WASHINGTON (AP) — As part of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Violence Against Women Act, the White House on Thursday will announce new efforts to combat online harassment and abuse and ease the housing problems many families face. domestic violence as they try to escape their abusers.
President Joe Biden authored and sponsored the bill as a United States Senator. It was the first comprehensive federal law that focused on combating violence against women and sought to support survivors and justice. It sought to change the national narrative around domestic violence at the time; that it was a private matter best left alone.
The White House said that between 1993 and 2022, the rate of domestic violence decreased by 67 percent, and the rate of rape and sexual assault decreased by 56 percent, according to FBI statistics.
In a 1990 hearing on domestic violence, Biden told the committee that “for too long we have ignored the right of women to be free from fear of attack based on their sex. For too long we have been silent on the obvious. .”
Biden spent years advocating for the law, moved by horrific stories of domestic violence. In 1994, it was passed with bipartisan support.
Biden is expected to speak Thursday at an anniversary celebration where he will detail ongoing efforts to strengthen the law, including the Justice Department’s announcement of more than $690 million in grant funding, including efforts to serve orders of protection electronically and strategies to address online gender-based violence, a growing problem that law enforcement officials is difficult to counter.
Federal agencies also sent out reminders about housing rights for domestic violence survivors living in federally funded homes, including the ability to request emergency transfers.
White House gender equality policy adviser Jen Klein said the measures are intended to continue efforts to help survivors of domestic violence.
“While we have made tremendous progress since VAWA was signed into law in 1994, we also know that much work remains in the fight to prevent and end gender-based violence,” she said.
The law was reaffirmed in 2022, but it almost didn’t happen. The latter point was a provision of the motion approved by the previous parliament in April 2019, which would have prohibited those previously convicted of aggravated stalking from possessing firearms.
Under current federal law, those convicted of domestic violence can forfeit their guns if they are currently or previously married to, living with, have a child with, or are the victim’s parent or guardian. However, the law does not apply to stalkers or current or former dating partners. Lawyers have long called it the “boyfriend loophole.”
Expanding the restrictions drew fierce opposition from the National Rifle Association and congressional Republicans, creating an impasse. Democrats backed down and did not include the provision.
That provision was later included in Biden’s bipartisan gun safety legislation signed into law by Congress later that year, and now prohibits people convicted of dating offenses from purchasing or possessing firearms for at least five years.
