PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Rebecca Stewart
Telephone: 513-479-3335
Email: info@EndToDV.org
VAWA Bill Drafters Ignore Travesty of Over-Arrest of Black Men, Mock Meaning of Black History Month
The “criminalization of social problems has led to mass incarceration of men, especially young men of color” – Ms. Foundation for Women[i]
WASHINGTON / March 2, 2022 – The Violence Against Women Act reauthorization bill, S. 3623, was recently introduced in the U.S. Senate. Despite extensive media coverage of the problem of over-arrest of Black men [ii],[iii],[iv],[v], the Senate bill completely sidesteps the problem. The Coalition to End Domestic Violence calls on federal lawmakers to oppose the flawed VAWA bill.
The Centers for Disease Control reports that Black men are more likely than Black women to be victims of sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking, each year:[vi]
- 48 million Black men (Table 5.6)
- 38 million Black women (Table 5.3)
And the Department of Justice documents that four out of five arrests of African-Americans for partner abuse are of men.[vii]
So Black men are more likely to be the victims of partner abuse. But inexplicably, Black men are also far more likely to be the person who is arrested.
The causes of these disparate effects are the mandatory arrest policies created by the Violence Against Women Act, and the VAWA-driven “predominant aggressor” policies that instruct police to arrest whichever person is bigger and stronger, not the person who initiated the violence.[viii]
The logical solution to the over-arrest of Black men would be to discourage such arrests, especially for first-time incidents that do not result in injury, and to stop the use of biased “predominant aggressor” policies. But the recent Violence Against Women Act bill does neither. The bill only softens the language, substituting the word “encourage” instead of “mandate” arrests (Section 102).
These minor word changes will have little impact on the actual practices of busy police officers who have to make quick decisions. And many police officers continue to believe the myths they’ve been told that the male is the perpetrator in the vast majority of cases.
Domestic violence cases in low-income communities are unique because the parties typically have an enduring bond of affection, and depend on each other for their bread-winning contributions, as well. So when a victim knows that police will not respect his or her wishes, he or she simply stops calling for help. Victims are rejecting the very system that ostensibly was set up to help them.
The over-arrest of Black men also has devastating effects on the Black family. Once a man has been arrested – even if he is later cleared on all charges — he has a criminal record for the rest of his life. This affects the man’s job prospects, social standing, and family relationships.
And a Harvard University study found that mandatory arrest laws brought about a 54% increase in subsequent intimate partner homicides.[ix]
Black History Month is about addressing the persistent barriers and injustices that affect African-American communities. The harmful effects of the VAWA bill – introduced during Black History Month — on Black Americans are unacceptable. Members of Congress should vote ‘No’ on this flawed bill.
[i] Safety and Justice for All. New York, 2003, p. 17.
[ii] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj6992
[iii] https://endtodv.org/black-men/
[iv] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/florida-police-officers-charged-over-arrests-of-black-men/2021/08/02/d5c8269a-f1ad-11eb-bf80-e3877d9c5f06_story.html
[v] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/arrested-traumatized-black-people-comes-police-encounters-rcna888
[vi] https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/NISVS-StateReportBook.pdf
[vii] https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvs.pdf ,Table 5.9.
[viii] https://endtodv.org/pr/law-enforcement-needs-to-end-the-over-arrest-of-black-men-discontinue-use-of-predominant-aggressor-policies/