Violence Against Women bill

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Safe Streets for Women

Subtitle A: Federal Penalties for Sex Crimes

Subtitle B: Law Enforcement and Prosecution Grants to

Reduce Violent Crimes Against Women

Subtitle C: Safety for Women in Public Transit and

Public Parks

Subtitle D: Justice Department Task Force on Violence

Against Women

Subtitle E: New Evidentiary Rules

Subtitle F: Assistance to Victims of Sexual Assault

Title II: Safe Homes for Women

Subtitle A: Family Violence Prevention and Services Act

Amendments

Subtitle B: Interstate Enforcement

Subtitle C: Arrest in Spousal Abuse Cases

Subtitle D: Domestic Violence Family Support and Shelter

Grants

Subtitle E: Family Violence Prevention and Services Act

Amendments

Subtitle F: Youth Education and Domestic Violence

Subtitle G: Confidentiality for Abused Persons

Subtitle H: Technical Amendments

Subtitle I: Data and Research

Title III: Civil Rights

Title IV: Safe Campuses for Women

Title V: Equal Justice for Women in the Courts Act

Subtitle A: Education and Training for Judges and Court

Personnel in State Courts

Subtitle B: Education and Training for Judges and Court

Personnel in Federal Courts

Title VI: Violence Against Women Act Improvements

Violence Against Women Act of 1993 - Title I: Safe Streets for Women - Safe Streets for Women Act of 1993 - Subtitle A: Federal Penalties for Sex Crimes - Amends the Federal criminal code to: (1) authorize judges to increase sentences for repeat sex offenders to up to twice that otherwise authorized by statute; and (2) require the U.S. Sentencing Commission to implement such amendment by recommending to the Congress amendments, if appropriate, in the sentencing guidelines applicable to criminal sexual abuse.

(Sec. 112) Directs the Sentencing Commission to: (1) review and amend, where necessary, its sentencing guidelines on aggravated sexual abuse or sexual abuse according to specified guidelines; and (2) review and report to the Congress regarding Federal rape sentencing.

(Sec. 113) Requires that a court order restitution for violations of Federal sexual abuse laws, including for sexual exploitation and other abuse of children.

(Sec. 114) Authorizes appropriations to U.S. Attorneys to appoint victim/witness counselors for the prosecution of sex crimes and domestic violence crimes.

Subtitle B: Law Enforcement and Prosecution Grants to Reduce Violent Crimes Against Women - Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to require the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance to make grants to areas of high intensity crime against women. Authorizes the Director to make general grants to: (1) States to reduce violent crimes against women; and (2) Indian tribes to reduce violent crimes against women in Indian country.

Subtitle C: Safety for Women in Public Transit and Public Parks - Amends the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 to direct the Secretary of Transportation, from funds authorized under existing provisions, to make capital grants for the prevention of crime and to increase security in existing and future public transportation systems. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and loans to States and local public bodies to increase the safety of public transportation through lighting, camera surveillance, security phones, or other projects. Directs the Secretary to provide grants and loans to study ways to reduce violent crimes against women in public transit through better design or operation of public transit systems.

(Sec. 132) Amends: (1) the National Park System Improvements in Administration Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to reduce violent crime in the National Park System; and (2) the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to direct such Secretary to provide grants for capital improvements and other measures to increase safety in urban parks and recreation areas.

Subtitle D: Justice Department Task Force on Violence Against Women - Establishes the Attorney General's Task Force on Violence Against Women to recommend Federal, State, and local strategies for preventing and sanctioning violent crime against women, including the enhancement and protection of the rights of the victims of such crimes.

Subtitle E: New Evidentiary Rules - Amends the Federal Rules of Evidence to exclude, in criminal cases other than sex offense cases, reputation or opinion evidence of the past sexual behavior of a victim from admission into evidence. Allows other types of evidence of a victim's past sexual behavior in accordance with specified procedures if its probative value outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice.

