Twenty Years of the Violence Against Women Act: 

Dispatches from the Field 

Office on Violence Against Women
 

U.S. Department of Justice
 

June 2016
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twenty Years of the Violence Against Women Act: 

Dispatches from the Field 

The passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994 marked a 

critical achievement in a long history of efforts in the United States to afford 

victims of domestic and sexual violence their rights to safety, justice, and 

autonomy. The original VAWA was, at its core, a criminal justice bill focused 

largely on improving how law enforcement and the court system respond to 

domestic violence. It was designed to equip the justice system with resources, 

training, and policies to deal with a crime that historically was treated as a private 

matter between a husband and wife, and about which misperceptions still persist. 

Recognizing that domestic and sexual violence require a coordinated community 

response that extends well beyond the justice system, Congress reauthorized 

VAWA, with revisions to its policies and funding streams, in 2000, 2005, and 

2013. The general shift over the three subsequent “If it wasn't for VAWA, I iterations of VAWA has been towards enhancing 

would not be sitting services for victims, recognizing sexual assault, 

here today telling you dating violence, and stalking as serious crimes that 

of all the successes communities are under-resourced to address; and 

strengthening legal protections and civil remedies and the growth that for all victims, particularly those for whom we've had and all the accessing safety and justice is harder because of victims we’ve been their race, ethnicity, immigration status, age, able to serve.” disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. 

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was established in 1995 to 

administer VAWA, and it has awarded more than $6 billion to communities 

across the country since then. To mark 20 years since VAWA was first enacted, 

and hear directly from the communities that have benefited from its funding, 

OVW leadership and staff launched the VAWA 20-Year Anniversary Tour and 

visited grant recipients in 50 locations in 20 states between November 2014 and 

September 2015. We visited rural, urban, suburban, and tribal communities to 

witness the impact of VAWA funding on—and the role of a coordinated 

community response in—their efforts to combat domestic and dating violence, 

sexual assault, and stalking. This report is a summary of those conversations, 

highlighting the lasting influence of VAWA on communities’ ability to respond to 

sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking, and identifying 

persistent barriers and gaps in services. 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

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“I found a lot of help within 

the system during my 

comeback from [domestic 

violence]. Many kind, wellmeaning people—police 

officers, advocates, 

prosecutors—all of whom I 

know have benefited from 

training and resources 

provided through VAWA. 

They were there to help 

me and I appreciate every 

single one of them.” 

All of us at OVW are grateful to the 

communities that hosted the Tour, and awed by 

the dedication, collaboration, and innovation 

underlying each community’s approach to 

supporting victims and holding offenders 

accountable. Participants spoke candidly about 

what has worked and what they continue to 

struggle with in their efforts to prevent and 

respond to domestic and sexual violence. They 

described the lessons they have learned along 

the way, and the accomplishments and 

challenges they see on the horizon. These 

conversations were an opportunity for OVW to 

observe what VAWA has achieved in its first 20 

years and the promise it holds for the future. 

This report presents the five key messages from conversations at stops along the 

Tour, summarizing key points under each message. Themes from the 

conversations are presented in Tour participants’ own words throughout the 

document, but quotes are not attributed to speakers or communities to ensure 

confidentiality. 

Working together—across systems and cultures—made 

the accomplishments to date possible, and it must 

remain the overarching strategy for combatting domestic 

and sexual violence. 

A key achievement of VAWA is the coordinated response it has prompted in 

communities across the nation. As one district attorney who participated in the 

Tour said, “dealing with [system] distinctions—like the difference between a 

felony and a misdemeanor—means nothing to women in crisis.” Any single piece 

of the complicated and disjointed network of law enforcement, courts, social 

services, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations in most any community can be 

difficult to navigate for a financially-secure person who is not abused. But for a 

person without resources whose safety is in jeopardy, navigating all of those 

systems at once is virtually impossible, and can be traumatic in and of itself. 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

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“One thing I learned 

over the years is that 

no matter how well 

I've done my job and 

served a victim, 

without the 

collaborative effort, 

we cannot make that 

victim safe.” 

Therefore, OVW has funded—and requires under 

most of its grant programs—a coordinated 

community response to domestic and sexual 

violence as a way to make the whole of the systems’ 

response greater than the sum of its parts. A police 

chief explained that through VAWA funding, “we’ve 

evolved from siloed investigations and a few 

advocacy referrals to a robust collaboration and a 

coordinated model that involves detectives, 

prosecutors, system-based advocates and our 

OVW-funded, co-located, community-based 

advocates.” Similarly, an advocate in another 

community reported that “historically, the domestic violence community hadn't 

really been on speaking terms with child welfare. But we asked them to join us in 

an effort to continue the momentum that’s been going on in this state related to 

the intersection of child welfare treatment and domestic violence.” 

