Americans Call for Fundamental Changes to the Violence Against Women Act

PRESS RELEASE

Rebecca Stewart: 513-479-3335

Americans Call for Fundamental Changes to the Violence Against Women Act

WASHINGTON / June 24, 2021 – A majority of Americans, male and female, want to institute major changes to the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), according to a national survey. The survey was commissioned by the Coalition to End Domestic Violence and was conducted by YouGov, a leading polling research organization.

For the four topics of inquiry, men and women expressed similar levels of support for VAWA reform. Break-downs by sex are shown in parenthesis:

Sex Discrimination

50% of persons said VAWA should “remove all sex-discriminatory language and mandate the equitable treatment of male and female victims” (Males: 51%; Females: 49%)
An additional 29% favor changing the name of the law to sex-neutral wording such as the “Violence Against Persons Act” (Males: 27%; Females: 31%)

False Allegations

54% of Americans believe “VAWA should mandate the prosecution of persons who knowingly make false allegations” (Males: 54%; Females: 54%)
An additional 32% want VAWA to “tighten up definitions and strengthen standards of proof to discourage false allegations” (Males: 31%; Females: 33%)

Mental Health Focus

56% of Americans believe “VAWA should create a system in which mental health services are used first, and criminal justice approaches reserved for the more severe or repeated cases of domestic violence” (Males: 55%; Females: 57%)
Only 35% wanted VAWA to continue its current focus to “increase the number of arrests, prosecutions, and imprisonments” (Males: 33%; Females: 37%)

Financial Waste and Fraud

45% of Americans believe that the number of financial audits of VAWA grantees should be increased (Males: 46%; Females: 44%)
An additional 41% favor a three-year funding ban on organizations that are generally non-compliant with auditing requirements. (Males: 40%; Females: 42%)

The 2,458 survey respondents’ data were weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population ages 18+. The survey was conducted using an online interview administered to members of the YouGov panel of persons who agreed to participate. The wording of the survey questions and results, including break-downs by age, geographical region, race, education, marital status, parental status, income, political party, and political viewpoint are available online (1).

In addition, 102 leading organizations have issued calls to make major reforms to VAWA (2).

The Coalition to End Domestic Violence urges federal lawmakers to suspend current deliberations on the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization until the views of Americans can be thoroughly reviewed and considered.

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