BILL EXCERPTS
Congress Finds The Following

Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress should raise awareness of domestic violence in the Nation by supporting the goals and ideals of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Whereas domestic violence affects women, men, and children of all racial, social, religious, age, ethnic, and economic groups in the United States;

Whereas it is estimated that a woman is battered every 15 seconds in America, usually by her intimate partner;

Whereas domestic violence often does not consist of a single incident, but is instead a continual state of victimization;

Whereas domestic violence is the single largest cause of injury to women in the United States, affecting 6,000,000 women;

Whereas it is estimated that between 1993 and 1999, more than half of domestic violence attacks were committed by a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend;

Whereas 1 in 3 murdered women are killed by their current or former spouses or boyfriends;

Whereas 88 percent of domestic violence fatalities had a documented history of physical abuse;

Whereas 15-50 percent of abused women report interference from their partner with education, training or work;

Whereas approximately 50 percent of the homeless women and children in the United States are on the streets because of violence in their homes;

Whereas each year, an estimated 3,300,000 children witness family members committing violent attacks against their mothers or female caretakers;

Whereas boys who witness their fathers' violence are 10 times more likely to engage in spouse abuse in later adulthood than boys from nonviolent homes;

Whereas increasing evidence indicates that there are large numbers of immigrant women trapped in violent homes, isolated by abusive spouses who use the threat of deportation to maintain power and control over them;

Whereas past and current victims of domestic violence are overrepresented in the population of welfare recipients;

Whereas there is a need to increase the public awareness and understanding of domestic violence and the needs of battered women and their children;

Whereas the month of October, 2002, has been recognized as an appropriate month for activities furthering awareness of domestic violence ; and

Whereas the dedication and successes of those working to end domestic violence and the strength of the survivors of domestic violence should be recognized: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that Congress should raise awareness of domestic violence in the Nation by supporting the goals and ideals of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The Congress finds the following:

(1) Nearly one-third of American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives.

(2) Family violence costs the nation between $5,000,000,000 and $10,000,000,000 each year in medical expenses, police and court costs, shelters and foster care, sick leave, absenteeism, and nonproductivity.

(3) The Nation's first specialized domestic violence court was established in Chicago in the early 1980s to centralize the prosecution of domestic violence offenders.

(4) There are presently more than 150 domestic violence courts in at least 23 States nationwide.

(5) Specialized domestic violence courts in several communities have resulted in cutting the processing time of domestic violence, reducing a backlog of existing domestic violence cases and raising the conviction rate.

(6) Specialized domestic violence courts allow judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys to focus on the intricacies of domestic violence cases, especially with regards to repeat offenders.

(a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be cited as the `Domestic Violence Screening and Treatment Act of 2002'.

(b) FINDINGS- Congress finds the following:

(1) Nearly one-third of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, and about 1200 women are murdered every year by their intimate partner, nearly 3 each day.

(2) 85 percent of violent victimizations are experienced by women.

(3) 37 percent of all women who sought care in hospital emergency rooms for violence -related injuries were injured by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.

(4) In addition to injuries sustained during violent episodes, physical and psychological abuse are linked to a number of adverse physical health effects including arthritis, chronic neck or back pain, migraine and other frequent headaches, stammering, problems with vision, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

(5) Medical services for abused women cost an estimated $857.3 million every year.

(6) Each year, at least six percent of all pregnant women, about 240,000 pregnant women, in this country are battered by the men in their lives. This battering leads to complications of pregnancy, including low weight gain, anemia, infections, and first and second trimester bleeding.

(7) Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause, and evidence exists that a significant proportion of all female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners.

(8) Children who witness domestic violence are more likely to exhibit behavioral and physical health problems including depression, anxiety, and violence towards peers. They are also more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution, and commit sexual assault crimes.

(9) Fifty percent of men who frequently assault their wives frequently assault their children. The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect suggests that domestic violence may be the single major precursor to child abuse and neglect fatalities in this country.

(10) Currently, about 10 percent of primary care physicians routinely screen for intimate partner abuse during new patient visits and nine percent routinely screen during periodic checkups.

(11) Recent clinical studies have proven the effectiveness of a 2-minute screening for early detection of abuse of pregnant women. Additional longitudinal studies have tested a 10-minute intervention that was proven highly effective in increasing the safety of pregnant abused women. Comparable research does not yet exist to support the effectiveness of screening men.

(12) 70 to 81 percent of the patients studied reported that they would like their healthcare providers to ask them privately about intimate partner violence .

This Act may be cited as the `Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victims' Housing Act'.

Congress finds as follows:

(1) Victims of rape, incest, and other forms of sexual assault are frequently forced suddenly from their own homes for safety reasons. Such victims have included women desperately trying to protect their children from continued sexual abuse by other family members, women attending college who are pressured to leave school following a rape, young women being sold into prostitution by their fathers or husbands, women who are undocumented aliens feeling trapped and living in fear of being deported if they seek help, women being afraid to return to apartment buildings where they have been raped, and teenagers running away from home to escape incest.

(2) All of these women and children, and many more in similar situations, would greatly benefit from making available transitional housing that offers immediate safety and connections to other appropriate services. Without such housing, they are often left in dangerous circumstances or left homeless and subject to additional victimization.

(3) Housing can prevent domestic violence and mitigate its effects. The connection between domestic violence and housing is overwhelming. Of all homeless women and children, 50 percent are fleeing domestic violence .

(4) Among cities surveyed, 44 percent identified domestic violence as a primary cause of homelessness.

(5) Women's poverty levels aggravate the problems of homelessness and domestic violence . Two out of three poor adults are women. Female-headed households are six times poorer than male-headed households. In 1996, of the 7,700,000 poor families in the country, 4,100,000 of them were single female-headed households. In addition, 5,100,000 poor women who are not in families are poor.