Working across systems 

Coordinated community responses vary in form, but some examples are Sexual 

Assault Response Teams (SARTs), which have been found to improve the 

quality of forensic evidence collection and healthcare for sexual assault victims, 

as well as increase prosecution rates; and “We took the approach Domestic Violence Fatality Review Teams, which 

that we're all planks in a identify how system deficiencies contribute to the 

bridge. It's not like circumstances surrounding domestic violence 

homicides, and correct those deficiencies to running a race. You don't increase victims’ chances of survival.1 

take a baton and pass it
 

off with the victim. You These and other models are forums for problem- all have to work together solving, cross-training, and strengthening referral to get the victim from systems, but one of their most critical functions is 

where they are to where to develop policies and procedures that 

streamline the community response. One Tour they need to be.” 

participant said: “We spent a lot time developing 

and putting standards and procedures in place, putting it in writing, so that we 

can all have something to follow.” That way, team members can hold each other 

accountable and ensure that the community response is consistent, even when 

1 See the Recommended Resources list at the end of this report for sources of information on 

research and data. 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

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there is staff turnover and new leadership. It is through the establishment of 

these policies and procedures that each system player solidifies their 

commitment not just to their own piece of the response, but to the shared goals 

of safety and justice. 

Working across cultures 

Some Tour participants recognized that 

having voices from culturally-specific and 

marginalized communities at the table is 

not just a way of enhancing their work, but 

is fundamental to its success. A Tour 

participant whose organization specializes 

in serving South Asian victims explained 

that “there are actually many cultures that 

we serve...we are like a bridge between 

the victims, the mainstream culture where 

they have to survive, and their own home 

cultures which are a mixing ground of 

where they're coming from and where 

they're heading to.” 

“Trust of government agencies, 

especially law enforcement—it 

doesn't come easy. [Because 

of our collaboration with those 

agencies], we're not just 

sending clients to a 1-800 

number, just sending them out 

the door, which is disorienting 

to an immigrant who is 

isolated...It's comforting for 

them to have a place where 

they can go...where they can 

speak; where they are heard.” 

Culturally-specific organizations must be represented in discussions and 

decision-making related to sexual and domestic violence, not only to better equip 

communities to serve victims on the margins, but to prevent mainstream systems 

from causing further harm to people who may distrust those systems. “There are 

always unintended consequences in communities of color and in Native 

communities when you do any work in the criminal justice system, because of 

how the system is set up,” said a Tour participant who was concerned that a 

particular strategy, while successful in helping white women escape domestic 

violence, could be simultaneously alienating women of color and preventing them 

from seeking help from law enforcement. Participants at several stops on the 

Tour described how organizations that specifically serve women of color, LGBT 

survivors, and other underserved communities connect clients with “someone 

that looks like them, or that they can identify with,” which may be critical to the 

work of healing individual trauma in the context of historical and collective 

trauma. They talked about the importance of culturally-specific community-based 

organizations having access to VAWA funding to build capacity and leadership 

within marginalized communities to better address domestic and sexual violence, 

and to develop more comprehensive and culturally relevant prevention and 

response efforts. 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

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This is about social justice. 

Everybody has a basic human right to live a life free of violence and abuse. This 

notion is at the center of the movement to end domestic and sexual violence, and 

has always been essential to VAWA. In October 1992, a Senate Judiciary 

Committee majority staff report written in support of VAWA stated that “violence 

impairs some of the most fundamental liberties of life in America.”2 Despite the 

different roles they play in responding to sexual 

“There's a culture that and domestic violence, VAWA Tour participants 

permeates what we do. representing law enforcement and advocacy 

described how their work is about helping people There’s a sign on my survive violence that often disproportionately wall for peace, justice, affects those who have “complex and multiple freedom, and dignity for trauma histories, on top of the fact that they can’t all people. That guides get their basic needs met.” 

our work.” 

There are statistics and research findings that 

begin to quantify the far-reaching and long-lasting impacts of violence and 

victimization,3

 but participants were clear that “Some of these cases are they have come to understand the issues, and just horrific, something you know what to do, by listening to victims: “We never see in the news. talk with battered women and sexual assault 

survivors more than anyone...we have clients And, you know, when I 

who we walk through the whole system. explain to my family and 

Wherever they're at—if they don’t have a place friends what I do, I say, a 

to live, and they can’t get a job or health lot of it is just actually 

insurance or daycare for their kids—we walk unspeakable. I wouldn't with them. We do what we can do.” even put it into your head 

because it's too much to 

Participants at several Tour stops explained carry around.” how doing their jobs well requires them to 

recognize that the “perfect victim” is a 

deceptive myth that—while perpetuated by the media and society at large— 

serves no use in the real world for helping victims and holding offenders 

accountable. One law enforcement investigator said, “I treat victims the way I 

2 Majority Staff of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Violence Against Women: A Week in
 

the Life of America, S. Rep. 102-118 (1992).
 3 See the Recommended Resources list at the end of this report for sources of information on
 

research and data.
 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

5
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

want to be treated. I don't judge them. We're all human. So the bottom line is that 

we should want the best for each other, and this is my assignment.” 

Finally, participants emphasized the need to bolster support for core services— 

housing, advocacy, and legal assistance—which are fundamental to safety and 

helping victims regain control of their lives. As the field evolves to respond to new 

challenges, participants cautioned against losing sight of the need for core 

services. 

