Violence Against Women Act Analysis

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Violence Against Women Act, VAWA, is a federal law signed in by Congress in 1994. It focused on, originally, domestic violence, sex crimes, and bringing awareness to such crimes towards women. It has been revised and reauthorized several times since present to add more oppressed diverse groups; such as, sex trafficking, Indian tribes, and same sex partners including males. Other additions have included modifying sex rape kits per state, stalking, and several grant programs. The act strives to hold offenders accountable for their physical and sexual criminal acts towards women. VAWA produced new programs within the Department of Justice, Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control grant programs. These programs provided services …show more content…

Opposition of VAWA seemed to stem from the Republican Party the most. Republicans strengthened their opposition when the protection of same sex partners were added. (Darling, 2012). This includes males if they are in a sexual relationship with other males. (Darling, 2012). Others have reported to accuse the policy of being too general and spending too much money, like $455 million dollars, and not addressing real issues. (“Problems with VAWA,” 2012). The Problems with VAWA report addressed their concern by stating, “Instead of addressing the root problems of violence and ending battering, the broad definitions of violence in VAWA mean that husbands are thrown in jail based on flimsy allegations of causing “emotional distress” or “unpleasant speech.” (“Problems with VAWA,” 2012, p. 1). The debate still remains between conservative and liberals of how to properly address and help women’s issues affected by …show more content…

Research has shown that there is a growing positive outcome of advocacy, law enforcement, prevention, intervention, resources, and protection. (Sacco et al., 2015). While grant programs have been utilized and resulted positively for battered women, it also has been made known that no one wants to be against battered women. (“Problems with VAWA,” 2012). Some opinions remain that there are underlying issues not being resolved while still spending immense amounts of money. The ongoing effort to strengthen victim advocacy and expedite helpful resources is ever growing. Since 1994, the policy has continued on a journey of helping battered women, their families, and a broader basis of sexual offenses to enforce with more appropriate punishment. It has acknowledged modern day ideals of including other minority oppressed groups; such as, trafficking victims, immigrant victims, Indian tribes, and same sex intimate partners. The policy presently includes many avenues for battered persons and families to gain resources and strength to rehabilitate from violence and also enforcing stricter laws for appropriate punishment towards its offenders. I hypothesize that the reauthorization of this act will continue to grow, make revisions, become more diverse, and change the social consciousness towards battered persons and their

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