VAWA Reauthorization: A Personal Plea for Action

As some of you know, I spent my 2L summer and 3L year of law school clerking for the local DA's office. Nine months of that life-changing, soul affirming year were spent prosecuting domestic violence offenders. I could tell you one hundred terrible stories from my time there, but for every bad story I have two stories that made me feel better about the world I lived in. It is not an exaggeration to say that the attorneys I clerked with were some of the most passionate and hardworking people I have ever known. They truly worked to give a voice to the voiceless to empower victims of domestic violence of all stripes, to take control of their lives and their safety, to harness a network of resources to lead survivors to a better future.

Some of those attorney's positions were funded (in part) by VAWA (Violence Against Women Act), a federal funding program that provides $1.6 billion to enhance investigation and prosecution of violent crimes perpetrated against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted.

VAWA funds a tremendous amount of good in local communities. It helps ensure individuals fleeing domestic violence can find shelters, food, clothing, job training and support, safety planning and more. It helps fund programs to train police officers and to staff special positions for DV investigators and prosecutors within cash-strapped departments so 'minor' incidents, like protective order violations, are follow-up on and prosecuted before they develop into greater tragedies. FN1. Through VAWA, survivors can get access to:

~ Community violence prevention programs
~ Protections for victims who are evicted from their homes because of events related to domestic violence or stalking
~ Funding for victim assistance services, like rape crisis centers and hotlines
~ Programs to meet the needs of immigrant women and women of different races or ethnicities
~ Programs and services for victims with disabilities
~ Legal aid for survivors of violence

FN2. VAWA helps women change the locks on their doors, buy a bus ticket to a family member who might provide them shelter in another state, gives them a hand to hold during a SAFE kit examination following a sexual assault. FN3. It provides funding for programs that allow for the safe exchange of children and supervised visitation. FN4.

VAWA, despite its name, does not only serve women. It provides funding for positions that assist elder abuse victims receive assistance and protection. FN5. It assists those with disabilities, who face special difficulties in reporting but also with safety planning and prosecution. FN6. It helps same-sex survivors get the protection they need, rather than have incidents of intimate violence written off as simple assaults. FN7. It provides appropriate counseling and other resources for additional vulnerable populations, like immigrants and non-native speakers. FN8. FN9. The current bill also seeks to extend those protections to Tribal communities, which are in desperate need of resources and education on issues of intimate violence. FN10. FN11.

Is VAWA expensive? Not in comparison to the money it saves. A 2002 study found that VAWA saved an estimated $12.6 billion in net averted social costs in its first six years alone. FN12. Even small investments in VAWA have been shown to make a difference on the ground. FN13.

VAWA was initially drafted by then-Senator Joesph Biden in 1994. At the time it was called "the greatest breakthrough in civil rights for women in nearly two decades." It has been reauthorized several times, and each time there has been mounting opposition. This latest reauthorization comes at a time when women's autonomy is under attack in a number of ways, and this one is critical to the lives and safety of literally thousands of women, men, and children.

Today, I am a strong, proud and successful woman, but back in 1994, when VAWA was first created, I was a scared sixteen year old girl whose life was threatened on a daily basis. I reached out over and over for help -- for me, my younger brother, my two elderly and disabled grandparents. There were four victims in our house, two women and two men, two young and two old, two disabled. We all needed help, every last one of us, and we were all captives to violence and silence. It is not an exaggeration to say that there were days that I literally begged for my life, for all our lives. I came out of that circumstance with a dim view of government, of whether anyone could have helped me.

Working in the DA's office in the Domestic Violence unit showed me that there are people who spend every day of their lives trying to protect and save people like me. It healed something in me that I didn't realize was broken. It gave me solace. It gave me hope. I believed that, in another time and place, someone might have helped me, could have helped me, if only the could have reached me.  VAWA helps people like the men and women I worked with reach people in need, people like I once was. I am eternally grateful to the wonderful men and women who do that work, and I pray every day for their continuing strength and their success.

VAWA is not a "boondoggle" or "feminist slush fund." It provides critical funding for services desperately needed by survivors. Please call, write, email, text, whatever works for you. Please, contact your Senators and ask them to support VAWA.

I am asking you, today, please, take five minutes of your time, and help those advocates, prosecutors, police officers, counselors, and survivors. Please. I implore you. Especially, if you feel your representative is against VAWA reauthorization and funding. Let them know you care about VAWA, you are watching their votes, and that you will take it into consideration the next time your current Senator is running for office. If your Senator is supporting VAWA, also please take the time to thank them. They need all the thanks they can get, and reassurance in this tense time that they are on the right track.

VAWA could go to the Senator floor for a vote as early as next week. Time is of the essence.  Please act now! You can find out more how to contact your Senators here.

You could be saving the life of someone like me.

Thank you.

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FN1. Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforcement of Protection Orders.

FN2. Violence Against Women Act, Wikipedia, [Viewed March 15 2012].

FN3. Sexual Assault Services Program (SAPS).

FN4. Safe Havens.

FN5. Enhanced Training and Services to End Violence and Abuse of Women Later in Life Program. This funding stream expressly states "individuals who are 50 years of age or older" and does not address sex or gender of the abused.

FN6. Education, Training and Enhanced Services to End Violence Against and Abuse of Women with Disabilities

FN7. "Let me put this on the table," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California. "This bill includes lesbians and gay men. The bill includes undocumented immigrants who are victims of domestic abuse. The bill gives Native American tribes authority to prosecute crimes. In my view these are improvements. Domestic violence is domestic violence." Ted Barrett, Accusations fly in Senate over Violence Against Women Act, CNN.com [Viewed March 15 2012].

FN8. Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program.

FN9. Culturally and Linguistically Specific Services for Victims Program.

FN10. Grants to Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions, is only one of several VAWA grant funding streams.

FN11. "One of the provisions in the act would allow tribes to prosecute offenders who are not Native American or Alaska Native when their victims are and the violence happens on a reservation." Tribes seek support for VAWA act, The Jamestown Sun, [Viewed March 15 2012].

FN12. Clark, K. A, Biddle, A., & Martin, S. (2002). A cost-benefit analysis of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. Violence Against Women, 8(4), 417-428.

FN13. Boba, R., & Lilley, D. (2008). Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) funding: A nationwide assessment of effects on rape and assault (No. NCJRS 225748). Violence Against Women, 15(2), 168-185.