SUMMARY: The Violence Against Women Act, first enacted in 1994, is up for reauthorization in Congress. In response, 102 organizations are calling for major reforms to VAWA, as well as to state-level domestic violence laws. These organizations represent a broad range of constituencies, both liberal and conservative.
Many of the Needed Reforms listed in the right-hand column are broad in scope. In contrast, some Needed Reforms pertain to specific provisions in House bill H.R. 1585, which passed on April 4, 2019. The reforms include:
- End over-criminalization
- Stop false allegations
- Provide services to male victims of domestic violence
- Assure a transparent legislative drafting process
- Other concerns
| No. | Organizations | Needed Reforms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OVER-ARCHING REFORMS – 41 groups | |||
| 1 | Let Freedom Ring, Faith and Freedom Coalition, American Civil Rights Union, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, Family Talk, National Center for the Prevention of Community Violence, Tea Party Nation, Tradition, Family, Property, Inc., Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital, Women for Democracy in America, Inc., Religious Freedom Coalition, Children First Foundation, Christian Coalition of America, Accuracy in Media, Liberty Counsel, Liberty Counsel Action, Accuracy in Academia, Center for Military Readiness, Institute on Religion and Democracy, Frontiers of Freedom, Honest- Ribbon.org, Maryland Federation of Republican Women, National Tax Limitation Committee, Maryland Taxpayers Association, Fight for Tomorrow, National Center for Public Policy Research, Project 21, Coalition for a Strong America, Victims of Immigration Fraud, Center for Prosecutor Integrity, Defending Our Father’s House, Marriage Savers, Domestic Violence Wears Many Tags, PAS Intervention, Douglass Leadership Institute, Domestic Violence Counseling Center, and Conservatives of Faith (38 groups) | 1. Be responsive to victims’ wishes
2. Direct resources to persons in greatest need 3. Promote family preservation 4. Assure limited government 5. Safeguard due process 6. Make the legislative drafting process open and transparent |
|
| 2 | Independent Women’s Forum
Link: |
1. Make VAWA more effective and accountable.
2. Include all victims rather than singling out specific groups for special protection based on gender, sexual orientation, or other group status. 3. Return flexibility to states and localities so they might tailor programs to meet the needs of their particular communities. 4. Encourage a more comprehensive approach to treating the complex causes of intimate partner violence. |
|
| 3 | Heritage Foundation | Concerns with House VAWA bill H.R. 1585:
1. Expands definitions of domestic violence 2. Expands restrictions on firearm possession 3. General and specific constitutional concerns 4. Distracts from VAWA’s original design and purpose |
|
| 4 | African-Americans for VAWA Reform | 1. Make domestic violence laws sex-inclusive
2. Assure culturally-sensitive laws 3. Respect due process 4. Stop false allegations 5. Curb wrongful prosecutions 6. Assure accountability of funds |
|
| END OVER-CRIMINALIZATION – 46 groups | |||
| 5 | State Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions: Alabama Coalition Against Rape; Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault; Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault; California Coalition Against Sexual Assault; California Partnership to End Domestic Violence; CAWS North Dakota; Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault; End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin; Florida Council Against Sexual Violence; Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault; Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence; Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault; Jane Doe Inc. (Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence); Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc.; Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault; Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence; Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence; Mississippi Coalition Against Sexual Assault; Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence; Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence; New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault; New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence; New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc.; New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault; North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence; North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault; Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence; Ohio Domestic Violence Network; Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape; Tennessee Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence; Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault; Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence; Violence Free Colorado; Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance; Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs; Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault. (46 state coalitions)
Link: https://endtodv.org/pr/46-state-abuse-coalitions-call-for-end-to-harsh-vawa-driven-criminal-justice-policies/ |