(6) Almost 50 percent of the women who receive Temporary Assistance to Needy Families funds cite domestic violence as a factor in the need for assistance.

(7) Many women who flee violence are forced to return to their abusers because of inadequate shelter or lack of money. Even if they leave their abusers to go to a shelter, they often return home because the isolation from familiar surroundings, friends, and neighborhood resources makes them feel even more vulnerable. Shelters and transitional housing facilities are often located far from a domestic violence victim's neighborhood. While this placement may be deliberate to protect domestic violence victims from their abusers, it can also be intimidating and alienating for a woman to leave her home, community, cultural support system, and all that she knows for shelter way across town. Thus, women of color and immigrant women are less likely to become shelter residents.

(8) Women who do leave their abusers lack adequate emergency shelter options. The overall number of emergency shelter beds for homeless people is estimated to have decreased by an average of 3 percent in 1997 while requests for shelter increased on the average by 3 percent. Emergency shelters struggle to meet the increased need for services with about 32 percent of the requests for shelter by homeless families going unmet. In fact 88 percent of cities reported having to turn away homeless families from emergency shelters due to inadequate resources for services.

(9) Battered women and their children comprise an increasing proportion of the emergency shelter population.

(10) A stable, sustainable home base is crucial for women who have left situations of domestic violence and are learning new job skills, participating in educational programs, working full-time jobs, or searching for adequate child care in order to gain self-sufficiency. Transitional housing resources and services provide a continuum between emergency shelter provision and independent living.

This Act may be cited as the `Children Who Witness Domestic Violence Act'.

Congress makes the following findings:(1) Domestic violence and sexual assault occur frequently in the United States. 1,500,000 women are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States, and 1 in 4 women in the United States will experience domestic violence or sexual assault in her lifetime.

(2) At least 3,300,000 children in the United States are exposed to parental violence every year.

(3) Child abuse and domestic violence often occur within the same families. Because of this overlap, cross-training for child welfare workers, courts, law enforcement, prosecutors, and domestic violence and sexual assault victim service providers is essential.

(4) Forty to 60 percent of men who abuse women also abuse children.

(5) In 43 percent of households where intimate violence occurs, at least 1 child under the age of 12 lives in the home. Domestic violence has been shown to occur disproportionately in homes with children under age 5.

(6) In most States, more than 50 percent of the residents in battered women's shelters are children.

(7) As many as 500,000 children may be encountered by police during domestic violence arrests each year.

(8) Children who live in homes where domestic violence occurs are at a higher risk of anxiety and depression, and exhibit more aggressive, antisocial, inhibited, and fearful behaviors than other children.

(9) Children's experiences vary widely as the result of their exposure to domestic violence depending on their family situations, community environment, and the child's own personality. Children need comprehensive services that serve the continuum of their individual needs.

(10) Adolescents who have grown up in violent homes are at risk for recreating the abusive relationships they have observed. Forty percent of violent juvenile offenders come from homes where there is domestic violence, and 50 percent of children who come before delinquency court have been exposed to violence in the home.

(11) Men who as children witnessed their parent's domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own wives as are sons of nonviolent parents. One-third of women who are physically abused by a husband or boyfriend grew up in a household where their mother was also abused.

(12) The most successful strategies for dealing with the overlap between domestic violence and child abuse are those that provide for the safety of both the children and the nonabusing parent.

(13) Recent studies show that battered women parent effectively and attend to their children's needs.

(14) In a major metropolitan area, 80 percent of surveyed battered women with children reported that they and their children were safe and together as a family after receiving domestic violence advocacy services. In contrast, the rate of substantiated cases of sexual abuse in foster care is more than 4 times higher than the rate in the general population.

This Act may be cited as the `Domestic Violence Screening and Services Act of 2002'.

Congress finds the following:

(1) Nearly 1/3 of American women (31 percent) report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives, and about 1200 women are murdered every year by their intimate partner, nearly 3 each day.

(2) 85 percent of violent victimizations are experienced by women.

(3) 37 percent of all women who sought care in hospital emergency rooms for violence-related injuries were injured by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.

(4) In addition to injuries sustained during violent episodes, physical and psychological abuse are linked to a number of adverse physical health effects including arthritis, chronic neck or back pain, migraine and other frequent headaches, stammering, problems with vision, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

(5) Medical services for abused women cost an estimated $857,300,000 every year.

(6) Each year, at least 6 percent of all pregnant women, about 240,000 pregnant women, in this country are battered by the men in their lives. This battering leads to complications of pregnancy, including low weight gain, anemia, infections, and first and second trimester bleeding.

(7) Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause, and evidence exists that a significant proportion of all female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners.

(8) Children who witness domestic violence are more likely to exhibit behavioral and physical health problems including depression, anxiety, and violence towards peers. They are also more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution, and commit sexual assault crimes.

(9) Fifty percent of men who frequently assault their wives frequently assault their children. The United States Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect suggests that domestic violence may be the single major precursor to child abuse and neglect fatalities in this country.

(10) Currently, about 10 percent of primary care physicians routinely screen for intimate partner abuse during new patient visits and nine percent routinely screen during periodic checkups.

(11) Recent clinical studies have proven the effectiveness of a 2-minute screening for early detection of abuse of pregnant women. Additional longitudinal studies have tested a 10-minute intervention that was proven highly effective in increasing the safety of pregnant abused women. Comparable research does not yet exist to support the effectiveness of screening men.

(12) 70 to 81 percent of the patients studied reported that they would like their health care providers to ask them privately about intimate partner violence.