PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Rebecca Stewart
Telephone: 513-479-3335
Email: info@EndToDV.org
One Year Ago, 46 Abuse Coalitions Demanded Major Reforms to VAWA. Is Congress Paying Attention?
WASHINGTON / July 15, 2021 – On July 14, 2020, forty-six state domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions issued a passionate statement calling for major changes to the Violence Against Women Act. The document expressed regret for the movement’s long-standing focus on “increased policing, prosecution, and imprisonment as the primary solution” to domestic violence (1). One year later, there is no evidence that Congress has begun to implement the needed changes.
The “Moment of Truth” paper criticizes mandatory arrest policies, which were established in jurisdictions across the nation as a result of VAWA grant requirements. Mandatory arrest, which side-steps constitutional requirements for probable cause, instigates the workings of the entire criminal system: investigations, indictments, prosecutions, imprisonment, and parole.
Research shows mandatory arrest often has the opposite of the intended effect. A Harvard University study concluded, “Intimate partner homicides increased by about 60% in states with mandatory arrest laws…Mandatory arrest laws are responsible for an additional 0.8 murders per 100,000 people.” A report by the Coalition to End Domestic Violence provides detailed evidence of the adverse effects of mandatory arrest policies (2).
On March 17, the House of Representatives approved the VAWA reauthorization bill, H.R. 1620. While the House bill includes a section on “alternatives to the criminal justice response,” it does nothing to relax existing mandatory arrest laws. Indeed, the bill encourages the “arrest of offenders” (Sec. 102), not recognizing that many domestic violence incidents are low-level misdemeanors that are better handled outside the criminal system. Numerous women’s leaders have called for ending the over-criminalization of domestic violence (3).
The “Moment of Truth” statement was endorsed by the following 46 organizations:
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.
The Coalition to End Domestic Violence urges lawmakers to rethink and rework the Violence Against Women Act to resolve the over-criminalization of domestic violence.
Citations: