THE FACTS ABOUT VAWA

Services supported by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) make a difference to victims every day. In one 24-hour period, local domestic violence programs provided emergency shelter, transitional housing, supportive counseling, advocacy or other services to more than 67,000 victims.1 Over 90% of the 3,410 survivors participating in a national study of domestic violence shelters in the U.S. reported that they felt safer, more hopeful, and had more safety strategies post-shelter. Similar findings emerged from a study of non-residential domestic violence programs.2 VAWA-supported Sexual Assault Services Program advocates provide sexual assault victims with information and referrals, and help mitigate the likelihood that victims will experience secondary trauma or re-victimization by medical and legal systems than victims without advocates.3 Rape survivors supported by advocates were 59% more likely to file a police report than survivors without advocates. When advocates are present in the legal and medical proceedings following rape, victims fare better in both short- and long-term recovery, experiencing less psychological distress, physical health struggles, sexual risk-taking behaviors, self-blame, guilt, and depression.4 VAWA provides vital services for men, women and children. VAWA is subject to the same general anti-discrimination laws that apply to all federal government activities, and includes specific language noting that male victims cannot be denied VAWA-funded services.5

Women are disproportionally affected by sexual violence, intimate partner violence and stalking, but men are affected too. Nearly one in five women and one in 71 men have been raped in their lifetime.6 One in four women and one in seven men have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner.7 Women are more than four times more likely than men to be beaten, six times more likely to be slammed against something, and nine times more likely to be hurt by choking or suffocating.8 One in six women have been stalked during their lifetime; one in 19 men have experienced stalking in their lifetime.9

Reauthorizing VAWA is not only the right thing to do, its the smart thing to do making sure federal dollars go to highest priorities, address gaps, and have maximum impact.

The bi-partisan VAWA Reauthorization bill (S.47), recently passed by the Senate with a 78-22 vote, consolidates 13 existing programs into 4 to reduce administrative costs and avoid duplication, and reduces authorizations by 17% from the 2005 reauthorization levels in order to make VAWA the strongest, leanest, most cost-effective means of addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. VAWA saved governments more than $12.6 billion in net averted social costs in the first 5 years alone.10 In one state (Kentucky), protective orders alone are estimated to save at least $85 million annually.11 VAWA funding will help address the current reality that far too many sexual assault victims are still without services in their communities, and many sexual assault programs often lack resources to fully meet victims needs - 60% of programs have waiting lists for sexual assault counseling and 30% have waiting lists for support groups.12 Additionally, there were over 170,000 unmet requests for emergency shelter in 2011 because domestic violence programs lacked sufficient resources to respond.13 S.47 maintains enhanced protections for Native, LGBT and immigrant victims. These provisions were identified as critical priorities by advocates across the country and received overwhelming bipartisan support last year in the Senate.
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VAWA supports a coordinated justice system response to ensure safety for families and children. VAWA has contributed to a significant reduction in domestic violence. Between 1994 and 2010, the rate of intimate partner violence decreased by 64 percent.14 From 1980 and 2010, there has also been a steep decline in intimate partner homicides.15 These sharp declines have been attributed, in part, to changes in attitudes about the acceptability of abuse and the increased ability of victims to leave abusive relationships, factors facilitated by VAWA.16 VAWA encourages arrest where there is probable cause to believe domestic violence has taken place. All state and local law enforcement have the authority, independent from VAWA, to make arrests where there is probable cause to believe any crime has taken place. VAWA protects due process for all parties. In every state, there must be at least a preponderance of evidence to suggest that one partner has abused the other before a court will issue a civil protection order,17 and every state requires evidence to be established beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal proceedings. VAWA does not create any requirements on how states or local courts handle divorce and custody cases within their jurisdictions. The law in every state requires courts to award custody based on the best interests of the child.

When a survivor chooses to obtain a protective order a critical safety remedy established by the states and supported by VAWA more often than not, it reduces violence. A recent rigorous study of protective order effectiveness in Kentucky18 found protective orders to play an important role in our response to domestic violence. o Threats and physical abuse dropped dramatically during the six months after a survivor obtained a protective order. Threats to kill or harm decreased nearly 50 percent. Moderate physical abuse decreased 61 percent and severe physical abuse decreased nearly 50 percent. Protective orders reduce all types of intimate partner violence: psychological, financial, physical, and sexual. o For half of the victims in the sample during the 6-month follow up period, protective orders were not violated; even among those who experienced violations, there were significant reductions in abuse and violence. o Overall, victims were less fearful of future harm from the restrained partner at the 6-month follow-up and a vast majority felt the protective order was fairly or extremely effective.
Domestic Violence Counts 2011: A 24-hour census of domestic violence shelters and services. The National Network to End Domestic Violence (2012). http://nnedv.org/docs/Census/DVCounts2011/DVCounts11_NatlSummary_Color.pdf. 2 See Meeting Survivors Needs studies (2009 and 2011) National Resource Center on Domestic Violence & University of Connecticut School of Social Work at http://www.vawnet.org/research/MeetingSurvivorsNeeds/. 3 Campbell, R. (2006). Rape survivors experiences with the legal and medical systems: Do rape victim advocates make a difference? Violence Against Women, 12, 30-45. doi:10.1177/1077801205277539) 4 Ibid. 5 42 USC 13925(b)(8) 6 Black, M.C., Basile, K.C., Breiding, M.J., Smith, S.G., Walters, M.L., Merrick, M.T., Chen, J., & Stevens, M.R. (2011). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Summary Report and Fact Sheet. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 7 Ibid. (This number increases to one in six for gay males. See Walters, M.L., Chen J., & Breiding, M.J. (2013). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_SOfindings.pdf.). 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Clark, K. A., Biddle, A. K., & Martin, S. L. (2002). A cost-benefit analysis of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. Violence Against Women, 8(4), 417428. (Erratum published January 2003, Violence Against Women, 9, p. 136) 11 The Kentucky Civil Protective Order Study: A Rural and Urban Multiple Perspective Study of Protective Order Violation Consequences, Responses, & Costs (2009). https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228350.pdf. 12 Survey by the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence programs (2012). 13 2011 Domestic Violence Services Report (Date updated: 10/2012). Family Violence Prevention and Services Program, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 14 Catalano, S. (2012, November). Intimate Partner Violence, 1993 2010. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ipv9310.pdf. 15 Puzzanchera,C, Chamberlain,G & Kang,W. Easy Access to the FBIs Supplemental Homicide Reports: 1980-2010, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2012) at http://ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezashr/; U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates: Historical Data, at http://www.census.gov/popest/data/historical/. 16 See Zimring, F. (Feb/March 2013). On the Meaning and Limits of Good News From the National Crime Victimization Survey. Domestic Violence Report. Civic Research Institute. 17 Standards of Proof for Domestic Violence Civil Protection Orders (CPOs) by State. (6/2009). Prepared by the University of Baltimore School of Law Clinic; updated by the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence & Sexual Violence. http://www.ambar.org/cdsv. 18 Ibid. At 11.
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