Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act Of 2013: Policy Analysis

Domestic violence is skyrocketing in our society. In the U.S., as many as 1.5 million women and 850,000 men were physically assaulted by their intimate partner last year, and numerous children abused by their parents. These sad criminal acts will continue to grow in our society, unless our community takes action to stop these crimes.

Joe Biden and the United States Congress recognized the severity of violence against women and the need for national policy by passing the Violence Against Women Act in 1994. The original Violence Against Women Act, for short VAWA, provided provisions holding offenders accountable for their crimes and ensured programs to provide services for victims of violence (whitehouse.gov, n.d.). VAWA improved the criminal justice response to violence against women with federal funds given to law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, etc. every year to ensure adequate training and understanding

The needs that were aimed to be met by the VAWA of 1994 were to hold rapist accountable for their crime by strengthening federal penalties, mandating that victims are not forced to bear the expense of their own rape exams or for protection orders, increasing rates of prosecution, conviction and sentencing, and educating police. The VAWA has ensured that victims and their families have access to the services such as the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The legislation created programs within the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services that aimed to reduce domestic violence and improve response to and recovery from domestic violence incidents.

Because of this funding, more women are being recognized as victims and have equal access to help regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and immigration status. Hence, in addition to saving lives, VAWA 2013, saves money by reducing or even preventing future violence as well as related social costs.

Many women are experiencing violence against them, whether it be physical, mental, or verbal. According to Kirk, Terry, Lokuge, and Watterson, “Violence against women (VAW) is a major issue worldwide, with an estimated 35% of women, or roughly 1 in 3, experiencing either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime” (p. 2). There have been many groups that have been created to combat violence against women. The group I will be focusing on is White Ribbon group. The White Ribbon are the defenders of women.

The easy availability of electronic personal information raised concerns with domestic violence shelter providers who are obligated to protect the identities and physical location of domestic violence victims. HUD required domestic violence shelters to include victims in the homeless count in order to have accurate information upon which to make funding and policy decisions, and in 2005 Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) (Robinson, 2014). VAWA eliminated the requirement to enter victims' personal identifying information into the HMIS, forcing local service providers to find alternate data collection methods.

In 1994 the Violence Against Woman Act (VAMA) was passed by Congress in order to help better protect women who were victims of not only domestic violence and sexual assault, but also stalking and dating violence. In 2013 President Obama signed a bill to strengthen and reauthorize the VAMA. In addition, the bill removes barriers faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) victims, maintained protections for battered immigrants and took the important step of also reauthorizing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in this same legislation, and VAWA will bring justice for Native American victims (Jarrett, V. (2013, March 7). VAWA has become the first piece of federal legislation that includes nondiscrimination provisions on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (Kindschi, D. (July, 2013)

With grant funding as a source of reward and with the backing of many leaders in the battered women’s movement, VAWA utilized this golden opportunity to encourage states to adopt compulsory arrest policies that permitted domestic violence cases to move forward without the consent of the victims. Eighteen years later, VAWA, an active vocal group of researchers and lawmakers are questioning whether VAWA’s original urge to make law implementation was the basic tool to put a check domestic violence was the right approach. It’s now evident that “VAWA’s focus majorly on law enforcement controls. VAWA has also worked to increased prosecution rates of domestic violence

“One in four women will experience domestic violence at some point in their life.” Look around, count off groups of girls and women in groups of four, one of those girls are statistically more likely to experience a verbal threat, a hand, or even the possibility of a man killing her, and there is not enough punishment for this violence to end. Throughout the years domestic violence has become more and more relevant and apparent in society. The problems these abusers create for women, family, and children has to end.

In relation to this, domestic violence is a major issue. It is a controversial subject at hand in today’s society and many people are affected, whether it is public or privately known. This type of family violence is complex and many people ask why it is so violent and why it is considered violent. To respond to these questions, an article was released on countries that outlaw domestic violence. This article stated that “in recent years, sexual harassment has been publicly acknowledged as harmful to women, and countries are taking the first steps by adopting legislation prohibiting it” (www.unicef.org). Because of many speculations and confusion, domestic violence is categorized into specific offences: marital rape is a criminal offence and sexual harassment laws. “[The] laws that criminalize gender-based violence are positive steps but they offer not guarantees. Worldwide, even where laws are in place, prosecution of perpetrators is rare, and successful prosecutions uncommon” (www.unicef.org). Although these laws are passed and enforced in many countries around the world, violence still occurs and women are still being violated and abused, whether it is publically or privately, in a family relationship.

Physical and sexual violence is a public health problem. It affects more than one third of all women

On March 7, 2013, President Barack Obama signed the reauthorization Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) into law. The statutory changes made by VAWA requires institutions of higher education to compile statistics for certain acts that are reported to campus security authorities or local police agencies including incidents of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. Additionally, all institutions of higher education are required to implement certain policies, procedures, and programs pertaining to these acts. Since 1994, Congress recognized the need to establish a national strategy to combat violence against women while construing a comprehensive approach to hold offenders accountable while providing programs and services

The Violence Against Women Act has giving women the feeling that they can get full control of their bodies without any repercussion. An important fact to remember here is violence was the leading cause of injury to women ages 15–44, that as many as 50 percent of women and children are homeless as a result of living in a violent situations at home .

The United States has over 1,500 domestic violence shelters and programs for battered women. One acclaimed program that helps survivors of domestic violence and protects victims is the ‘National Coalition against Domestic Violence’. This organization collaborates with other national organizations to promote legislation and policies concerning domestic abuse (NCADV, 2016). The NCADV’s goal is, “To seek macro-level change in order to create a society in which domestic violence is never tolerated or minimized, in which victims and survivors are respected, and in which service providers have the resources to serve all victims and survivors” (NCADV, 2016).

According to Center for Disease and Prevention, violence is a public health problem in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2010). Violence affects people of all ages ranging from infants, children, elderly to the disabled. For my health promotion activity, I choose Gender- based violence which is any act of violence against women and girls. Violence against women and girls has been a global issue that needs to be addressed. The issue of gender based violence is not only a public health is in the United States it is a public health and social problem that affects women and girls around the world, a hidden epidemic. As a woman and a health care professional I believe that violence against anybody, including women and girls should not be accepted, it is a violation of human right and liberty. Violence against women and girls is any action that is gender based that result in physical, emotional, sexual harm or suffering to women and girls. These actions could take place in the community, public or private, it could be cultural or religious related. The result of violence against women is alarming and could be life threatening.