Senators Reauthorize Violence Against Women Act
A group of senators recently joined together to introduce the Violence Against Women Act of 2022, following last year’s passage in the House.
The legislation will expand prevention efforts and protections for survivors of domestic violence, and provide increased resources and training for law enforcement and the judicial system.
The original Violence Against Women Act was signed in 1994 by then-President Bill Clinton, and the new act would reauthorize VAWA federal grant programs through 2026 and modernize a law that is nearly three decades old.
The act would do this by strengthening rape prevention and education efforts, support rape crisis centers, improve the training of sexual assault forensic examiners and broaden access to legal services for all survivors.
It would also build on the 2013 reauthorization to expand special criminal jurisdiction by tribal courts to cover nonnative perpetrators of sexual assault, among other things.
“We agreed that we had to introduce a bill that would both deliver the critical assistance survivors across America need, and achieve the necessary bipartisan support to pass the Senate. We are confident the bipartisan agreement we reached will do just that,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in a statement.
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