Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act

Introduction
The 113th United States Congress is among the recent meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government. The following study focuses on the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 especially on its history, congressional activity and developmental stages that saw its ratification (VAWA 2013). The legislation of the 113th Congress is relevant to grants consolidation as it addresses intimate partner violence (IPV). VAWA 2013 was signed into law by President Obama on March 7, and it managed to recognize those tribes’ that were faced with inherent power when exercising “special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction” (SDVCJ) over certain defendants. The legislation is relevant regarding strengthening the healthcare systems when responding to the violence of different natures such as domestic, dating, sexual assault, and stalking. Therefore, passing the law meant that certain tribes or groups (Native American women, the LGBT community, and those women immigrants that have no legal status) were allowed to exercise SDVCJ sooner.
The VAWA is an invaluable legislation because it gave certain tribes or groups sovereignty when it came to exercising powers such as investigating, prosecuting, convicting, and sentencing. It was all directed to the non-Indians and Indian communities in America especially those who were fond of assaulting their spouses and date partners or those who violated the order of protection stipulated under Indian laws (Modi, Palmer and Armstrong 255). Moreover, VAWA 2013 manages to give clarifications to power sovereignty and the enforcement of civil protection order against non-Indians and Indian communities. Moreover, VAWA 2013 was initially introduced and passed by Congress in 1994. It served as a landmark that recognized the rampant cases and effects of domestic violence at the federal level. For the Native Americans, the law implied that their protection was expanded.
In this paper, the first issue that is going to be handled concerns the law in brief and how it has changed the situation for Native American women and other groups/tribes living in America. Secondly, the paper will attempt to bring out issues relating to why others opposed the law. Finally, we shall look at how the counter-argument is flawed, and this will then give way to final thoughts and implications of the law.
Brief Explanation of VAWA 2013
VAWA 2013 is a legislation intended to spur culture change when it came to issues about law enforcement activities. For Obama’s administration, VAWA 2013 meant that women were being empowered, given support, and protection in the United States and around the world. For a long period, the issues of violence against women have spurred mixed reactions in different societies. Various issues contribute to the increase in violence against women. Culture is one of the issues that have influenced the prevalence of these issues. Some cultures give men absolute authority over women. This prompts men to behave unconditionally towards women when handling issues such as domestic conflicts or workplace conflicts. Apparently, these cultures are not native to the American society. However, people from regions that practice these cultures who live in the country are bound to exercise them within the country. Another major contributor to this crisis is the negligence of law enforcement agents when handling cases of violence against women. Many cases have been dismissed by the police and the courts citing the lack of evidence. However, it is clear that these issues happen in our communities and neighborhoods. Most law enforcement agencies tend to neglect these cases due to the lack of stern laws the determine gender relations in the society. Therefore, the bill was tabled and passed into law because of the high number of cases of domestic violence among Native Americans. Moreover, law enforcers had a long history of decline when it came to handling issues and cases reported of domestic violence. As stated by “Violence against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013”
“(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sexual assault’’ and all that follows through ‘‘dating violence’’ and inserting ‘‘domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including the appropriate use of nonimmigrant status under subparagraphs (T) and (U) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)).’’
VAWA 2013 is no longer a bill but a law ratified by President Obama. The institutions that are in support of this law include Peace Corps, the White House Task Force who looked at protecting students from sexual assault. Furthermore, in 2014, President Obama and Vice President Biden started a campaign on the same and they collaborated with the media, sexual assault prevention organization, institutions of higher education, corporations, and non-profit organizations among others (The White House 5). Moreover, battered women’s movement, the courts, law enforcement agencies, and advocates handling sexual assault cases supported the bill. However, several House members who included GOP Congressmen like Louie Gohmert, Thomas Massie, Walter Jones, Paul Broun, and Tom McClintock among others also rejected the bill.
Arguments
I support VAWA 2013 because it has managed to give certain tribes or groups sovereign power when protecting them against violence. It is essential to address such issues that affect the vulnerable groups in the society. The negligence of societal mechanisms in the address of these issues has elevated the magnitude of their effects. In the United States, the most violated human right is that of domestic and sexual violence that Native women experience. Sexual assault takes place in every day in the American society. Some of the cases are reported while other cases are not reported. Despite the society’s consistent blame on the prevalence of the people who fail to report these cases of abuse, it is also critical to reflect on the lack of accountability with the cases that are reported. Therefore, need arose to address the issue and international human rights bodies were called to rescue the groups suffering. At that time, there were no laws, treaties and resources were scarce to address the violence, but the law passed managed to close the hole of impunity by filling the gap in 2013. It was considered a ‘golden rule’ in America for women to be battered thereby normalizing the actions that harmed women. However, they later saw the actions as modes of crime thus the need to fight for the rights of Native women.
