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Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Violence Against Women Act: Overview, Legislation, and Federal Funding

Lisa M. Seghetti
Section Research Manager

Jerome P. Bjelopera
Specialist in Organized Crime and Terrorism


In 1994, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA, P.L. 103-322). The act was intended to change attitudes toward domestic violence, foster awareness of domestic violence, improve services and provisions for victims, and revise the manner in which the criminal justice system responds to domestic violence. The legislation created new programs within the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services that aimed to reduce domestic violence and improve response to and recovery from domestic violence incidents. VAWA primarily addresses certain types of violent crime through grant programs to state, tribal, and local governments; nonprofit organizations; and universities. VAWA programs target the crimes of intimate partner violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

In 1995, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was created administratively within the Department of Justice to administer federal grants authorized under VAWA. In 2002, Congress codified the OVW as a separate office within the Department of Justice (DOJ). Since its creation, the OVW has awarded more than $4.7 billion in grants. While the OVW administers the majority of VAWA authorized grants, other federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Office of Justice Programs, also manage VAWA grants.

Since 1994, VAWA has been modified and reauthorized several times. In 2000, Congress reauthorized the programs under VAWA, enhanced federal domestic violence and stalking penalties, added protections for battered nonimmigrants, and created programs for elderly and disabled women. In 2005, Congress again reauthorized VAWA. In addition to reauthorizing the programs under VAWA, the legislation enhanced penalties for repeat stalking offenders; added additional protections for battered and trafficked nonimmigrants; and created programs for sexual assault victims and American Indian victims of domestic violence and related crimes; and created programs designed to improve the public health response to domestic violence.

Authorization for appropriations for the programs under VAWA expired in 2011. Two bills have passed in both chambers that would reauthorize most of the programs under VAWA, among other things. On April 26, 2012, the Senate amended and passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011 (S. 1925). On May 16, 2012, the House passed an amended version of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012 (H.R. 4970). H.R. 4970 differs in substantive ways from S. 1925, including with respect to the VAWA-related immigration provisions, the authority it would give Indian tribes to enforce domestic violence and related crimes against non-Indian individuals, and in the populations it would include under its definition of underserved population.

In brief, some of the more contentious issues that have surfaced during the debates in both chambers include

  • a proposed temporary increase to the cap on the number of U visas available for nonimmigrants; 
  • a proposal to place new restrictions on the VAWA immigration provisions for nonimmigrant victims seeking to obtain legal status; 
  • a proposal to amend the certification process for U visa applicants; 
  • a proposed inclusion of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) population in the definitions of underserved population; and 
  •  a proposal to give American Indian tribes increased jurisdictional power over domestic violence cases involving non-tribal victims and/or perpetrators. 

Following the passage of H.R. 4970, a procedural complication referred to as a “blue-slip problem” emerged that has the potential to stall negotiations between the two chambers’ versions of the bill. According to the Origination Clause of the U.S. Constitution, all revenue-raising legislation must originate in the House. S. 1925, as passed by the Senate, contains a provision that would increase fees on diversity visas.



Date of Report: June 7, 2012
Number of Pages: 44
Order Number: R42499
Price: $29.95

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