Office on Violence Against Women
The United States Office on Violence Against Women was created following the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. The Act was renewed in 2005, 2013 and again in 2022. The Violence Against Women Act legislation requires the Office on Violence Against Women to work to respond to and reduce violence against women in many different areas, including on college campuses and in people's homes. VAWA requires Office on Violence Against Women to administer justice and strengthen services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
The Office on Violence Against Women is headed by a director, who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The principal deputy director serves directly under the director, as do the deputy directors. Until January 2017, Bea Hanson, Ph.D., was the acting director and principal deputy director. When Hanson resigned in January 2017, Deputy Director Nadine M. Neufville became acting director.
As an office in the United States Department of Justice, the Office on Violence Against Women receives federal funding for federal grants that are awarded to communities across America. These grants are used to create successful partnerships between federal, state, tribal, and local authorities as well as provide helpful services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. During fiscal year 2017, Office on Violence Against Women awarded $450,000,000 of grants. For example, Sexual Assault Services Program assists victims of sexual assault and family members affected by it. Since its inception, Office on Violence Against Women has awarded over $6 billion in grants directed towards such projects.
Organization
The Office on Violence Against Women is headed by a director. The principal deputy director serves under the director, and the deputy director for tribal affairs under the principal deputy director. On the third and lowest tier of the office rests Training and Technical Assistance, Program Development and Evaluation and Demonstration/Special Projects.Director
Former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie Campbell was appointed the first director of the Office on Violence Against Women in March 1995.Diane Stuart became director of the Office on Violence Against Women in October 2001. Stuart had been helping victims of domestic violence since 1989, and she worked as Utah Governor Mike Leavitt's Coordinator for Domestic Violence since 1996. Stuart created Utah's first mobile crisis team; trained police officers would arrive at crime scenes to counsel victims and offer resources.
The 2002 authorization bill for the United States Department of Justice elevated the position to a presidential appointment requiring confirmation by the Senate. The Director serves as the liaison between the Federal, state, tribal, and international governments in regards to matters concerning Violence Against Women. The Director also serves in that role internationally, with Native American tribes in the country, and within other offices of the United States Federal Government. The Director reports to the Attorney General and is responsible for the legal and policy provisions that are implemented under the Violence Against Women Act. The Director of the Office on Violence Against Women also has ultimate control over all grants, cooperative agreements and contracts that the Office on Violence Against Women issues, and oversees a budget of almost $400 million.
List of directors
Grant programs
The Office on Violence Against Women administers approximately 24 grant programs. Twenty programs use discretionary grant funds and four use formula grant funds. The Office can determine both how discretionary funds will be used and in what context. formula grants are must be distributed according to how the legislation describes. In order to receive funding under the formula grant program, the grant applicant must meet certain standards and qualifications.Current formula grant programs
| Name | Description |
| STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grants to States | According to the Department of Justice, this program encourages law enforcement and criminal justice systems to improve their strategies and advocacy in response to violent crimes against women. This grant requires that state governments, organizations, and tribes "allocate 25 percent of the grant funds to law enforcement, 25 percent to prosecution, 5 percent to courts, and 30 percent to victim services. The remaining 15 percent is discretionary within the parameters of the Violence Against Women Act." According to Robert D. Evans representing the American Bar Association in congressional testimony for the VAWA of 2005, "VAWA-funded programs, including the Civil Legal Assistance and STOP Grants programs, have improved and aided in the prosecution of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse cases; provided necessary training and support for law enforcement personnel; and increased civil legal services for victims of domestic violence, especially in the areas of civil protection orders and family law matters." STOP grants were appropriated $175 million, and an additional $50 million went to Transitional Housing Assistance Grants. A Criminal Justice Policy Review on this program and its effectiveness revealed that an increase of involvement of agencies with the community leads to a greater likelihood of programs experiencing success. |
| Sexual Assault Services Program | The Sexual Assault Services Program's mission is "to provide intervention, advocacy, accompaniment, support services, and related assistance" for all who are adversely affected by sexual assault. The utilities include a 24-hour sexual assault hotline and the maintenance/expansion of rape crisis centers. More specifically, the grants for the Sexual Assault Services Program help rape prevention clinics to provide up-to-date technology and methods of communication between young victims of sexual assault and caregivers. These public awareness campaigns play a critical role in informing teenagers of their rights and responsibilities with respect to sexual abuse. A fraction of the Sexual Assault Services Program's funds support the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, which contains resources related to sexual violence."VAWA 2005 authorized the appropriation of $50 million for each of Fiscal Years 2007 through 2011 for the Sexual Assault Services Program. |
| State and Territorial Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Coalitions Program | This program creates statewide sexual assault coalitions that work with federal and local entities to support victims through advocacy, education, training and other services. According to the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative of the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine, the Violence Against Women Act of 2000 required the grant recipients and Attorney General to collect data that measures the effectiveness of each grant in the community where the money was donated in a semi-annual progress report. |
| Grants to Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions | The Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions Program targets non-profit organizations, groups and individuals to improve systems of advocacy in Indian Tribes in order to help the women living there. The Tribal Coalitions Program primarily pursues and works with judicial agencies and police to organize well-coordinated responses to sexual assault within the state, tribe or territory. |
