VAWA

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is a United States federal law enacted in 1994 as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. It addresses violence against women, including domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence, and aims to improve the safety of victims and the effectiveness of the response by law enforcement, courts, and service providers.

The act created the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in the U.S. Department of Justice and authorized a range of federal grants to states, territories, tribes, and nonprofit organizations for victim services, training, prevention, and coordinated community responses. It supports shelters, hotlines, legal assistance, protective orders, law enforcement training, prosecution support, and the development of domestic violence and sexual assault programs.

VAWA has been reauthorized multiple times, with notable expansions. The 2000, 2005, 2013, and 2018 reauthorizations extended protections to college campuses, improved services for immigrant survivors and LGBTQ+ victims, increased tribal jurisdiction to prosecute certain domestic violence offenses on tribal lands, and strengthened enforcement and prevention frameworks. The 2013 reauthorization also included the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, requiring colleges to adopt specific policies and processes related to sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.

Today, VAWA remains a central component of federal policy to combat violence against women, providing funding and policy directives to improve victim services, reporting, and accountability, while encouraging collaboration among federal, state, tribal, and nonprofit entities.