“We are recognizing now Housing more than ever that racial Housing was identified as a significant, urgent justice and economic shortage, particularly in communities where justice are at the housing costs are high and space is limited. As 

one participant explained, “before someone foundation of all of our 

decides that they are going to break free from a work. If we want to be 

violent relationship, many times they want to ‘trauma-informed’, we 

know where they are going to go, how are they also have to fight for going to get there, and what effect is this going social justice.” to have on them and their children?” 

Furthermore, housing programs that place unrealistic expectations and strict 

rules on residents can prevent victims from leaving and not returning to their 

abusers. One participant, highlighting the importance of the voluntary services 

model4 supported by OVW Transitional Housing grants, said: “It's not just the 

money, it's the philosophical way in which OVW has given us the money that has 

been really critical.” 

High housing costs impede organizations’ efforts to sustain their services in a 

climate of uncertain funding and budget cuts. Put simply by one participant, 

“housing is a huge, huge, huge problem.” A rare exception to this challenge was 

described by one participant, whose organization had a benefactor purchase a 

housing facility and is selling it back to the organization on land contract. The 

organization is now paying off the land contract at a significantly lower cost than 

it previously paid on a monthly lease. But this kind of scenario is uncommon: 

many victim services organizations have waitlists and struggle to be able to offer 

transitional housing that meets victims’ basic needs. 

4 Voluntary services, as opposed to mandatory services, means that clients do not need to 

complete a program or take part in other services as a condition of receiving housing. Services 

are offered based on each person’s specific needs. 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

6
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other services outside the justice system 

Several of the greatest needs cited by participants, other than housing, were 

legal assistance and mental health and substance abuse services. For many 

victims, the burden of their legal issues is a barrier to establishing safety and 

independence from their abusers. “I don't know what these women would do if 

we didn't have an attorney for them. They're so afraid to go and ask for help 

because of the immigration issues. So we understand their problem, we're able 

to let them know that you're a human being, you have legal rights,” said one 

participant. 

Participants talked about how VAWA funding has helped them establish 

programs that serve higher numbers of victims with a wider range of services. 

“Services are now available in our community that were not here ten years ago. 

We've been able to change things and make things better for sexual assault 

survivors,” one participant said. On the other hand, participants also explained 

how economic instability has led to “closures of community resources, which 

have definitely affected the survivors in rural communities” and in cities hit 

hardest by industrial decline. As a result, there are fewer places where victim 

services organizations can refer people to for help with healthcare access, food 

security, and other matters of survival. 

Accessibility 

In addition to augmenting core services, participants “Disability humility described the need to ensure that services are 

physically, culturally, and linguistically accessible. means relying on 

Violence and abuse disproportionately affect people people with disabilities 

with disabilities and other marginalized people, yet as the experts, and 

the populations that suffer high rates of domestic listening to them, and and sexual violence are underrepresented among taking what they tell clients served by mainstream organizations. “When 

us—trying to improve we started this project, very few women with services using their disabilities were seeking services at rape crisis 

centers. There were no collaborative efforts guidance.” 

between rape crisis centers and disability service 

agencies and self-advocates in this state,” said a Tour participant who leads an 

OVW-funded project designed to increase access to services for survivors with 

disabilities. “And now, nine years later, we've seen an increase of more than 250 

percent in people with disabilities seeking services at our centers.” 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

7
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“[Native people] have 

been denied justice 

because of how the laws 

are set up. [VAWA] is truly 

an amazing thing...what it 

did for gay and lesbian 

people, and immigrants. 

This last incarnation of 

VAWA is going to make 

such a huge difference in 

what we can do.” 

Participants at several Tour stops also talked 

about the significance of VAWA 2013’s broader 

inclusion of, and protections for, LGBT victims. 

A participant who runs a general support group 

for transgender people remarked that twothirds of the group attendees said they had 

been sexually assaulted at some point in their 

lives, which mirrors national statistics on the 

higher rate of victimization among transgender 

people. “The sad part is that none of them felt 

that there was anywhere they could go,” the 

participant said. “I think that goes to the whole 

LGBT community—the importance of finding 

supportive services and making sure there is funding out there specifically to help 

LGBT people.” 

While participants cited funding limitations as a challenge, programs that have 

achieved greater accessibility understood that doing so is necessary and 

fundamental to their work. One participant, describing a court-based language 

access project in a metropolitan area where around 70 different languages are 

spoken, said: “We try to show that language access is not something extra that 

we'll just try to implement. Language access comes attached to it, because that's 

part of the population we’re serving.” Interpreters hired in that court are trained 

on domestic violence and sexual assault as part of a VAWA-funded project, so 

they can be better equipped to interpret for litigants who need to discuss 

sensitive and traumatic issues in court. 

