Congress Considers VAWA Reauthorization

By Laurel Morales
March 20, 2018

Over the last five years Native American tribes have convicted 74 non-native abusers, thanks to the 2013 Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. That’s according to a new report released Tuesday from the National Congress of American Indians. 

The report comes as a U.S. Senate committee discusses reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act — or VAWA. Congress originally passed VAWA in 1994. Since then, the U.S. Justice Department has spent $7.6 billion on grant programs to help victims and prosecute abusers.

California senator Dianne Feinstein said those programs have gotten results.

“These programs work,” Feinstein said. “Between 1994 and 2012 the rate of domestic violence has decreased by 63 percent.”

In 2013 the reauthorization of VAWA made it possible for tribes to prosecute abusers who had previously evaded the law. However, the legislation has some gaps.

“When you ask a lot of tribal prosecutors, they often describe the narrowness of their charging authority as prosecuting a case with one hand tied behind their backs,” said NCAI attorney Elizabeth Reese.

When police arrive at the scene of a crime, there’s often more than intimate partner domestic violence. There also can be substance abuse, child abuse and even assault on a police officer. All of those crimes are outside the tribe’s jurisdiction.

And while 18 tribes have the resources to implement VAWA, hundreds say they don’t have the funding to hire the qualified judges and attorneys.