Calendar No. 312
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Calendar No. 312 112TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! 2d Session SENATE 112–153 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2011 MARCH 12, 2012.—Ordered to be printed Mr. LEAHY, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following R E P O R T together with MINORITY VIEWS [To accompany S. 1925] The Committee on the Judiciary, to which was referred the bill (S. 1925), to reauthorize and improve the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon, with amendments, and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. CONTENTS Page I. Background and Purpose of the Violence Against Women Reauthoriza- tion Act of 2011 .......................................................................................... 1 II. History of the Bill and Committee Consideration ....................................... 15 III. Section-by-Section Summary of the Bill ...................................................... 19 IV. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate ................................................ 35 V. Regulatory Impact Evaluation ...................................................................... 35 VI. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 35 VII. Minority Views ............................................................................................... 36 VIII. Changes to Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported ........................... 57 I. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2011 A. BACKGROUND Over the last 18 years, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has provided life-saving assistance to hundreds of thousands of 19–010 VerDate Mar 15 2010 07:15 Mar 16, 2012 Jkt 019010 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR153.XXX SR153 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with REPORTS 2 women, men, and children. Originally passed by Congress in 1994 as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, this landmark, bipartisan legislation was a response to the prevalence of domestic and sexual violence and the significant im- pact of such violence in the lives of women. The legislation offered a comprehensive approach to reducing this violence and marked a national commitment to reverse the legacy of laws and social norms that served to excuse, and even justify, violence against women. The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011 renews that commitment and further strengthens our national ef- forts to stop domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in all their forms. Championed by then-Senator Joseph Biden and Senator Orrin Hatch, the original Violence Against Women Act was supported by a broad coalition of experts and advocates including law enforce- ment officers, prosecutors, judges, victim service providers, faith leaders, health care professionals, and survivors. The law has been reauthorized twice—in 2000 and 2005—with unanimous Senate ap- proval and overwhelming support from States and local commu- nities. With each reauthorization, VAWA has been improved in mean- ingful ways to reflect a growing understanding of how best to meet the varied and changing needs of survivors. Among other signifi- cant changes, the reauthorization of VAWA in 2000 improved the law with respect to the needs of battered immigrants, older victims, and victims with disabilities. In 2005, the reauthorization included a new title to address the epidemic of violence experienced by Na- tive American and Alaska Native women. It placed an emphasis on providing access to services for victims of underserved groups. Both reauthorizations created new programs and extended protections to additional victims. They both strengthened victim services and en- hanced judicial and law enforcement tools to combat domestic vio- lence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The impact of the Violence Against Women Act has been remark- able. The law’s emphasis on a coordinated community response— which brings together law enforcement, the courts, and victim serv- ices—resulted in a paradigm shift in the way communities address violence against women. The Act improved the criminal justice sys- tem’s ability to keep victims safe and hold perpetrators account- able. It provided victims with critical services such as transitional housing, legal assistance, and supervised visitation services. As a result of this historic legislation, every State enacted laws to make stalking a crime and to strengthen criminal rape statutes, and the annual incidence of domestic violence has decreased by 53 percent.1 Even with this progress, however, domestic and sexual violence remain a significant and widespread problem. According to the re- cent National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey con- ducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 24 peo- ple per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States.2 Over the course of a 1 Shannan Catalano, et al., Female Victims of Violence, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (September 2009), retrieved from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/intimate/ ipv.htm. (Decrease is based on data collected between 1993 and 2008). 2 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, Centers for Disease Control and Pre- vention (December 2011), retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVSl Report2010-a.pdf (hereafter, NISVS survey). VerDate Mar 15 2010 06:38 Mar 16, 2012 Jkt 019010 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR153.XXX SR153 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with REPORTS 3 year, that equals more than 12 million women and men. Nearly one in five women and one in 71 men have been raped in their life- time.3 Nearly one in four women and one in seven men report ex- periencing severe physical violence by an intimate partner,4 and 45 percent of the women killed in the United States die at the hands of an intimate partner.5 Some racial and ethnic minority communities experience much higher rates of violence than the general population, particularly women who identify as multiracial non-Hispanic or American In- dian/Alaska Native. Approximately half of all women who identi- fied as multiracial or Native American have been victims of domes- tic violence, compared to one-third of white women. One in three Native American and multiracial women has been raped, compared to one in four white women.6 In 2007, black women were four times more likely than white women to be murdered by a boyfriend or girlfriend and twice as likely to be killed by a spouse.7 B. KEY PROVISIONS OF THE LEGISLATION The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011, like the two prior reauthorizations, builds on the success of existing law and seeks to address remaining unmet needs. The changes pro- posed in S. 1925 are the result of substantial input from profes- sionals working with the survivors of domestic and sexual violence around the country, including law enforcement officers, victim serv- ice providers, judges, and health care professionals. In developing S. 1925, the Committee majority worked to con- tinue the tradition of strong bipartisan support for the Violence Against Women Act. The bill was introduced with a Republican original cosponsor, and additional Republican cosponsors joined soon after. These cosponsors were involved in extensive discussions about the content of the bill in the months preceding and following its introduction, and their input contributed significantly to the bill. The Committee majority also made significant efforts to work with the Committee minority to reach consensus on the bill.8 As 3 NISVS survey, supra note 2. 4 Id. 5 Catalano, et al., Female Victims of Violence, supra note 1. 6 NISVS survey, supra note 2. 7 Catalano, et al., Female Victims of Violence, supra note 1. 8 Contrary to the assertions in the Minority Views of Senators Grassley, Hatch, Kyl, and Cor- nyn, Senator Leahy’s outreach to the Committee minority about this bill was sustained and sub- stantive. The Chairman’s staff met with Committee minority staff repeatedly before introduction of the bill and provided minority staff with draft legislative language more than a month before the bill was introduced. The introduced bill included several major changes from the circulated draft to address concerns raised by the minority, including, among others, removal of a provision that incorporated guidance from the Department of Education on standards of proof in univer- sity disciplinary proceedings. The bill also included accountability provisions very similar to those proposed by Senator Grassley for the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and the Second Chance Reauthorization Act. The Chairman’s outreach continued after introduction of S. 1925. The Chairman’s staff contin- ued to meet repeatedly with Committee minority staff to discuss the bill. The substitute amend- ment adopted by the Committee at the Judiciary Committee’s Executive Business meeting on February 2, 2012, included several additional significant modifications requested by Republican Senators. Those included the elimination of many significant provisions intended to assist immi- grant victims of domestic and sexual violence to which members of the Committee minority raised objections, modifications of grant conditions to address concerns, limits on enforcement of a non-discrimination provision, and modification of the definition of ‘‘rural state’’ to ensure that