It is worth noting that conversations on the Tour in those places where people 

from underserved communities are meaningfully involved in discussions and 

decision-making were most candid about how the response falls short of physical 

and cultural accessibility in those places where people from underserved 

communities are meaningfully involved in discussions and decision-making. For 

instance, at one Tour stop where there is OVW-funded work underway to make 

victim services accessible, a participant was frank in admitting that historic 

courthouses in the region are notoriously inaccessible to people with physical 

disabilities, and efforts to fix this problem have been met with resistance. A 

participant at another site recalled her team’s approach to improving access for 

the Deaf community: “We started with these grand ideas that we were going to 

implement new policies. But we met some victims who set us straight, and so we 

went back and did a needs assessment. We interviewed people in the Deaf 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

8
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

community, and asked them what they would do with the response we 

envisioned—what that response would be like for them. We did this before 

talking with other professionals.” Another participant acknowledged that, while 

some communities have established coordinated community responses that 

involve primarily mainstream organizations, there is much more work to be done 

in terms of making “marginalized communities, communities of color, LGBT 

communities, and people with disabilities really a part of the coordination.” 

It’s about procedural justice, too.

The effectiveness of the justice system is often measured using arrest and 

conviction rates. But arrests and convictions reveal little about what the justice 

system actually does in response to domestic and sexual violence, and they do 

not account for the experiences victims have when they report the crimes they 

have suffered. The unfortunate reality is that sometimes the system plainly fails, 

and sometimes the victim disengages, 

“We heard over and over because it is not safe for her to face her 

again that the first person abuser in court, or because the justice 

process can feel as traumatic as the that the survivor talks to can 

violence itself, or for other reasons. And a make a world of difference. rape conviction is rare, even in cases in So if that person is in the which the justice system does its job exactly emergency room, or that as it is supposed to. Therefore, enhancing 

person is a Sexual Assault procedural justice—or, to put it simply, 

Nurse Examiner who is treating people fairly regardless of how their 

cases turn out—is a goal that underlies trained to deal with the 

much of the work funded by VAWA. impact of trauma on the
 

victim, it could change For victims of domestic and sexual violence, everything moving forward.” the notion of justice is far more complex than 

who goes to jail and for how long. As a 

prosecutor said in describing efforts to engage rape survivors in the justice 

process years after their sexual assault kits were shelved by law enforcement, 

sometimes “they have families and they’ve moved on. Their idea of success at 

this point might not be a conviction, and they might not want to go forward with a 

charge. As difficult as it is for me as a prosecutor to say, their idea of justice is 

different from what ours is.” 

Participants shared numerous examples of how their communities have focused 

on making the justice process fairer. They explained how a court-based language 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

9
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

access program provides skilled interpreters of many languages spoken in the 

community. A police chief in another community described how a strong referral 

system means that police “no longer say ‘We don’t have enough to move forward 

with your case,’ and hang up the phone. Instead we have people right in our 

office who are there to take the call and help” by updating victims on their cases 

and connecting them with services. In another “I want to make sure community, one prosecutor handles each domestic that whether you're violence case “from filing to adjudication, because 

that way they get to know not only the needs of the out in the suburbs or 

victim but also the family dynamic in which the inside the city, your 

violence happened,” and there are dedicated cases are handled 

resources in the probation department for domestic the same.” violence cases. 

Systems and services that account for cultural diversity, and respond 

competently to the different ways in which culture and victimization intersect in 

people’s lives, is also a critical element of ensuring justice. Service providers and 

justice system professionals need to “offer services in a respectful, nonjudgmental way...when you do that, you increase safety because you engage 

people.” Participants at several Tour stops also described partnerships among 

law enforcement, mainstream services providers, and community-based 

programs that serve specific communities. For example, in developing a program 

to address the school-to-prison pipeline that leads to disproportionately high 

rates of incarceration of African Americans, Tour participants started with the 

question: “What can we do instead of shutting kids out and bringing them into the 

disciplinary system?” Recognizing that children’s exposure to violence 

predisposes them to behavior for which they are often just punished instead of 

helped, especially children of color, the program aims to “increase understanding 

in schools, and ask the right questions to identify things that are going on at 

home, and then be more trauma-informed” in the response. 

Despite these accomplishments, there is much work that remains to be done in 

affording justice for victims. Many jurisdictions are trying to figure out how to 

ensure that sexual assault kits are regularly submitted to crime labs for testing, 

and follow-up investigations are timely and victim-centered. Other jurisdictions 

struggle to ensure that protection orders are consistently served and enforced. 

And participants in several communities described how the family court system 

can leave families more fragmented and, at times, in greater danger than they 

were before going to court, with protective parents losing custody of their 

children, visitation arrangements that do not account for the risk of escalating 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

10
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

abuse after leaving an abusive relationship, and punitive measures taken against 

women who try to defend themselves against their abusers. One participant 

described how “we have this wonderful response set up in criminal court to hold 

offenders accountable, but then as soon as [the family] moves over to family 

court, [the violence] just—it doesn't seem to matter.” 

Teaching and learning are critical to sustaining what 

VAWA has achieved. 

Participants described how they have learned a great deal over 20 years of 

implementing VAWA programs about strategies that best serve victims and hold 

offenders accountable. They also pointed to some gaps in knowledge that could 

be filled with training, and through research, data, and studies of the 

effectiveness of strategies that VAWA funds support. 