(Sec. 152) Makes reputation or opinion evidence of the plaintiff's past sexual behavior inadmissible in a civil action involving allegations of actionable sexual misconduct. Makes other types of evidence of a plaintiff's past sexual behavior admissible in accordance with specified procedures if its probative value outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice.

(Sec. 154) Makes evidence of an alleged victim's clothing, in a criminal case under Federal laws relating to sexual abuse, inadmissible to show that the victim incited or invited the offense.

Subtitle F: Assistance to Victims of Sexual Assault - Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow States to use amounts transferred by the State under block grant provisions for rape prevention and education programs conducted by rape crisis centers or similar nongovernmental nonprofit entities.

(Sec. 162) Requires grant recipients under this title to incur the full cost of forensic medical exams for victims of sexual assault.

(Sec. 163) Amends the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to private, nonprofit agencies for street-based outreach and education for female runaway, homeless, and street youth who have been subjected to or are at risk of being subjected to sexual abuse.

(Sec. 164) Amends the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to provide for a victim's right to make a statement at the sentencing of a criminal defendant in cases involving a crime of violence or sexual abuse.

Title II: Safe Homes for Women - Safe Homes for Women Act of 1993 - Subtitle A: Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Amendments - Amends the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) to authorize the Secretary of HHS to award a grant to a private, nonprofit entity to provide for the operation of a national, toll-free telephone hotline to provide information and assistance to victims of domestic violence.

Subtitle B: Interstate Enforcement - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide for a Federal term of imprisonment or fine, in addition to any State penalties, for any person who: (1) crosses a State line for the purpose of harassing, intimidating, or injuring a spouse or intimate partner and who injures such partner; (2) causes a partner to cross a State line by force, coercion, duress, or fraud and who injures such partner; or (3) commits such acts in violation of a valid protection order issued by a State.

Mandates that: (1) the alleged victim be given an opportunity to be heard regarding the danger posed by the defendant in proceedings to determine whether a defendant charged with committing such an offense shall be released pending trial or to determine conditions of such release; and (2) a court order restitution to the victim of such an offense.

Requires, provided certain conditions are met, that a protection order issued by the court of one State be accorded full faith and credit by the court of another State.

Subtitle C: Arrest in Spousal Abuse Cases - Amends the FVPSA to authorize the Secretary of HHS to make grants, with regard to spousal abuse, to: (1) implement pro-arrest programs and policies in police departments and improve case tracking; (2) centralize police enforcement, prosecution, or judicial responsibility for cases in one group of officers, prosecutors, or judges; (3) coordinate computer tracking systems to ensure communication between police, prosecutors, and both criminal and family courts; and (4) educate judges to improve judicial handling of cases.

Subtitle D: Domestic Violence, Family Support, and Shelter Grants - Directs the Secretary of HHS to make grants to support projects and programs relating to domestic violence and other criminal and unlawful acts that particularly affect women. Amends the FVPSA to authorize appropriations to carry out that Act.

Subtitle E: Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Amendments - Amends the FVPSA to require that: (1) applications for State demonstration grants include a plan to address the needs of underserved populations; and (2) upon completion of activities funded, the State grantee file a performance report explaining the activities carried out together with an assessment of the effectiveness of such activities.

Subtitle F: Youth Education and Domestic Violence - Amends the FVPSA to direct the Secretary of Education to select, implement, and evaluate four model programs for education of young people about domestic violence and violence among intimate partners, with one program for each of primary, middle, and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education.

Subtitle G: Confidentiality for Abused Persons - Requires the U.S. Postal Service to promulgate regulations to secure the confidentiality of abused persons' addresses.

Subtitle H: Technical Amendments - Amends the FVPSA to: (1) include within the term "related assistance" under such Act supportive services by peers; (2) increase (from six to seven) the number of special issue resource centers authorized focusing on issues of concern to domestic violence victims; (3) include providing technical assistance and training to State domestic violence coalitions as a possible area of specialty by such centers; (4) include among the duties of State domestic violence coalitions to work with local domestic violence programs and providers of direct services to encourage appropriate responses to domestic violence within the State; and (5) make technical amendments to such Act.

