipartisan support in Congress for most of its provisions. The civil rights remedy created by the VAWA was by far the most controversial element of the legislation. Opponents argued that the civil rights remedy would bring before the federal courts issues traditionally and more properly dealt with by the state courts, such as domestic relations and other family and crimincal law matters. Proponents maintained that existing state laws provided inadequate and ineffective remedies to victims of gender-based violence.

SUPREME COURT CHALLENGE AND SUBSEQUENT LEGISLATION

In 2000 the Supreme Court considered a challenge to the civil rights remedy created by VAWA in United States v. Morrison. The Court held that Congress did not have the power to enact this provision and deemed it unconstitutional. The act's other provisions were unaffected.

The same year Congress passed VAWA 2000, which reauthorized the original VAWA provisions and created a number of new provisions. One of these provisions made it easier for battered immigrant women to obtain lawful permanent resident status by cooperating in the prosecution of their batterers. VAWA 2000 also made money available to develop policies and training programs to address the needs of older women and women with disabilities.

VAWA directed a great deal of public attention to the issue of violence against women. As a result of this legislation, a federal office was created to administer VAWA grant programs, conduct studies, and provide information to the public on to gender-based violence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Frazee, David, et al., eds. Violence Against Women, Law and Litigation. Deerfield, N.Y.: Clark Boardman Callaghan, 1997.

Schneider, Elizabeth M. Battered Women and Feminist Lawmaking. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.

Schneider, Elizabeth M., and Clare Dalton. Battered Women and the Law. New York: Foundation Press, 2001.

Statistics on Violence against Women

From the Urban Institute, a nonprofit organization for economic and social policy research:

  • • More than half of sexual assaults are committed by partners, friends, or acquaintances of the victim.
  • • Approximately two million women per year are severely assaulted by male partners in the United States.
  • • Domestic violence occurs in more than twenty-five percent of mar riages. Severe, repeated violence occurs in one of every fourteen marriages.
  • • In 1994, twenty-eight percent of female murder victims were killed by their husbands or boyfriends.
  • • One-fifth of all medical visits by women, and one-third of all emer gency room visits by women, are due to battering.