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New Bill Would Help Domestic Violence Victims

By Allison Stevens, Women's eNews. Posted January 15, 2007.


A new bill being drafted by Sen. Biden would create a network of 100,000 legal volunteers to work on behalf of domestic violence victims.
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When it comes to domestic violence, Sen. Joseph Biden likes to compare the federal government to a lawnmower.

"Combating violence in the home is like cutting the grass," the Democrat from Delaware is fond of saying. "You can't just do it once."

In other words, the scourge of domestic violence can't be cured with one piece of legislation or one round of federal spending, he says. It's a persistent problem that needs to be addressed year after year, one congressional session after the next.

That is why Biden -- author of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which created and funded federal programs to help victims of domestic violence -- keeps thinking about new ways to reduce violence against women. And now with his party in power in the House and Senate, he is in position to find more support.

His current plan involves legal assistance.

Only 170,000 low-income domestic violence survivors have legal representation each year, less than 20 percent of at least 1 million victims who experience it annually, according to a 2005 report by the Institute for Law and Justice in Alexandria, Va., and the National Center for Victims and Crime in Washington, D.C.

Creating a Legal Network

To address this need, Biden, an attorney, has written a bill that would create an electronic network of 100,000 lawyers willing to do volunteer work on behalf of victims of domestic violence. The bill would also set up a fund to help a separate group of lawyers -- those who spend a majority of their time working on behalf of domestic violence victims -- pay back their school loans.

The median salary for a lawyer who joins a private firm is $85,000, while the average entry-level public sector salary -- such as a lawyer who works at a legal aid clinic -- is $35,000, according to Biden. Most lawyers graduate with a combined debt from undergraduate and graduate school of more than $80,000, according to the American Bar Association in Chicago.

Biden's proposal comes at a time when the amount of domestic violence in the United States is dropping, although assaults and other crimes at the hands of intimates has remained at about 10 percent of all violent crimes over the past decade.

A report released last month by the Department of Justice indicated that the rate of intimate partner violence in the United States fell by more than half between 1993 and 2004, a finding that paralleled an overall decrease in violent crime during the same period. The rate of homicides, rapes, assaults and robberies against women fell from 10 in 1,000 to 4 in 1,000, according to the report.

The report is a sign of success that the VAWA programs are working, said Allison Randall, public policy director at the National Network to End Domestic Violence in Washington, D.C.

Economists Studied Earlier Drop

In 2002, in an analysis of a decline in domestic violence during the 1990s, economists at Colgate and the University of Arkansas concluded that the availability of legal services, improvement in women's economic status and higher levels of education explained why women's risks of being battered had dropped. An aging population was also cited, because older women are significantly less vulnerable to this kind of abuse.

Economists Amy Farmer of the University of Arkansas and Jill Tiefenthaler argue that although shelters, hotlines and counseling services provide critical crisis-intervention services, they do not give women the ability to permanently leave their abusers. Legal assistance gives victims the tools -- such as protective orders, child support and public assistance -- to achieve financial independence and freedom from harm.

Under Biden's bill, lawyers who devote more than half of their full-time caseload to low-income domestic violence survivors for more than two consecutive years will get a 20 percent discount on their student loan bill, paid for by the Department of Justice. Lawyers who serve four and five years in their practice will get a 30 percent break.


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Allison Stevens is Washington bureau chief at Women's eNews.

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overkill
Posted by: edith on Jan 15, 2007 3:09 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Senator Biden's efforts certainly seem to be well meaning. But not only is domestic violence dropping, (while still significant and totally unjustified), but it has become a matter of major importance for most state and local bar associations through which many of the private attorneys referred to in the article do pro bono free work for the public. Domestic violence is best handled by well-trained police, social workers, community activists and volunteers at local levels who are not hampered by cumbersome federal regulations that often insist on a "one size fits all" set of solutions.

Moreover, the fact that most domestic violence situations do not result in the engagement of legal counsel is neither good nor bad. Intervention by friends, social workers, clergy and other non-legal support teams may be more effective than the often ineffective if well-meant intervention of the courts.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

For women only?
Posted by: kepstein7777 on Jan 15, 2007 5:10 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I didn't get a clear sense from the article whether the bill covers DV against men. But the quotes seem to suggest that Biden is focusing on women.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: For women only? Posted by: MatthewSavage
» wrong again, Matthew Posted by: MartianBachelor
» thanks for taking me seriously Posted by: MartianBachelor
» you must have me confused Posted by: goatini
» RE: For women only? Posted by: katyalynn
» RE: For women only? Posted by: goatini
Great idea
Posted by: willie.horton on Jan 15, 2007 5:42 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Victims of domestic violence do receive valuable help from volunteers and shelters, but are often on their own when legal assistance is needed to secure their financial or property rights.
As a side note, Delaware also guarantees that victims of domestic violence are eligible to obtain a concealed-carry permit, although they must spend hundreds of dollars on training & fees to obtain it. IMHO, we should waive the fees and offer them free firearms training as well.