Subtitle I: Data and Research - Requires: (1) the Director of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to request the National Academy of Sciences to enter into a contract to develop a research agenda to increase the understanding and control of violence against women; (2) the NIJ to study and report to the States and the Congress on how the States may collect centralized databases on the incidence of domestic violence offenses within a State; and (3) the Secretary of HHS to conduct a study to obtain a national projection of the incidence of injuries resulting from domestic violence, the cost of injuries to health care facilities, and recommend health care strategies for reducing the incidence and cost of such injuries.

Title III: Civil Rights - Civil Rights Remedies for Gender-Motivated Violence Act - Declares that all persons within the United States shall have the right to be free from crimes of violence motivated by the victim's gender. Makes any person, including a person who acts under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State, who deprives another of such right, liable to the injured party in an action for compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive and declaratory relief, and such other relief as the court deems appropriate. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) concurrent and pendent jurisdiction; and (2) limitations on removal.

(Sec. 303) Allows the awarding of attorney's fees in actions to enforce this title.

(Sec. 304) Expresses the sense of the Senate that news media, law enforcement officers, and other persons should exercise restraint, and respect a rape victim's privacy, by not disclosing the victim's identity to the general public or facilitating such disclosure without the victim's consent.

Title IV: Safe Campuses for Women - Amends the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 to authorize appropriations for grants for campus sexual offenses education and prevention programs.

Title V: Equal Justice for Women in the Courts Act - Equal Justice for Women in the Courts Act of 1993 - Subtitle A: Education and Training for Judges and Court Personnel in State Courts - Authorizes the State Justice Institute to make grants for model programs to be used by States in training judges and court personnel in State laws on rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes of violence motivated by the victim's gender. Authorizes appropriations.

Subtitle B: Education and Training for Judges and Court Personnel in Federal Courts - Encourages the circuit judicial councils to conduct studies of any instances of gender bias in legal proceedings in their respective circuits. Authorizes the Federal Judicial Center to include in its educational and training programs information on issues related to gender bias in the courts. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 522) Directs the Judicial Conference to allocate funds (as specified) to Federal circuit courts that: (1) undertake studies under this subtitle in their circuits; or (2) implement reforms recommended as a result of such studies in their own or other circuits, including education and training.

Title VI: Violence Against Women Act Improvements - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide for pretrial detention in sex offense cases.

(Sec. 602) Increases penalties for sex offenses against victims under age 16.

(Sec. 603) Amends: (1) the Victims' Rights and Restitution Act of 1990 to require the Attorney General to authorize the Director of the Office of Victims of Crime to provide for the payment of the cost of up to two tests for human immunodeficiency virus for a sexual assault victim in the 12 months following the assault and a counseling session; and (2) the Federal criminal code to authorize the restitution of victims of sex offenses.

(Sec. 605) Provides for the enforcement of restitution orders through suspension of Federal benefits.

(Sec. 606) Adds a Federal Rule of Evidence that, in a criminal case in which a person is accused of a sex offense, evidence is not admissible to show that the alleged victim invited or provoked the commission of the offense.

(Sec. 607) Requires the Attorney General to provide for a national baseline study on campus sexual assault. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 608) Directs the Attorney General to: (1) prepare a report on the status of battered women's syndrome as a medical and psychological condition and on its effect in criminal trials; (2) conduct a study of the means by which abusive spouses may obtain information concerning the addresses or locations of estranged or former spouses; and (3) complete a study of problems of recordkeeping of criminal complaints involving domestic violence.

(Sec. 611) Requires the Judicial Conference of the United States to: (1) review and make recommendations, and report to the Congress, regarding the advisability of creating Federal rules of professional conduct for lawyers in Federal cases involving sexual misconduct; and (2) complete a study of, and submit to the Congress recommendations for amending, Federal Rule of Evidence 404 as it affects the admission of evidence of a defendant's prior sex crimes in cases involving sexual misconduct.

(Sec. 613) Authorizes the Attorney General to award supplementary grants to States adopting effective laws relating to sexual violence. Authorizes appropriations.