The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT, S. 1197” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S11121-S11124 on Oct. 5, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT, S. 1197
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the full Senate has finally taken up, considered and passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, S. 1197, bipartisan legislation that will further our goal of ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The enactment of the Violence Against Women Act over a decade ago marked an important national commitment to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. I am proud to join Senators Biden, Hatch, Specter, and others as an original cosponsor of this important measure, which currently has 58 cosponsors in total. I want to especially recognize Senator Biden for his commitment to ending violence against women and children.
Earlier in my career as a prosecutor in Vermont, I witnessed the devastating effects of domestic violence. Violence and abuse affect people of all walks of life every day and regardless of gender, race, culture, age, class or sexuality. Such violence is a crime and it is always wrong, whether the abuser is a family member, someone the victim is dating, a current or past spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend, an acquaintance or a stranger.
The National Crime Victimization Survey estimates there were 691,710 nonfatal, violent incidents committed against victims by current and former spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends--also known as intimate partners--during 2001. Of those incidents, 85 percent were against women. The rate of nonfatal intimate partner violence against women has fallen steadily since 1993, when the rate was 9.8 incidents per 1,000 people. In 2001, the number fell to 5.0 incidents per 1,000 people, nearly a 50-percent reduction but still unacceptably high. Tragically, however, the survey found that 1,600 women were killed in 1976 by a current or former spouse or boyfriend, while in 2000 some 1,247 women were killed by their intimate partners.
According to the annual Vermont Crime Report, the number of forcible rapes reported in Vermont increased in 2004 to the highest level in 7 years, while the amount of violent crime remained unchanged and overall crime fell by about 5 percent from 2003. Reported incidents of rape rose by 58 percent, from 117 in 2003 to 185 in 2004. The average age of the victim was 21, 47 percent of victims were younger than 18 years old, in 74 percent of the cases the perpetrator was an acquaintance of the victim, and in a quarter of the cases the defendant was a family member or intimate partner of the victim. In only 1 percent of the cases was the perpetrator a stranger. These figures cause me great concern because violent crime has declined nationwide during that same time period. Numbers like these are why reauthorizing VAWA is so vital.
Our Nation has made remarkable progress over the past 25 years in recognizing that domestic violence and sexual assault are crimes. We have responded with better laws, social support, and coordinated community responses. Millions of women, men, children and families, however, continue to be traumatized by abuse, leading to increased rates of crime, violence and suffering.
The Violence Against Women Act has provided aid to law enforcement officers and prosecutors, helped stem domestic violence and child abuse, established training programs for victim advocates and counselors, and trained probation and parole officers who work with released sex offenders. Now we on the Judiciary Committee and then the rest of our colleagues in Congress have the opportunity to reauthorize VAWA and make improvements to vital core programs, tighten criminal penalties against domestic abusers, and create new solutions to other crucial aspects of domestic violence and sexual assault. This is an opportunity to help treat children victims of violence, augment health care for rape victims, hold repeat offenders and Internet stalkers accountable, and help domestic violence victims keep their jobs.
Included in VAWA 2005 are reauthorizations of two programs that I initially sponsored that are vital to helping rural communities battle domestic violence in a setting in which isolation can make it more difficult for both victims and law enforcement. In a small, rural State such as Vermont, our county and local law enforcement agencies rely heavily on cooperative, interagency efforts to combat and solve significant problems. That is why I sought to include the rural domestic violence and child victimization enforcement grant program as part of the original VAWA. This program helps make services available to rural victims and children by encouraging community involvement in developing a coordinated response to combat domestic violence, dating violence and child abuse. Adequate resources combined with sustained commitment will bring about significant improvements in rural areas to the lives of those victimized by domestic and sexual violence.