VAWA 2013 emphasized the development of coordinated communities that gave victims care with the help of law enforcement, victim services, prosecutors, and attorneys. This was intended to be the primary intervention for curbing the occurrence of domestic violence. Many people, even those who are not affected, are aware of the presence of domestic violence either through a firsthand witness or reading from newspapers. The community can work together to prevent these occurrences. The act also managed to give funds to support groups and houses or shelters with battered women as a way of giving them hope in facing their future. The grants given to these groups are also intended to give support to training personnel providing victims of IPV with various services such as counseling (Hackett, McWhirter and Lesher 126).
The grants have also gone a long way in seeing to it that violence against women is prevented. For instance, between 1993 and 2008, IPV against female registered a decline of 53%, which was a drop from 9.4 to 4.3 victimizations per 1,000 females aged 12 years and older (Sacco 6-7). The grants help to support the justice and security systems that are involved in handling the cases of violence against women. It is achieved through the improvement of intelligence gathering. It is also through VAWA that the criminal and justice system of America evolved and saw it doubling the federal penalties for those repeat offenders.
Counterargument
Nonetheless, there are those groups that seem to oppose the law by stating that it is an unnecessary overreach by the federal government. They view it as a mere representation of the attack given to the ‘feminist’ concerning their family values. In this instance, arguments raised are that the ideological foundations of the law have been flawed and this has led to their inability to provide adequate help to the victims. In essence, they relate the legal premise and their theory to the fact that violence against women has prevailed because of sexism and patriarchy. In this case, most of the people who stand against the provisions of the act advocate for the campaigns for equality between men and women. They believe that cases of violence against women could be eradicated if the society adopts values that perceive women in the same way as men. This has seen people raise issues concerning the unequal social status due to gender and the desire men have to keep women down (Ball). The critics of the act expressed their concerns that the society has been negligent on the issues of gender balance in most sectors.
Rebuttal
Not all evidence provided are contributions to violence against women are true because research conducted shows that violence has many sources, from marital conflict to substance abuse. It is true that violence against women in many countries continues to rise and is now a global problem because the rates at which women are dying or even being hospitalized has risen. This depicts that the critics of this law lack enlightenment on the general causes of violence against women. If you clearly evaluate all violence cases involving women, you will realize that some of the women have a role to play in starting the violence. Therefore, it is not fair to attribute the violence against women to be one-sided. Therefore, all the stakeholders involved in this issue must objectively assess the causes of violence against women before making conclusions. I believe that this law contributes significantly to handling IPV.
Conclusion
VAWA comes in handy to address issues of IPV by looking at it from the angle of having preventive measures, services for victims, and proper prosecution standpoints. It is clear that the more the society concentrates on solving the cases after they happen, the more the increase in prevalence. VAWA’s prevention strategies could help in reducing the effects of violence against women. VAWA has brought change to Native American women because they now have options of protecting themselves against various forms of assault. Moreover, the support services offered to these battered women has made them independent, and this has left them with several choices when making life decisions. Grants provided have also been helpful in providing various personnel with training and other resources that help the victims of violence redirect their lives to enjoy a comfortable and stress-free life. It acknowledges the fact that such cases have already happened in the past. However, it shows the solidarity of the society to help the people affected to live a healthy life and to move on from the trauma caused by the events. Although various individuals have criticized the premises of the law, it remains the best-documented legal provision that can help to address the issues of violence against women.

Works Cited
“Violence against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.” "One Hundred Thirteenth Congress of the United States of America." (2014). Retrieved 23 Nov. 2017 from https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113s47enr/pdf/BILLS-113s47enr.pdf
Ball, Molly. “Why Would Anyone Oppose The Violence Against Women Act?” The Atlantic, 12 Feb. 2013. Web. 23 Nov. 2017.
Hackett, Shannon, McWhirter T. Paula, and Lesher Susan. "The therapeutic efficacy of domestic violence victim interventions." Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 17.2 (2016): 123-132.
Modi, Monica N., Palmer Sheallah, and Armstrong Alicia. "The role of Violence against Women Act in Addressing Intimate Partner Violence: A Public Health Issue." Journal of Women's Health 23.3 (2014): 253-259.
Sacco, Lisa N. The Violence against Women Act: Overview, Legislation, and Federal Funding. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved on 23 Nov. 2017 from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42499.pdf
The White House. The Council on Women and Girls: Violence against Women Accomplishments, 9 June 2016. Web. 23 Nov. 2017.