Training 

VAWA funds have been used to develop “As police officers we’ve 

training to help various professionals work been trained on things that 

effectively with victims and offenders. While, are mandated, but my 

for example, law schools train people to department has always gone practice law, and nursing schools train above and beyond. We’re people to care for patients, attorneys and engaged with our nurses need to be educated on the impact of community. We try to do violence on the lives of the clients and 

patients they serve. But—because the things out of the norm; find 

dynamics of domestic and sexual violence ways to do things differently. 

are rarely a significant piece of a person’s That can only happen by academic preparation for working in their going to training and field, and even seasoned professionals need conferences, sharing with ongoing training to maintain their expertise— people, opening our minds to it is important to provide practical training for 

everyone who encounters victims, whether how things are done in other 

they work in a police precinct, a courthouse, parts of the country and 

a hospital, or a school. One participant other parts of the world.” 

discussed her role as a trainer in faith 

communities as helping faith leaders be “aware of domestic violence so that the 

victim is not re-victimized in their faith community.” 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

11
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some training is convened by national “This field—this organizations that receive technical assistance demanding work— funding from OVW, and grantees also train requires training and their staff and colleagues as part of their OVW knowledge and wisdom projects. Participants described using grant 

that comes over time. And funds to develop innovative approaches to 

it’s a very hard way to training, like roll call videos for police officers 

make a living. We need to and mock trials for attorneys. The purpose of 

acknowledge that and find these trainings is to help grantees align their 

ways to support people work with recommended practices, and to 

who are committed to maximize the impact of VAWA grant dollars. In 

many communities, cross-training is a way for doing this.” each member of a SART or other 

multidisciplinary team to learn about what the 

other does. A law enforcement leader said of a local domestic violence 

organization’s training for his officers: “It was a learning curve...to recognize the 

value in our partner agencies. We've come a long way. They did a great job 

training us, and we're very thankful for that.” 

Participants explained that there is a significant need for basic training for all 

members of a coordinated community “We’re taking data from response team on the dynamics of sexual 

assault, domestic violence, dating violence and cases and looking at 

stalking. One participant said that in her state, which offenders are most 

they “were not able to do anything for in- likely to re-offend. Now 

service police officers until STOP funds came that we have a new data 

along” through VAWA. While participants management system, we appreciate the opportunities OVW offers them can have that data 

for advanced and specific training, they electronically and look at emphasized that basic training for advocates recidivism and lethality to and law enforcement is a major unmet need. get a better sense of the High rates of turnover in some fields, combined cases and offenders we with normal attrition of personnel over the need to target first.” years, mean that communities need to provide 

ongoing and frequent training to equip new 

staff with necessary skills and knowledge. 

Knowledge 

Some Tour participants identified gaps in research as a barrier to doing their jobs 

as effectively as possible. People want to know what approaches work for 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

12
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

preventing and responding to violence. “As somebody who consumes a lot of 

research and data in my field, looking at the larger context, I would really like 

some of that big-picture work done, because—as a practitioner—I would like to 

be able to tell funders that what we do is working.” When it comes to strategies 

they know are useful because they have seen them yield good results time and 

time again, people want to know the circumstances under which those things 

work. One participant remarked, “We see how [services] can be cathartic for the 

people we serve, and it would be helpful if we had more research around trying 

to determine why that is, or how that works.” 

While research gaps were mentioned as a challenge, every community visited on 

the Tour offered examples of how they use data or existing research to guide 

their work. “We're using timely and accurate information now to better allocate 

our resources,” reported a law enforcement representative who described new, 

more victim-centered approaches to monitoring domestic violence offenders and 

investigating sex trafficking in his city. In another community, where a 

multidisciplinary team was started 20 years ago with VAWA funding, a participant 

described how she and her colleagues “started looking at the research” and for 

the first time “brought national experts into our community to talk about the 

issues...that first conference did a lot more than just train people. It turned the 

corner for our collaborative work in terms of our visibility and our credibility in the 

community.” 

The problems vary across regions and landscapes, as do 

the solutions. 

Conversations during the Tour highlighted how challenges to combatting 

domestic and sexual violence vary across regions, changing with the economic 

and political terrain. For example: 

	 On both coasts, commercial sex trafficking is a complex problem where, in 

some communities, “a lot of the work until now focused on the criminal 

response,” and trafficking victims were treated as offenders. Now, law 

enforcement and victim services providers are forging new partnerships “to 

create a comprehensive way” to identify sex trafficking victims and provide 

them with culturally-appropriate services. 

	 In rural areas, lack of transportation and housing are major barriers to 

helping victims, and there are practical limitations to protecting victim 

confidentiality in small towns, where everyone knows everyone and word 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

13
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

travels fast. However, participants shared examples of how VAWA funding 

has helped them implement 24-hour advocacy covering a larger area, 

greater access to trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) for 

medical care and evidence collection after a sexual assault, and 

supervised visitation centers where domestic violence victims can safely 

take their children to see the other parent for court-ordered visits. 

