Date: 2005-09-27
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlewoman from Florida . She and I worked together oh both funding issues and strengthening Floridas laws to protect the victims and to make sure that the perpetrators were swiftly and adequately punished for their deeds. She cited the rate of violence against females declining between 1993 and 2004. It has declined and we are glad that that occurred. However. until the violence is entirely wiped out. I do not think there is a person in this body on either side of the aisle who will rest. Too many people continue to be abused and victimized by family members whom they should be able to trust. Before we voted this evening. I spoke to a person in Tallahassee who confided about the abuse that the daughters in the family sustained. When you realize it has absolutely no economic boundaries. that it happens in the best of families. the wealthiest of families. those middleclass families and those families who are on the lower economic spectrum. you realize how pervasive. unfortunately. it is in our society. A study was released by the U.S. Department of Justice in June 2005 that reports that roughly 22 percent of murders in 2002 were perpetrated by family members actually against family members. This study also shows that women are much more likely than men to be victims of domestic violence. In fact. threequarters of violence victims are female while threequarters of domestic violence perpetrators are male. The study also found that family members are also responsible for the murders of an astounding 43 percent of female victims. I think we can all agree that these statistics are totally unacceptable. Love should not hurt. nor should it kill innocent victims. Sometimes we are in a grocery store or at an event and you come across a woman who you may see bruises on and a black eye. and there are some warning signs that I think every American should be looking for. Some of these warning signs are. for example. if the persons partner acts controlling and puts her down in front of others. That is one sign. Another sign is that he is extremely jealous of any attention she gets or perhaps she may get quiet when he is around and seem afraid of making him angry. Your friend or the person that you may know casually may become increasingly isolated and is seeing less and less of friends and family. Your friend may cancel plans at the very last minute. The perpetrator may also control her finances and her behavior and also her social life. You sometimes see him violently lose his temper. striking or breaking objects. Sometimes she has unexplained injuries or the explanations she offers just do not add up. Sometimes she has mentioned violent behavior that she has experienced. but she kind of laughs it off. When I am back in the district. I carry a card with me that gives the telephone number of the domestic violence shelter. I will give it to people when I suspect a case of domestic violence. No one has ever been embarrassed that I gave it to them. Some women just quietly and discreetly tuck it in their purse. and I can only pray that they use it at a later time. We are fortunate that we do have some excellent domestic violence shelters in Florida. They are run very. very well. Of course. they are always running low on money. especially around the holiday times because that is when the domestic violence has a tendency to increase as a result ofthe stresses of the holidays. Very often those domestic violence shelters can use financial support from members of the community. Over the last 10 years. we have learned from VAWA what methods are effective in combating violence against women. That learning process is why VAWA of 2005 not only reauthorizes the effective provisions of the existing law but it adds some new provisions to strengthen and improve the law. VAWA 2005 incorporates the best practices of States and expert opinions. The provisions in this new bill include new grants for court training and improvements. This program improves the courts response to adult youth and minor domestic violence. dating violence. sexual assault and also stalking cases. There is a provision for access to justice for teens. This program encourages crosstraining and collaboration between the courts. domestic violence and sexual assault service providers. youth organizations. violence prevention programs. and law enforcement agencies so they may establish and im.plement policies serving youths age 12 to 24. [] 2015 There are additionally in this excellent legislation new penalties for stalking violations. The measure strengthens antistalking laws by including stalking over the Internet to the current list of violations and doubles the prison sentence for repeat offenders of interstate domestic violence violations. Interstate violation of protection orders or interstate stalking violations. Certainly. the Internet can be used these days to benefit a stalker and this portion of the legislation is long overdue. The national stalker database is also reauthorized through 2010. . VAWA reauthorizes grants to combat violent -crimes on campuses. So many times we hear of young women who go away to college who are the victims of date rape. Additionally. VAWA 2005 .creates new grant programs aimed at mitigating the effects on children exposed to domestic violence. dating vio-. lence. sexual assault. and stalking. A while ago. I mentioned the story about Florence. who had four children and who was always in abusive relationships. and how three of her four children ended up being either an abuser or a victim. It is important to remember that children who experience this phenomena of domestic violence in their childhood often think that this is normal. Clearly the majority of families know that this is abnormal. that this is not the way that families should get along or that children should be treated or that children be exposed to this violence. In order to continue the learning process. VAWA 2005 requires a government accountability office. or GAO. as