The rural grants program section of VAWA 2005 reauthorizes and expands the existing education, training and services grant programs that address violence against women in rural areas. This provision renews the rural VAWA program, extends direct grants to State and local governments for services in rural areas and expands areas to include community collaboration projects in rural areas and the creation or expansion of additional victim services. This provision includes new language that expands the program coverage to sexual assault, child sexual assault and stalking. It also expands eligibility from rural States to rural communities, increasing access to rural sections of otherwise highly populated States. This section authorizes $55,000,000 annually for 2006 through 2010, which is an increase of $15 million per year.
The second grant program initiative on which I have focused is the transitional housing assistance grants for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking. This program, which became law as part of the PROTECT Act of 2003, authorizes grants for transitional housing and related services for people fleeing domestic violence, sexual assault or stalkers. At a time when the availability of affordable housing has sunk to record lows, transitional housing for victims is especially needed. Today more than 50 percent of homeless individuals are women and children fleeing domestic violence. We have a clear problem that is in dire need of a solution. This program is part of the solution.
Transitional housing allows women to bridge the gap between leaving violence in their homes and becoming self-sufficient. Our bill, VAWA 2005, amends the existing transitional housing program by expanding the current direct-assistance grants to include funds for operational, capital and renovation costs. Other changes include providing services to victims of dating violence, sexual assault and stalking; extending the length of time for receipt of benefits to match that used by Housing and Urban Development transitional housing programs; and updating the existing program to reflect the concerns of the service provision community. The provision would increase the authorized funding for the grant from $30,000,000 to $40,000,000.
Regrettably, this important bill was saddled in committee with an extraneous and ill-considered amendment, offered by Senator Kyl, relating to the national DNA database. Current law permits States to collect DNA samples from arrested individuals and to include arrestee information in State DNA databases. In addition, States may use arrestee information to search the national DNA database for a possible
``hit.'' The only thing that States may not do is upload arrestee information into the national database before a person has been formally charged with a crime.
Under the Kyl amendment, arrestee information can go into the national database immediately upon arrest, before formal charges are filed, and even if no charges are ever brought. This adds little or no value for law enforcement, while intruding on the privacy rights of people who are, in our system, presumed innocent. It could also provide an incentive for pretextual and race-based stops and arrests for the purpose of DNA sampling. Congress rejected this very proposal less than a year ago, after extended negotiations and consultation with the Department of Justice.
The Kyl amendment would also make it harder for innocent people to have their DNA expunged from a state database. Under current law, if a State chooses to enter a person's DNA profile into its database before the person is convicted of a crime, then the State must automatically expunge that information in the event that no conviction is obtained. Under the new language, even a person who is arrested in error and released without charge would need to obtain a court order before his DNA information could be removed from the database.
Databases are important tools to solving crime, but there are limits to what should be included in databases. The Kyl amendment raises serious privacy concerns that cannot be justified by any legitimate law enforcement need. I opposed it in committee, I continue to oppose it in its current form, and I will press for its exclusion in conference.
VAWA 2005 is an important part of our efforts to increase awareness of the problem of violence, to save the lives of battered women, rape victims, and children who grow up with violence and to continue progress against the devastating tragedy of domestic violence. I look forward to working with Senators Specter and Biden, Congressmen Sensenbrenner and Conyers and other members of the upcoming conference to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and thus strengthen the prevention of violence against women and children and its devastating costs and consequences.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, last night, the Senate passed by unanimous consent the Biden-Hatch--Specter Violence Against Women Act of 2005, S. 1197. It is a testament to the underlying goals of this legislation that this legislation was unanimously passed and garnered 57 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. I would like to thank Chairman Specter for his unyielding efforts to get this bill passed, and I would like to thank Senator Hatch for his longstanding support for this effort. The act expired on September 30. The House has passed its legislation, so it is imperative that we get the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 to conference and to the President's desk immediately.