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This looks more like a business as usual bill or am I missing something.
Posted by: maxpayne on Jan 15, 2007 6:59 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
By the way, why are rich lawyers getting a bigger discount than students? He might want to do more than apologize to students going into debts. Oh yeah, Mr. Biden, D-MBNA, who happily pushed for the BANKRUPTCY OVERHAUL bill in 2005, wants to LIE to us about protecting domestic victims !

P.S.: In 2005, I was travelling through rural DE and after the Bankruptcy Overhaul Bill passed and was signed into law, residents were outraged and even went so far as to putting up effigies of their sellout MISREPRESENTATIVES.

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Legal Services Corporation
Posted by: sunnynala on Jan 15, 2007 7:02 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Perhaps Biden should look into better funding for LSC, which already represents victims of DV, male and female.

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» Not All Lawyers are Equal Posted by: edith
Thank you, Senator Biden!
Posted by: sheena2u on Jan 15, 2007 1:29 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Senator Biden's idea of helping lawyers who provide services to the poor, or pro-bono services to the needy, is a good idea. Senator Biden does not support the huge tax cuts to the most wealthy American citizens. So, if we would stop subsidizing the ultra-wealthy, we could easily provide needed services such as this one. We could help those who are doing good works, and most importantly we could help families in need. When we start to get our priorities right again, we can begin to restore peace and prosperity for all Americans.

Domestic violence is still a problem not only in our country, but worldwide. A program empowering people who have been hurt by domestic violence is a program that deserves our support. It could include men, also, if they have been victims of domestic violence. Although this happens rarely, it does happen too.

A program such as this could reduce poverty for many Americans. Many women who suffer from domestic violence are single mothers. It is refreshing to hear of a program that helps rather than burdens for a change. Helping abused women, or men, to be financially and emotionally independent is a step in the right direction.

Another benefit is it will help the girls and boys in these families! Being a child in a family where domestic abuse exists is traumatic and damaging. It often leads these young people to become violent adults, drug abusers, criminals, or adults with mental health issues. This is not necessarily the case, but too often it is the result. Reducing domestic violence will greatly improve the lives, and futures, of countless girls and boys! Thus, it will eventually improve the quality of life for most Americans.

The important thing about this bill is that it would empower those who do need this kind of help, and it would help reduce poverty and suffering in this world. So, I applaud Senator Biden for taking this step in the right direction!

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So... violence against women is more heinous than any other?
Posted by: H_H on Jan 15, 2007 7:27 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I guess I don't understand the reasoning by which we should all drop what we're doing, slap our hands to our cheeks and scream "NOOO!!!!" when it comes to violence against women while sort of shrugging and muttering "Feh, who cares?" when it comes to the fact that in almost every category of violent crime, men are more likely to be victims than women are.

Seriously, does it really do a disservice to women to at least acknowledge that violence against women shouldn't be viewed as being more horrible than violence against men? I thought that was the point of the whole 'equality' thing that we keep hearing so much about?

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» Cowardice is cowardice Posted by: Kelly
Since no one else reads the ads around here...
Posted by: MartianBachelor on Jan 16, 2007 9:39 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I couldn't help noticing the first of the ads-by-google at left was for a lawyer asking have you been falsely accused of abuse?.

This raises two issues not even mentioned in the article or any of the comments that I've seen:

1) Allegations of DV have now become a staple strategy in divorce cases. All the woman has to do is claim DV, and POOF!!, everyone starts running to her rescue and the man is screwed out of his house and children. If this isn't abuse, I don't know what is - and the system is both aiding and abetting the perpetrator in this case. More lawyers will certainly help with all this, though somehow I don't think they'll be made available to the subsequent beat-dead dads.

2) Abuse of children is a form of DV that is perpetrated primarily by women, with boys being the predominant victims. I'm guessing that pouring more lawyers on this won't help here either.

The penchant for D's to almost immediately pull a gun..foot..shoot type of maneuver is simply amazing.

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It's all BS
Posted by: gellero on Jan 16, 2007 5:02 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This is just another power grab by the Federal Government... Where does the Constitution say that the Fed is responsible for 'domestic violence'?? Doesn't anyone see this???
What's next...a Federal law against spitting in the street??

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» Big Fat Feds Posted by: edith
Dear Edith above:
Posted by: gellero on Jan 17, 2007 3:52 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Edith....the posters on this board are so enthralled by the handouts to the hoi polloi by the Federal Ceasar that they have no clue about their lost rights under the constitution, the dilution of our real constitutional money, etc. etc. ad nauseaum.
THE TENTH AMENDMENT - POWERS of the STATES and PEOPLE
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Amen....

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