Current discretionary grant programs
| Name | Description |
| Campus Grant Program | The "Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program" give money to institutions of higher education to help them improve their services, policies and protocols regarding domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. With this grant, institutions are required to "create a coordinated community response to violence against women on campus", including forging external partnerships with law enforcement, non-profit organizations and the courts, as well as internal relationships with on-campus offices and organizations. Additionally, the institutions must create a mandatory prevention and education program, a judicial or disciplinary board and provide for law enforcement training "to effectively respond in sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking cases on campus". |
| Culturally and Linguistically Specific Services for Victims Program | This grant aims to fund successful existing programs that serve specific groups of victims. In addition, the grant is designed to enhance the access that victims, children and families have to local services and resources. The focus of the grant is on community-based programs that provide culturally and linguistically specific services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. |
| Education, Training and Enhanced Services to End Violence Against and Abuse of Women with Disabilities | This program's mission is to promote organizations that provide services for women with disabilities. The grant targets individuals with disabilities and funds programs that supply education, advocacy, and outreach for them. The grant also provides for cross-training with participating organizations, technical assistance to modify policies and protocols and funding to improve existing facilities to better serve deaf individuals or those with other disabilities. |
| Tribal Sexual Assault Services Program and Sexual Assault Services Program-Cultural | The Sexual Assault Services Program, has a separate grant designated for Native American Tribes as well as another separate grant for nonprofits that support culturally specific communities. The goals of both of these grants are to "o provide direct intervention services and related assistance to victims of sexual violence and others collaterally affected " These services include advocacy, support groups, hotlines, crisis intervention, and training of agency members and outreach by agency members to make communities aware of the services that are available to them. Both grants provide for prevention efforts, research projects, criminal justice related projects, forensic medical examiner projects and training of other organizations or professionals. |
| Enhanced Training and Services to End Violence and Abuse of Women Later in Life Program | The objective of this grant is to address the needs of women 50 years and older by providing for training and other services that meet their specific needs." States, units of local government, Indian Tribal governments or Tribal organizations, nonprofit and nongovernmental victim services organizations with demonstrated experience in assisting elderly women or demonstrated experience in addressing sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking are eligible for this grant. Specific programs and areas of interest for this grant are focused on improving law enforcement, courts, government and community responses to sexual assault against victims over the age of 50 as well as providing for cross-training and enhancing services for victims. |
| Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforcement of Protection Orders | The aim of this program is to promote "the Department of Justice's mission by encouraging State, local, and Tribal governments and State, local, and Tribal courts to treat sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking as serious violations of criminal law requiring the coordinated involvement of the entire criminal justice system." Additionally, "he Arrest Program challenges the community to listen, communicate, identify problems, and share ideas that will result in new responses to ensure victim safety and offender accountability". Purpose areas of the grant include pro-arrest programs in police departments, new policies and educational programs for judges and police, as well as coordinated computer tracking systems and centralized police enforcement of policies. E. Assata Wright for On The Issues notes that the mandatory arrest policy can be problematic with dual arresting because if a woman hits her abuser, she may be arrested in addition to the attacker, which discourages women from defending themselves and/or calling the police. |
| Grants to Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions | The Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions Program targets non-profit organizations, groups and individuals to improve systems of advocacy in Indian Tribes in order to help the women living there. The Tribal Coalitions Program primarily pursues and works with judicial agencies and police to organize well-coordinated responses to sexual assault within the state, tribe or territory. |
| Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program | This program is designed to make it easier for victims of abuse or violence to get access to "civil and criminal legal assistance".". The main goal of the Legal Assistance Program is to provide representation for victims of violent crime through innovative, collaborative programs. Camille Carey in the Columbia Journal of Gender and the Law noted that these grants generally go towards representation in family law cases and this can leave victims of domestic violence outside family court jurisdiction with their needs unmet. |
| Rural Grant Program | The Rural Grant Program works to lessen the frequency and effect of sexual crimes occurring in rural areas. It utilizes a collaborative approaches among the community, including those members of the legal system, to offer victims as much support as possible. A study by Mitchell Brown for the Public Administration Review noted that this program contributed to modest positive improvements in communities that were affected by these grants, but that there was little evidence grants would have long term positive benefits beyond the grant period. |
| Transitional Housing Grant Program | The Transitional Housing Assistance Program Grant for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Stalking, or Sexual Assault Program aims to move victims to permanent housing by creating well-rounded, victim-centered transitional housing programs. Besides these specifically mentioned grant programs, the Senate bill that enacted the Violence Against Women Act also created National Domestic Violence Hotline and provided grants for police training and other additional training in the judicial system. The bill also reassessed current laws on prosecuting domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking and provided for the creation of new laws to address gaps in jurisdiction. According to the non-profit Break the Cycle, the community focus of many of these grants has made the legislation influential in improving services, advocacy, and responses by criminal justice across the country. |