The Violence Against Women Act of 2005 makes many critical improvements to the original act that we passed over 10 years ago. Many in this Chamber are well aware that I consider the Violence. Against Women Act the single most significant legislation that I have crafted during my 32-year tenure in the Senate. Indeed, the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 was the beginning of a historic commitment to women and children victimized by domestic violence and sexual assault. Our Nation has been rewarded for this commitment. Since the act's passage in 1994, domestic violence has dropped by almost 50 percent, incidents of rape are down by 60 percent, and the number of wowen killed by an abusive husband or boyfriend is down by 22 percent. Today, more than half of all rape victims are stepping forward to report the crime. And since we passed the act in 1994 over a million women have found justice in our courtrooms and obtained domestic violence protective orders.
``This is a dramatic change from 10 years ago. Back then, violence in the household was treated as a ``family matter'' rather than a criminal justice issue. Because we took action, the criminal justice system is much better equipped to handle domestic violence, and it is treated for what it is, criminal. The goal of the legislation passed is to usher the Violence Against Women Act into the 21st century. With this legislation we attempt to look beyond the immediate crisis and takes steps to not only punish offenders, but to also do more to help victims get their lives back on track, and prevent domestic violence and sexual assault from occurring in the first place.
This bill is truly a cooperative effort. As Senator Hatch, Senator Specter and I drafted this bill, we listened closely to suggestions from both sides of the aisle, and we listened carefully to the input from those with wide ranging opinions on how to combat this problem. In particular, we listened to those who are on the front lines fighting to end violence, such as police officers, emergency room nurses, victim advocates, shelter directors, and prosecutors. Based upon these discussions, we made targeted improvements to existing grant programs and we tightened up the criminal laws.
The groups that assisted with drafting this bill included the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, Legal Momentum, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, the National Center for Victims for Crime, the American Bar Association, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Council on Family and Juvenile Court Judges, the National Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association and many others. I would personally like to thank them for the work that they do each and every day to make our Nation a better, safer place for its citizens.
No doubt, the bill that we have passed today is ambitious. We have made tremendous strides in treating domestic violence and sexual assaults as public crimes over the past 10 years. We have helped ensure that offenders were held accountable, and we created coordinated community responses to help victims. The Violence Against Women Act of 2005 will help us look beyond the immediate crisis and provide long-
term solutions for victims, and we will redouble our prevention efforts. This is why we included important efforts to ease the housing crisis for victims fleeing their homes, included efforts to engage boys and men to prevent domestic violence from occurring in the first place, enlisted the healthcare community in identifying and treating victims, and to help stop the cycle of abuse suffered by immigrant women and provided tough new regulations for international marriage brokers to ensure that they provide foreign brides with information related to the background of their potential husband and their rights if they are abused.
Despite all of the strong points of this legislation, it could be made better. In particular, I had hoped that provisions from Senator Murray's Security and Financial Empowerment Act, SAFE, would have remained in the bill. This amendment would provide some fundamental economic protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Just as the Family Medical Leave Act protects individuals caring for a sick loved one, the SAFE Act would allow domestic violence victims to take time off from work to appear in court cases and other judicial proceedings without jeopardizing their employment at a time they need it the most. The SAFE Act is important legislation, and I believe that there is bi-partisan support for it. Unfortunately, we were not able to reach a consensus on this amendment and, as a result, it is not part of this final bill. It is my hope that the Senate will revisit this issue soon, and I look forward to working with Senator Murray in this effort.
One of the primary concerns expressed about the bill is that it simply costs too much. This is certainly understandable given our Nation's financial situation right now, but I have always said that the safety of the American people is the single most important responsibility for Federal, State, and local governments. And, while money doesn't solve every problem, there are very few, if any, efforts related to preventing violence and fighting crime that can be solved without money. As such, it is simply a fact that this effort will continue to cost money. I would argue that the results over the past 10 years show that this has been money well spent, and I hope that the Congress will continue to fund these efforts. In fact, there is evidence that we have received a net return on this investment. A 2002 university study found that money spent to reduce domestic violence saved nearly ten times the potential costs through the years of 1995 and 2000. During that time, the Federal Government spent $1.6 billion for the act's programs and, as a result, we avoided spending an estimated $14.8 billion on medical, legal and other victimization costs that arise from domestic violence. On an individual level, the bill costs roughly $15.50 per woman in the United States and saves an estimated $159 per woman. This evidence suggests that our success in ending family violence cannot be signal to reduce funding, rather, it is a call to continue to do more. We simply can't afford to lose the gains that we have made. We have found a winning combination, and we need to stick with it.
The Senate's action today demonstrates that eradicating violence against women is truly a shared goals, one that is held by Democrats and Republicans, one that is upheld by men and women, and one that is desired by both Government and by the private sector. I would like to thank my colleagues of the Senate for their support of this important legislation. In particular, I want to thank Senator Hatch, a long-
standing champion on this issue. Since 1990, Senator Hatch and I have worked together to end family violence in this country, so it is no great surprise that once again he worked side-by-side with us to craft today's bill. I am also deeply indebted to Senator Kennedy for his unwavering commitment to battered immigrant women and his work on the bill's immigration provisions. I also thank Senator Leahy who has long-
supported the Violence Against Women Act and, in particular, has worked on the rural programs and transitional housing provisions. Finally, I want to thank my very good friend from Pennsylvania for his commitment and leadership on this bill. It is a pleasure to work with Senator Specter, and I want to thank him for expeditiously moving this legislation through the Judiciary Committee and through today's action by the Senate. I look forward to working in the future with all of my colleagues to ensure that we continue to strive to the important goals of the Violence Against Women Act of 2005. This effort will require a bi-partisan commitment.
Again, I am thankful to Senators Reid and Frist for their work on seeing that bill is passed and to all of my colleagues who unanimously supported the Violence Against Women Act of 2005.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, last evening, S. 1197, ;the Violence Against Women Act, was passed out of the Senate. I commend the Judiciary Committee for including Title 9, Safety for Indian Women, in its bill to reauthorize the act. Title 9 focuses on the needs of Indian tribes to enable them to reduce and treat incidents of domestic violence in Indian country. Among other things, it would authorize the creation of tribal criminal history databases to document domestic violence convictions and protection orders and it creates a new Federal criminal offense authorizing Federal prosecutors to charge repeat domestic violence offenders before they seriously injure or kill someone. S. 1197 also would authorize the Bureau of Indian Affairs police and certain tribal officers to make arrests for domestic violence assaults committed outside of their presence.
Since 1999, the Department of Justice has issued various studies showing that Indian women experience the highest rates of domestic violence compared to all other groups in the United States. These reports state that one out of every three Indian women are victims of sexual assault; that from 1979 to 1992, homicide was the third leading cause of death of Indian females between the ages of 15 to 34; and that 75 percent of those deaths were committed by a family member or acquaintance. What we don't know, however, is the impact of these violent acts on law enforcement, judicial, mental or medical services in Indian country. I am, therefore, pleased to see that this bill would authorize a comprehensive study of domestic violence in Indian Country to gauge the impact of these acts to Indian tribes and their resources. The findings of such a study will help the Congress and the administration to better focus resources to areas with the greatest need.
Earlier this Congress, Senator Dorgan and I introduced the Restoring Safety to Indian Women Act. We worked closely with the Senate Judiciary Committee to ensure that the provisions of this bill, some of which I mention here, were given due consideration. Throughout the more comprehensive S. 1197, Indian tribes would be eligible for various grants to enhance their victim services, judicial function, and law enforcement service capacity to the same extent as State and local governments are eligible.
Domestic violence is a national problem and not one that is unique to Indian country. Yet, due to the unique status of Indian tribes, there are obstacles faced by Indian tribal police, Federal investigators, tribal and Federal prosecutors and courts that impede their ability to respond to domestic violence in Indian country. Title 9 of this bill goes a long way toward removing these obstacles at all levels and to enhance the ability of each agency to respond to acts of domestic violence when they occur. These critical changes to the current law will greatly curb violence against Indian women, and perhaps even save lives.
Again, I thank the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for their thoughtful consideration in drafting a bill that includes an often forgotten segment of our population, the Nation's Indian tribes.
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