	 In tribal communities, participants described how VAWA-funded programs 

have supported core services for Native women that do not use “a cookiecutter approach...because all the tribes in the state are unique from one 

another, as far as our cultural traditions, our histories, and our forms of 

government.” A participant referred to the special domestic violence 

criminal jurisdiction, authorized in VAWA 2013, as a “monumental” step in 

recognizing tribes’ sovereign power to administer justice in some cases in 

which a non-Indian offender assaults an Indian victim on tribal land. 

However, participants stressed that the exclusion of tribal justice agencies 

from accessing criminal justice databases5

 compromises their efforts to 

keep Native victims safe. 

	 In the most remote parts of our country—such as in Alaska and the 

territories—communities are often small and isolated. Resources are 

scarce, access to law enforcement assistance is limited, and the cost of 

basic necessities, like food, shelter, and fuel, are extremely high. In some 

Alaska Native Villages, residents rely on state troopers who can only get to 

the village by plane, meaning residents sometimes have to wait for days, 

or longer in bad weather, for law enforcement assistance. However, these 

close-knit communities, with leaders who prioritize issues of domestic 

violence and sexual assault, can foster the message that violence is 

unacceptable by implementing prevention and intervention programs in 

schools, healthcare settings, community centers, and elsewhere. 

5 The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintains the National Crime Information Center 

(NCIC) database, which houses 21 files that criminal justice agencies rely on to protect the 

public. Some states have laws or policies which, in effect, prohibit or limit tribes’ access to 

NCIC. In addition, the equipment and training needed to access these databases are costprohibitive for some tribes. Lack of access to these databases impairs tribes’ ability to issue and 

enforce protection orders, run fingerprints as part of employee background checks, etc. On 

November 5, 2015, the Department of Justice announced that 10 tribes will participate in an 

initial phase of the Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP), which was 

established to provide federally recognized tribes the ability to access and exchange data with 

national crime information databases for both civil and criminal purposes. TAP is a promising 

step towards broader access to crime information for tribes. 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

14
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sustained with VAWA funding, the coordinated community response at each 

Tour stop relies not just on participants’ professional expertise, but on the team’s 

collective knowledge about the communities they serve. Participants at several 

Tour stops talked about how collaboration between law enforcement, domestic 

violence and sexual assault service organizations, culturally-specific 

organizations, and healthcare agencies, and community-based organizations is 

critical to their community’s efforts to identify and address issues like elder abuse 

in nursing homes, improving the response and support for victims of sexual 

assault, or providing language access and culturally appropriate services to new 

immigrants. 



The Violence Against Women Act has 

transformed the way domestic and sexual “I made a deal with God 

violence are handled and talked about in the that I would do 

United States. At the national level, it sustains everything in my power 

funding streams and authorizes programs and to help others to not ever 

policies to improve the response to these crimes. feel so helpless, if I could At the state level, it fills resource gaps and just make it out of this. I supports coordinated solutions, from state task 

forces and initiatives to standard policies and survived and I’m here 

protocols. And in local communities throughout today to follow through 

the country, VAWA has literally opened doors for on my end of the deal.” 

millions of people who have suffered violence 

and needed somewhere safe to go for help. In every state and territory in the 

nation, because of VAWA and other funding streams, there is a shelter where a 

domestic violence victim can take her children in the middle of the night when 

she knows it might be her only chance of seeing another day. Because of VAWA, 

a rape victim can go to the hospital to get urgent medical care after an assault, 

regardless of whether she or he has decided to involve the police. Because of 

VAWA, an immigrant victim who is afraid to report a crime of domestic violence 

or sexual assault to the police for fear of being deported can seek protection 

under a U-Visa. Because of VAWA, survivors struggling with the deeply personal 

work of healing from abuse can find a trusted advocate at a culturally-specific 

organization. Because of VAWA and the training and awareness-building efforts 

it has supported over two decades, there are more people in the justice system 

and in schools, hospitals, places of worship—and in families and friendship 

circles—who can respond with compassion and competence when someone 

discloses sexual assault or domestic violence. 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

15
 

 

 

 

 

 

VAWA makes vital services possible in some places where other funding is 

insufficient or nonexistent. However, VAWA’s effectiveness relies on the capacity 

and commitment of community members to develop a coordinated response to 

help victims and hold offenders accountable. Each community visited as part of 

the Tour described how it has used VAWA funding to tailor approaches to unique 

local strengths and challenges. 

This report does not fully capture the extent to which the visited communities— 

and thousands more that were not visited—have helped victims survive domestic 

and sexual violence. Instead, it reflects the five key messages OVW heard during 

the Tour, and it offers a snapshot of the impact of 20 years of investing in 

solutions to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. 

We’ve come a long way... ...and we have a ways to go. 