most people know it as. study to determine the extent to which men. women. youth. and children are victims of domestic violence. dating violence. sexual assault. and stalking. The report also should examine the availability of shelter. counseling. legal representation. and all other services to all victims. I. today. submitted an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act also calling for a study to be done correlating the instance of perpetrators abuse of substance. whether it is alcohol or whether it is drug abuse. and the fact that he was a violent person and committed a violent act on a woman. I know in Florida we did such a study. and we were amazed that the very strong correlation was there. I think once we are armed with this information. we will be able to provide a lot more funding and assistance for drug prevention and alcoholism treatment programs andnot just throwing money at the issue. but supporting those programs which truly are effective. not those that just take the money and have no efficacy to them. Mr. Speaker. as the Members can see from these new programs highlighted here tonight. this VAWA reauthorization is a step forward for victims of domestic violence as well as their families and loved ones. It is frustrating for policymakers to know that we cannot just wave a magic wand and eradicate violence in our society. Yet. Mr. Speaker. it is comforting to know that there are wonderfully generous people who dedicate their careers to making the lives of their fellow man better. I have been privileged to personally witness the generosity of spirit at the Dawn Center. a domestic violence shelter in my district. I also regularly visit the one in Pasco County. The Dawn Center happens to be in Hernando County. and Sunrise is in Pasco County. I will tell the Members a little bit about the director of Sunrise. whom I have known for about 18 years now. Penny was a nurse. and certainly as part of her training being a nurse. as nurses tend to be very caring and very nurturing. she learned that there was an opening as the director of Sunrise and applied for the directorship. Penny has risen in the ranks of directors of domestic violence shelters over the years to be one of the absolute premier shelter directors. She is innovative. she has fundraisers in the community which are fun. This past weekend. as a matter of fact. she had a lobster bake where they sold tickets and had lobsters flown in from Maine so that they could have a really upscale party to raise funds and also raise awareness for domestic violence and the need for the shelters. Penny is certainly indicative of the commitment that many people make once they enter into the field of being a staff person or a director or a counselor or a caseworker at a domestic violence shelter. The domestic violence shelters throughout our Nation depend a lot on State and Federal moneys for their support. In addition. certainly they are great at fundraising in the community. It seems like every maybe 4. 5 months. .I get a solicitation letter from one of the domestic violence shelters. I would ask the viewing public that as the holidays approach. that they remember the domestic violence shelters. Government cannot do it all. and to remember that the violence does escalate during time of the holidays. So having a generous spirit of the public who can afford to help these centers is a very important. My husband was a law enforcement officer for over 20 years. and years ago a domestic violence call was one that too many times law enforcement officers kind of did a wink and a nod at. Why? Because too many times women were forced into changing their mind the next day. or when the law enforcement officer got there. they would say do not press charges because they were stay at home moms and realized that if he spent a couple of nights in jail. he might very well lose his job. Thankfully. we have come a long way from that time and dQmestic violence is no longer given a wink and a nod by law enforcement. As a matter of fact. I am very proud to say that in most of the counties I represent. the sheriffs offices actually have a member of their staff. if not the sheriff or first deputy. actually serving on the boards of the domestic violence shelters. This is a message that is being sent. and that message is a strong one. That message is that law enforcement is serious about cracking down on those who would perpetrate harm on women and children. That cycle of abuse. unless it is stopped. unless women have a place to go to with their children. unless the Violence Against Women Act is reauthorized. women and children certainly will be in jeopardy. In conclusion. Mr. Speaker. I want to remind Members that domestic violence is not just a man against woman phenomenon. When a man hits a woman or a woman hits a man. oftentimes it is the lasting impression of that violence that affects the children and the young adults that are witness to the abuse. Studies show that young men exposed to domestic abuse are more likely to be abusers themselves in the future. As a matter of fact. I counseled a young woman to that very effect. I knew her family. and I said to her. "I know you did not grow up in this kind of a violent situation and you have sons. Why would you want your sons to grow up to be abusers? Because if they see your husband abusing you. they are going to think that that is okay. and that cycle of abuse will never stop." She sought counseling. She ended up turning this marriage around. and her husband received extensive counseling. Thankfully. that was a success story where the abuse did stop. And he also taught his sons that abuse is wrong and that he was man enough to say. hey. I was absolutely wrong in what I did. This vicious cycle is one that can be combated. Mr. Speaker. effectively through educatioi. support networks. increased law enforcement programs. and family counseling programs. Mr. Speaker. once again. I would urge my colleagues to support the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. 0l 2030