The violence
against women act
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), enacted in 1994, creates and supports comprehensive, cost-effective responses to the pervasive and insidious crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking.
The VAWA Act of 2019 was a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act for five more years. It would have made necessary and vital improvements to prevent domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking and to hold offenders accountable.
Key Facts
The Reauthorization Act of 2019 includes improvements that address bullying, support prevention education for students, and expands training for campus health centers.
3000+
programs
VAWA supports nearly 1,900 domestic violence programs and over 1,300 rape crisis centers that provide core services such as crisis intervention, specialized education, and solutions to prevent violence.
1+
million
Between 2014-2016, VAWA programs provided over 1 million services to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and/or child or elder abuse.
Closes the “boyfriend loophole” by prohibiting non-married people who are convicted of dating violence or misdemeanor stalking, from possessing firearms.
Protects Native American women by improving tribal access to crime information databases and expanding tribal criminal authority over non-Indian perpetrators of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, and trafficking.
If you want to learn more about sexual and domestic violence visit:
National Task Force to End Sexual Domestic Violence “The Critical Role of
VAWA: Services to Victims and their Families”
Take Action
It is up for reauthorization every five to six years and on April 4th 2019 the House of Representatives passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019 with bipartisan support, which the Senate failed to reauthorize. To get updates on ways to take action when the legislation is re-introduced, and for more ways to support survivors, sign-up for our updates!
Resources
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or sexual violence, please use these resources:
- U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 and TTY 1-800-787-3224
- General resources from NNEDV
- NNEDV State and U.S. Territory Coalitions against domestic violence
- NNEDV “If You Are Being Abused” article