	 Helping victims and their children survive 

and thrive, through advocacy and other 

services 

	 Improving the criminal justice response to 

domestic violence, sexual assault, dating 

violence, and stalking 

	 Coordinating among systems and 

collaborating across disciplines 

	 Training people on how to respond 

effectively to domestic and sexual violence, 

at work and in their communities 

	 Maximizing limited funding for core victim 

services, like housing, legal assistance, and 

advocacy 

	 Strengthening legal protections and civil 

remedies for victims of the four crimes 

	 Combatting misinformation, bias, and 

victim-blaming attitudes 

	 Developing innovative solutions to complex 

and emerging problems, such as 

specialized courts and law enforcement 

units, risk and lethality assessments, and 

trauma-informed service models 

	 Meeting the basic needs of all victims for food, shelter, 

health, and safety 

	 Making services accessible and culturally-relevant, largely 

through stronger partnerships with experts from different 

cultures and the disability community 

	 Ensuring equal access to justice for women of color, Native 

women, LGBT people, immigrants, people with disabilities, 

youth, older individuals, and male victims 

	 Addressing the intersections among complex trauma, 

multiple victimizations, mental health and substance abuse, 

and poverty 

	 Providing basic and ongoing training for people who respond 

to domestic and sexual violence, especially law enforcement 

	 Addressing the indisputable link between access to firearms 

and the prevalence of domestic violence-related homicide 

and familicide in the United States 

	 Generating better research, evaluation, and data that are 

presented in ways that are accessible to practitioners 

	 Preventing violence, not just through risk reduction, but 

through eliminating its root causes 

	 Helping victims pursue alternative paths to safety, other than 

the criminal justice system and shelter services 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and communities 

across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th Anniversary National Tour. This 

report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily 

reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

16
Appendix A: Stops on the VAWA 20 Tour 

October 30, 2014 

Brooklyn, NY 

November 20-21, 2014 

Oklahoma 

December 1, 2014 

Maryland 

December 8, 2014 

San Diego, CA 

January 20, 2015 

Travis County, TX 

January 28, 2015 

Saint Paul, MN 

January 29, 2015 

Duluth, MN 

February 9-10, 2015 

Puerto Rico 

February 19, 2015 

Memphis, TN 

February 25-26, 2015 

Idaho 

March 11, 2015 

Tulalip Tribes of 

Washington 

March 11, 2015 

King County, WA 

March 12, 2015 

Multnomah County, OR 

March 30, 2015 

Monroe, LA 

Bastrop, LA 

March 31, 2015 

Georgia 

April 1, 2015 

New Orleans, LA 

Lafourche Parish, LA 

April 6, 2015 

Ketchikan Indian 

Community (Alaska) 

April 7, 2015 

Juneau, AK 

April 8, 2015 

Organized Village of 

Kake (Alaska) 

April 9, 2015 

Maniilaq Association – 

Noatak (Alaska) 

April 10, 2015 

Native Village of 

Barrow (Alaska) 

April 15, 2015 

Contra Costa County, 

CA 

April 16, 2015 

Alameda County, CA 

May 11-12, 2015 

Michigan 

May 27, 2015 

Mississippi Band of 

Choctaw Indians 

(Mississippi) 

June 10-11, 2015 

Vermont 

June 16, 2015 

Reno-Sparks Indian 

Colony (Nevada) 

June 17, 2015 

Washoe Tribe of 

Nevada and California 

(Nevada) 

June 30 - July 1, 2015 

Illinois 

August 17-18, 2015 

Iowa 

September 29, 2015 

Penobscot Nation 

(Maine) 

September 30, 2015 

Passamaquoddy 

Pleasant Point (Maine) 

Indian Township 

Passamaquoddy 

(Maine) 

October 1, 2015 

Houlton Band of 

Maliseet Indians 

(Maine) 

Aroostook Band of 

Micmacs (Maine) 

17
Appendix B: Recommended Resources 

Technical Assistance Resource Library 

OVW provides funding for national training and technical assistance providers. 

These organizations routinely present and publish information, tools, resources, 

and promising practices focused on how to best address domestic violence, 

sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, trafficking, and other violent crimes. 

Many of those resources can be found on the organizations’ websites and in a 

library of OVW-funded products, found here: http://ta2ta.org/library.html. 

The following resources in this appendix are published and/or maintained by the 

federal government. 

Selected Recent Governmental Reports 

Not Alone: The First Report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students 

From Sexual Assault (2014) 

This report is the first set of action steps and recommendations released by the 

White House regarding sexual assault on campus. 

1 is 2 Many: Twenty Years Fighting Violence against Women and Girls (2014) 

This report summarizes how VAWA has helped to change the United States by 

increasing accountability for domestic and sexual violence and strengthening 

access to services. The appendix provides details from over 100 programs 

throughout the country that VAWA has helped to inspire and support. 

Report on the Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to 

Violence (2012) 

This report presents the findings and policy recommendations of the Task Force, 

and serves as a blueprint for preventing and reducing the negative effects of 

children’s exposure to violence. 

Rape in the United States: The Chronic Failure to Investigate Rape Cases (2010) 

Proceedings of a September 2010 hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on 

Crime and Drugs, about widespread criminal justice system failure to investigate 

sexual assault reports. 

18
 

Selected OVW Publications 

2014 Biennial Report to Congress on the Effectiveness of VAWA Programs 

In response to the statutory requirement of Section 1003 (b) of the Violence 

Against Women Act of 2000 (VAWA 2000), the Attorney General is required to 

report biennially on the effectiveness of activities carried out with grant funds, 

including the number of persons served and the number of persons seeking 

services who could not be served. 

