Vol. 7, No. 4, Pg. 38. Violence Against Women Act.

• Author: By Tracy L. Hulsey

South Carolina Lawyer

1996.

Vol. 7, No. 4, Pg. 38.

Violence Against Women Act

38Violence Against Women ActBy Tracy L. HulseyOn September 13, 1994, President Clinton signed into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Crime Act). Pub. L. No. 103-322, 108 Stat. /796 (1994). Title IV of the Crime Act is known as the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA), although it in fact covers gender-based violence against both men and women.

Among the many provisions of the Crime Act, and the VAWA in particular, are five important concerns for the practitioner: 1) the creation of a civil rights remedy for gender-motivated violence; 2) changes in the Federal Rules of Evidence; 3) the creation of federal criminal penalties for travel across state lines to commit domestic violence; 4) mandatory restitution and increased federal penalties for sex crimes; and 5) the victim's right to be heard.

CIVIL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN

The provision of greatest importance to the practitioner concerns the creation of a civil rights remedy for gender-motivated violence. The stated purpose of Subtitle C of the VAWA is "to protect the civil rights of victims of gender motivated violence and to promote public safety, health and activities affecting interstate commerce by establishing a federal Civil rights cause of action for victims of crimes of violence motivated by gender." That subtitle also indudes the statement that "[all persons within the United States shall have the right to be free from crimes of violence motivated by gender . . . ." 42 U.S.C. 13981(a)-(b) (1995).

Under the VAWA, a victim of gender-motivated violence may bring a civil action against the assailant in either state or federal court to recover compensatory damages, punitive damages and injunctive relief. The plaintiff may also be awarded attorney's fees. The statute does not require a prior criminal complaint, prosecution or conviction for a victim to pursue the civil remedy. Id. § 13981(c), (e).

A federal civil rights claim improves on traditional state civil tort claims in that a plaintiff will not face barriers retained by some states such as the intrafamily immunity doctrine. See W.H. Hallock, The Violence Against Women Act: Civil Rights For Sexual Assault Victims, 68 Ind. L.J. 577, 600 (1993); Ann Noel, Federal Case, Los Angeles Lawyer, Mar. 1995, at 34. For a successful cause of action a plaintiff must plead and prove by a preponderance of the evidence that (1) a person (2) committed a crime of violence (3) motivated by gender. 42 U.S.C. § 13981(c).

The statute defines crime of...