At a time when political gridlock has become the standard, the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA 2013) has become a reality.  Despite months of delay, the U.S. House of Representatives last month approved the landmark legislation that has provided federal assistance to victims of domestic and sexual violence for nearly 20 years.  VAWA provides $1.6 billion to fund programs that protect victims, prevent abuse and strengthen legal actions taken against offenders. It also helps create and support rape crisis centers, hot-lines and community support programs, as well as provides money for investigating and prosecuting violent crimes against women through the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.

What new provisions were included in VAWA 2013?

#1 – The inclusion for Native American women:

VAWA now allows for the prosecution in tribal courts of non-Native men who attack Native women on reservation land. Native nations operate under tribal sovereignty, and as such, their own courts administer justice. For example, if a perpetrator from New Jersey attacks women in New York: New York could easily prosecute the defendant without jurisdictional objection. Not so for Native women living on reservations, where, under the previous legislation, survivors would have to hope for a federal prosecutor—sometimes 500 miles away—to investigate and charge a non-Native suspect. It’s no wonder, then, that prosecutors fail to try nearly 70 percent of these sex abuse cases.  The new law closes that loophole, and restores the way non-Native men who attacked Native women on reservations were prosecuted before 1978.

#2 – Help for rape and assault victims on college campuses

Included in VAWA, the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, SaVE, is the most significant legislation to address college rape in 20 years. The law requires colleges to include reports of dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in their annual crime statistics. Schools also have to provide awareness programs for new students and employees, and must offer students or employees who are victims of abuse a change in housing or work environment.

The goal of SaVE, “is to change the cultures on campus that tolerate sexual violence,” said S. Daniel Carter of the VTV Family Outreach Foundation, a campus safety group formed after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre and a primary player in drafting Campus SaVE. “This is akin to vaccinating against a disease rather than treating the symptoms of it after a patient is infected.”

#3 – Specific provisions for LGBT victims

2013 VAWA ensures that all domestic violence victims, including those who are LGBT, will not face discrimination when they seek services, including explicit protections in the federal code for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” It also prohibits any program or activity funded by the bill from discriminating against a victim based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, more specifically in the two key VAWA grant programs.

#4 – Assistance for Human Trafficking Victims

2013 VAWA includes the Trafficking Victims and Protection Act which authorizes a pilot program to create comprehensive residential care facilities throughout the country to provide safe havens for minors who are victims of domestic sex trafficking. The pilot program also ensures specialized training of law enforcement officers and social service providers in identifying and serving these victims. Funding will also be expanded to provide law enforcement with new tools to investigate and incarcerate the pimps and traffickers who force young women and girls into prostitution.

The re-authorization of VAWA helps millions of victims get the services they so desperately need.