Additional reports to Congress can be found here. 

Federal Workplace Responses to Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and 

Stalking (2013) 

On November 19, 2013, the Deputy Attorney General issued a Department of 

Justice (DOJ) Policy on Federal Workplace Responses to Domestic Violence, 

Sexual Assault, and Stalking. This is an internal DOJ policy, binding only on DOJ 

employees and contractors, but can serve as a model for other employers. 

Recommendations for Administrators of Prisons, Jails, and Community 

Confinement Facilities for Adapting the U.S. Department of Justice's A National 

Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations, Adults/Adolescents 

(2013) 

The Confinement SAFE Protocol is designed as a guide to assist administrators 

of prisons, jails, and community confinement facilities in drafting or revising 

protocols for an immediate response to incidences and reports of sexual assault. 

It also identifies issues and recommendations for administrators of lockups and 

juvenile corrections. This guide extends the efforts of the PREA Commission and 

the Department of Justice to address an immediate response to sexual assault in 

correctional environments by offering guidance on how to comply with the PREA 

Standards, follow a uniform evidence protocol and coordinate response activities, 

and help correctional facilities strive towards the standards in the SAFE Protocol. 

National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations (2013) 

Released in April 2013 by the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) this 

revised edition of the protocol maintains the same commitments of 

standardization and quality as the first SAFE Protocol, but is updated to reflect 

current technology. It also increases the emphasis on victim-centered care and 

includes additional information reflecting changes from the Violence Against 

Women Act of 2005. OVW developed a short fact sheet (PDF) and long fact 

sheet (PDF) on the updated protocol. 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and 

communities across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th 

Anniversary National Tour. This report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the 

topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

19
National Protocol for Sexual Abuse Medical Forensic Examinations, 

Pediatric (2016) 

The National Protocol for Sexual Abuse Medical Forensic Examinations, 

Pediatric (Pediatric SAFE Protocol) offers guidance for multidisciplinary agencies 

that coordinate with health care providers to facilitate medical care that 

addresses both the acute and longer term health needs these children face. The 

goal of the Pediatric SAFE Protocol is to provide evidence-based, traumainformed recommendations for health care providers who conduct sexual abuse 

medical forensic examinations of children. 

Report on September 2011 Sexual Violence Research Roundtable 

An OVW roundtable brought together experts on sexual violence, representing 

fields including research and academia, victim advocacy, law enforcement, 

prosecution, the judiciary, and health care; as well as survivors of sexual 

violence. Participants identified new and emerging priorities for research on the 

criminal justice system's response to sexual assault and generated ideas for 

bridging the gap between research and practice. A short summary (PDF) and full 

report (PDF) of the meeting are available. 

Sexual Violence in the United States: Summary of the Roundtable Proceedings 

(2010) 

In October 2010, OVW collaborated with the White House Council on Women 

and Girls and the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women to host a 

Roundtable on Sexual Violence in the United States. Participants represented 

many disciplines and also included survivors. The discussion focused on barriers 

to advancing the issue of sexual violence, such as lack of community 

engagement which stymies public discourse, the need for more effective training, 

and gaps in research. 

Civil Protection Orders: A Guide for Improving Practice (2010) 

Recognizing the need to promote effective issuance, service, and enforcement of 

protection orders, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, in 

partnership with OVW and the National Center on Protection Orders and Full 

Faith and Credit, created this streamlined guide. It provides a fundamental 

understanding of the values and practices necessary for a more effective civil 

protection order system. 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and 

communities across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th 

Anniversary National Tour. This report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the 

topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

20
 

 

Selected Sources of Federal-funded Statistics and Research 

National Institute of Justice, Crime, Violence, and Victimization Research 

Division’s Compendium of Research on Violence Against Women, 1993-2014 

Lists and briefly describes all projects funded under NIJ's Violence Against 

Women and Family Violence Program. 

CrimeSolutions.gov 

CrimeSolutions.gov uses research to rate the effectiveness of programs and 

practices in achieving criminal justice-related outcomes in order to inform 

practitioners and policymakers about what works, what doesn't, and what's 

promising. 

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) 

NACJD facilitates research in criminal justice and criminology, through the 

preservation, enhancement, and sharing of computerized data resources; 

through the production of original research based on archived data; and through 

workshops in quantitative analysis of crime and justice data. 

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) 

NCVS is the primary source of information on criminal victimization in the United 

States. 

National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) 

NCJRS is a federally funded resource offering justice and drug-related 

information to support research, policy, and program development worldwide. 

National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) 

Housed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NISVS 

provides statistics on the national prevalence of intimate partner violence, sexual 

violence, and stalking among women and men in the United States. 

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 

Maintains statistics on various crime and criminal justice topics in the United 

States. 

Uniform Crime Reports (FBI) 

Collects and publishes national crime statistics for the Summary Reporting 

System and National Incident-based Reporting System (NIBRS). 

This report is a summary of conversations between the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and 

communities across the nation that OVW visited as part of the Violence Against Women Act 20th 

Anniversary National Tour. This report is not intended as a comprehensive statement on any of the 

topics discussed herein, nor does it necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

21