A number of leading organizations have criticized the Violence Against Women Act and made recommendations for future action:

  1. Beverly LaHaye Institute: “women can routinely claim nebulous ‘psychological harm’ and keep a man out of his home, away from his children, possibly losing his job and ruining his reputation.”
  2. Concerned Women for America: VAWA “is, in large part, a rigid series of ineffective law enforcement programs.”
  3. Eagle Forum: VAWA “has done little or no good for real victims of domestic violence, while its funds have been used to fill feminist coffers and to lobby for feminist objectives and laws.”
  4. Everyday Feminism: “In many cases, a retributive process doesn’t do anything to address the underlying causes of violent and abusive behavior.”
  5. Family Research Council: VAWA represents an “abuse of taxpayer dollars” that “does more to promote a radical agenda than it does to help women.”
  6. Focus on the Family: “Focus on the Family encourages the inclusion of U.S. senators, representatives, and organizations concerned about family preservation, limited government, and the rule of law to serve on the committee drafting the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization. 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 law.”
  7. FreedomWorks: “The newest version of the VAWA, S. 47, contains very vague and broad definitions of domestic violence.”
  8. Heritage Foundation: VAWA “includes radical changes that greatly alter the original purpose of the law, already problematic in its own right.”
  9. Independent Women’s Forum: VAWA “overlooks many of the proven causes of violence (such as substance abuse), and has been a source of waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer resources.”
  10. National Parents Organization: “Our societal double standard on male and female-perpetrated domestic violence is fairly screaming to be examined, but no one wants to.”
  11. Ms. Foundation for Women: “Unfortunately, when state power has been invited into, or forced into, the lives of individuals, it often takes over.”
  12. National Research Council: Domestic violence treatment programs are often “driven by ideology and stakeholder interests rather than plausible theories and scientific evidence of fact.”
  13. Victims of Immigration Fraud: “Some provisions of the Violence Against Women Act are being used by foreign national spouses to bypass the immigration laws of the United States.”