1. End “increased policing, prosecution, and imprisonment as the primary solution to gender- based violence.”
2. Rein in mandatory arrest policies. 3. Rely on “transformative justice approaches.” |
|
| STOP FALSE ALLEGATIONS – 6 groups | |||
| 6 | Capital Research Center | “The damage that groups funded under VAWA do to men falsely accused of domestic abuse is hard to estimate.” | |
| 7 | Leading Women for Shared Parenting
Link: http://lw4sp.org/ |
“Each VAWA re-authorization cycle brings renewed effort to expand definitions of domestic violence. This results in the increasing use of the “silver bullet” technique in divorce and child custody cases. The “silver bullet” involves allegations of abuse in order to gain the upper hand in litigation. Any VAWA re- authorization should include provisions sanctioning persons who encourage, suggest, “coach,” or otherwise support leveling allegations without confirming physical evidence that the alleged abuse actually occurred.” | |
| 8 | Center for Immigration Studies
Link: https://cis.org/Cadman/Inherent-Unfairness- Immigration-Provision-Violence-Against-Women-Act |
Under VAWA, “an alien can allege that her (or his) spouse engages in domestic violence and abuse and — without that citizen having a chance to clear his (or her) name….How can this travesty of justice take place? Clearly there are significant emotional, financial, and perhaps even professional employment consequences that can flow from such a Kafkaesque adjudication.” | |
| 9 | ImmigrationFraud.com | “The perfect way to bypass regular background checks and the two-year marriage requirement? Make false domestic violence allegations — either emotional of physical. These provisions are part of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).” | |
| 10 | Victims of Immigration Fraud
Link: http://voif.org/ |
“The K-1 Fiancée visa system has a loophole that encourages false allegations of domestic abuse. The accuser is given an incentive to self petition themselves into the United States (VAWA I 360 | |
| exception) these same provisions also 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, whether it is a man or a woman.” | |||
| 11 | Stop False Allegations of Domestic Violence (online petition)
Link: https://www.petition2congress.com/ctas/stop- false-allegations-domestic-violence |
“We, the undersigned, are writing in hopes of bringing to your attention a dire misjustice that is occurring in our state as well as many others across the US. Laws enacted to protect the victims of the vile crime of domestic violence are being misused by both citizens as well as law enforcement, and in this process innocent men’s lives are being destroyed. In most states, the burden of proof is being thrown out and the simple word of the accuser is being taken without question, many times without the accused even being allowed to speak.” | |
| PROVIDE SERVICES TO MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE – 3 groups | |||
| 12 | Eagle Forum | “For 30 years, the feminists have been pretending that their goal is to abolish all sex discrimination, eliminating all gender differences no matter how reasonable. When it comes to domestic violence, however, feminist dogma preaches that there is an innate gender difference: men are naturally batterers and women are naturally victims (i.e., gender profiling). Starting with its title, VAWA is just about as sex discriminatory as legislation can get. It is written and implemented to oppose the abuse of women and to punish men. Ignoring the mountain of evidence that women initiate physical violence nearly as often as men, VAWA has more than 60 passages in its lengthy text that exclude men from its benefits.” | |
| 13 | Dads and Moms PAC | “Our society has moved beyond the premise that all domestic violence and sexual assault is perpetrated by men. This one-sided claim is often thrown out to gain a strategic advantage in divorce and custody cases. The general public is outraged at the misuse of protection orders, as well. Equal protection must be afforded to all citizens. Despite the original good intentions of VAWA, this law must now be reformed.” | |
| 14 | Domestic Violence Wears Many Tags | “According to the Centers for Disease Control, about one in three (33.3% or 37.2 million) American men experience sexual violence, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetimes; and 13.4% of male high school students report being physically or sexually abused by a dating partner. But VAWA services don’t assist boys and men who are victims of domestic and sexual violence. That needs to change.” | |
| ASSURE A TRANSPARENT LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING PROCESS – 3 groups | |||
| 15 | SAVE | “The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence is the behind-the-scenes power-broker that, more than any other group, controls the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)…Despite the fact that the National Task Force exerts enormous power over public policy, it operates as a clandestine entity with no accountability to the public, lawmakers, or domestic violence stakeholders.” | |
| 16 | National Parents Organization | “U.S. public policy on domestic violence is being controlled by an organization that is utterly secret. We neither know…what the NTF is, what it does, who funds it, who is affiliated with it, or whether it violates federal law.” | |
| 17 | Focus on the Family
Link: Other Groups |
“As this important legislation is discussed, we expect community leaders, not just special interests, to have a seat at the table when the drafting committee is proposing changes to the current [VAWA] law.” | |
| OTHER CONCERNS – 3 groups | |||
| 18 | National Rifle Association
Link: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nra-violence-against-women-act/ |
“In April 2019, when the U.S. House of Representatives voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, the NRA opposed the move due to the addition of amendments that would lower the criminal threshold required to bar someone from buying a gun.” | |
| 19 | Gun Owners of America
Link: https://gunowners.org/vawa-threat-to-gun-owning-women/ |
“On guns, the House bill, H.R. 1585, would allow anyone a gun owner has dated to strip the gun owner of their Second Amendment rights by convening a “secret court” — often by just a telephone call to a pliant judge. Then, by simple allegations not backed up by any proof, the “angry jilted lover” could override constitutional protections by claiming that the person had “harassed” them or that they felt unsafe.” | |
| 20 | Judicial Watch | Under the House VAWA bill, “Unemployment benefits will be provided to employees separated due to harassment, domestic violence, and stalking with no meaningful requirement that the allegations be proven….The exorbitant cost isn’t the only thing that should concern taxpaying Americans. The proposed measure is downright alarming.” | |