WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Letters to the editor are among the most widely read features in any newspaper or magazine. They allow you to reach a large audience. Use your own language to ask readers to:
- Support the reauthorization of VAWA
- Visit 700women.org to help
Here are sample talking points that you can use on VAWA Reauthorization:
- In the U.S., a woman is raped every 6 minutes; a woman is battered every 15 seconds (1)
- Every day four women die in this country as a result of domestic violence, approximately 1,400 a year (2)
- During the six months following an episode of domestic violence, 32% of battered women are victimized again (3)
- Children who witness violence at home are five times more likely to commit or suffer violence when they become adults (4)
- More than half of all women in the U.S. are physically assaulted at some point in their lives, and nearly 1 in 5 are raped or a victim of attempted rape. Nearly one-third of American women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives (5)
- The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 created new federal crimes addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking
- VAWA was reauthorized in 2000, incorporating new programs including funding for important services for immigrant, rural, disabled and older women
- In September 2005, Congress will reauthorize the bill, with the opportunity to make further improvements to continue its successful and necessary programs
- With passage of VAWA, rates of domestic violence incidents have dropped by almost 50% and incidents of rape are down by 60% (6)
- Intimate partners committed fewer murders in each of the 3 years (1996, 1997, and 1998) than in any other year since 1976 (7)
- Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings: Violence Between Intimates (NCJ-149259), November 1994.
- Violence Against Women in the United States, NOW: http://www.now.org/issues/violence/stats.html
- Bureau of Justice Statistics: Preventing Domestic Violence Against Women, 1986.
- Violence Against Women in the United States, NOW: http://www.now.org/issues/violence/stats.html
- The Commonwealth Fund, Health Concerns Across a Woman's Lifespan: 1998 Survey of Women's Health, May 1999
- Pass a Resolution: Urge Congress to Reauthorize VAWA, Wellstone Institute: http://www.wellstone.org/swinstitute
- Bureau of Justice Statistics: Intimate Partner Violence, 2000
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