Violence Against Women

This piece of legislation was made into United States law in 1994, marking the year as one of the most productive in terms of women’s rights in decades. The Violence Against Women Act’s main focus was for the federal government to provide money to local authorities, so that they were better able to investigate and prosecute cases of domestic violence or any other violence against women. The act was signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13th of 1994, allowing the government to provide 1.6 billion dollars every year.

Along with the increased investigation and prosecution of violence against women, VAWA also provided funds for people accused of violent crimes to keep them behind bars for longer periods of time before the actual trial, the convicted felon is required to provide reparations for their crimes, and in cases that prosecutors choose not to prosecute, the victims may pursue civil actions. This bill, that was originally drafted by current Vice President Joe Biden’s office, has proved very important in cases of domestic violence and has been reauthorized in the year 2000 and 2005, with then President George W. Bush signing the bill into law.

Originally, after studies were done by the World Health Organization and there was a large push from several women’s groups, law enforcement agencies, and prosecutors, the Violence Against Women Act was meant to protect women from domestic violence. Since then, the act has changed to add quite a few more groups of people within the law and provide funding for them as well. From 1994 forward, VAWA has gone on to protect women that are experiencing violence while dating, sexual assault, cases of stalking, and also funds training for these subjects so that they can be dealt with in an efficient manner.

Even though this act has been helping women, children, and teens all over the United States, there are still people that are against it. Many believe that there are aspects to the law that are unconstitutional, such as increasing the time that an accused person spends in jail before the trial. There are also complaints about things like the mandatory HIV tests for anybody that is accused of violence against a woman, claiming that these types of tests violate an American citizen’s right to privacy.

The Violence Against Women Act will have to be reauthorized once again in 2011, and it is important that this actually gets done. The people out there that are fighting against VAWA will be hurting millions of our nation’s women if they succeed in their purpose. Keeping the spotlight on such an important law and letting the public know just how much it is helping should keep this legislation in the law books for a very long time to come.