42 U.S.C. ch. 136 (originally expired on February 15, 2019, reauthorized on March 15, 2022)
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 3355 by Jack Brooks (D–TX) on October 26, 1993
Committee consideration by House Judiciary
Passed the House on November 3, 1993 (voice vote)
Passed the Senate on November 19, 1993 (95–4, in lieu of S. 1607)
Reported by the joint conference committee on August 10 and 21, 1994; agreed to by the House on August 21, 1994 (235–195) and by the Senate on August 25, 1994 (61–38)
Signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994
Major amendments
VAWA was reauthorized on March 15, 2022, by President Joe Biden
United States Supreme Court cases
United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598 (2000)
Paroline v. United States, 572 U.S. 434 (2014)
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law (Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, H.R. 3355) signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress when prosecutors chose to not prosecute cases. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the U.S. Department of Justice.
The bill was introduced by Representative Jack Brooks (D-TX)[1] in 1994 and gained support from a broad coalition of advocacy groups.[2] The Act passed through both houses of the U.S. Congress with bipartisan support in 1994, however, House Republicans attempted to cut the Act's funding the following year.[3] In the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Morrison, a sharply divided Court struck down the VAWA provision allowing women the right to sue the accused in federal court. By a 5–4 majority, the Court overturned the provision as exceeding the federal government's powers under the Commerce Clause.[4][5]
VAWA was reauthorized by bipartisan majorities in Congress in 2000 and again in December 2005. The Act's 2012 renewal was opposed by conservative Republicans, who objected to extending the Act's protections to same-sex couples and to provisions allowing battered undocumented immigrants to claim temporary visas, but it was reauthorized in 2013 after a long legislative battle. As a result of the United States federal government shutdown of 2018–2019, the Act expired on December 21, 2018. It was temporarily reinstated via a short-term spending bill on January 25, 2019, but expired again on February 15, 2019. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill reauthorizing VAWA in April 2019 that includes new provisions protecting transgender victims and banning individuals convicted of domestic abuse from purchasing firearms.[6] In an attempt to reach a bipartisan agreement, Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) led months of negotiation talks that came to a halt in November 2019. Senator Ernst has said she plans to introduce a new version of the bill, and hopes it will pass in the Senate.[7]
The Independent Women's Forum has urged Congress to include provisions enhancing penalties for female genital mutilation (FGM) and funding to combat FGM.[8] According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 513,000 women and girls in the U.S. are at risk of FGM or have already been subjected to such abuse.[9] The 2019 House version of VAWA, H.R. 1585, does not include any additional federal penalties for FGM.[10] VAWA was reauthorized on March 15, 2022, by President Joe Biden.
^"Cosponsors - S.11 - 103rd Congress (1993-1994): Violence Against Women Act of 1993". www.congress.gov. September 10, 1993. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
^"Report: 1 Is Too Many: Twenty Years Fighting Violence Against Women and Girls" (PDF). whitehouse.gov. September 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 21, 2017 – via National Archives.
^Cooper, Kenneth (July 15, 1995). "House GOP Budget Cutters Try to Limit Domestic Violence Programs". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
^Bierbauer, Charles (May 18, 2000). "Supreme Court strikes down Violence Against Women Act". CNN. Archived from the original on February 13, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
^Greenhouse, Linda (May 16, 2000). "Women lose right to sue attackers in federal court". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
^"House passes reauthorization of Violence Against Women Act". CNN. April 4, 2019.
^"Senate talks on crafting bipartisan Violence Against Women Act break down". Roll Call. November 7, 2019. Archived from the original on January 11, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
^"Female Genital Mutilation IS Violence Against Women". Independent Women's Forum. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019.
^"FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING: Existing Federal Efforts to Increase Awareness Should Be Improved". US GAO. August 1, 2016.
^"H.R.1585 - Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019". US Congress. April 10, 2019.
and 24 Related for: Violence Against Women Act information
The ViolenceAgainstWomenAct of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law (Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, H.R. 3355)...
United States Office on ViolenceAgainstWomen (OVW) was created following the ViolenceAgainstWomenAct (VAWA) of 1994. The Act was renewed in 2005, 2013...
Violenceagainstwomen (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), is violent acts primarily or exclusively...
Violenceagainstwomen in Pakistan, particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence, is a major public health problem and a violation of women's...
Organizations, also incorporating the Assault Weapons ban and the ViolenceAgainstWomenAct (VAWA) with Senator Orrin Hatch. Following the 101 California...
Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) is a human rights crisis of violenceagainst Indigenous women in Canada and the United States, notably those in the FNIM...
domestic violenceagainstwomen, violenceagainst men may constitute a crime, but laws vary between jurisdictions. Intimate partner violence (IPV) against men...
family violence laws of the jurisdiction. It was inserted into the ViolenceAgainstWomenAct of 1994 by section 3(a) of the ViolenceAgainstWomen and Department...
Violenceagainstwomen are acts of violence committed againstwomen. The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women...
partner violence includes the ViolenceAgainstWomenAct, which was reauthorized on March 16, 2022, as well as the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which...
stopped. In December 2022, the ViolenceAgainstWomenAct was amended to include Kānaka Maoli survivors of gender-based violence and Native Hawaiian organizations...
specifically authorized by the Congress. The passage of the ViolenceAgainstWomen Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013) signed into law on March 7, 2013 by...
benefits of a trade war are worth it. In 2013, at a forum on the ViolenceAgainstWomenAct (VAWA), Cramer engaged in "a testy exchange with Native American...
Activism againstviolenceagainstwomen aims at decreasing violence disproportionally committed againstwomen. Activism refers to "a doctrine or practice...
Violenceagainstwomen includes physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse of women by men, domestic violence being the most common form. Malaysia...
Violenceagainstwomen in Mexico includes different forms of gender-based violence. It may consist of emotional, physical, sexual, and/or mental abuse...
Violenceagainst indigenous women often has higher rates than violenceagainst non‐indigenous women.[where?][citation needed] Many indigenous communities...
Global Information