Rape and domestic violence against Native women have reached “epidemic proportions,” but the hotlines that could help are often unprepared for the unique cultural needs of tribal women who may live in rural areas with little support and a bewildering legal system. But that could be changing. Sometime this year,…
On March 8, the Iowa House of Representatives passed a bill setting new mandatory minimum sentences in domestic violence cases. Those convicted of domestic violence three times must serve 85 percent of their sentences prior to release, regardless of their conduct while imprisoned. The Iowa Senate voted unanimously to adopt…
This new program was authorized in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013) and received its first appropriation in fiscal year 2016. VAWA 2013 recognizes tribes’ inherent power to exercise “special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction” (SDVCJ) over certain defendants, regardless of their Indian or non-Indian status, who…
Postsecondary institutions reported a 34 percent decline in crimes between 2001 and 2013, with decreases in every category except forcible sex crimes, which rose 120 percent over the same period. It is not clear whether sex crimes are occurring more frequently or whether victims have become more willing to report…
Outraged activists and prosecutors in Oklahoma called for changes to a state law on forced oral sex after a court rejected the prosecution of a teenage boy in Tulsa because his 16-year-old accuser had been intoxicated to the point of unconsciousness. “Forcible sodomy cannot occur where a victim is so…
The National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women has compiled a number of resource listings about survivors as they reenter their communities after being incarcerated in prison and/or jail. READ MORE
Before she could move into a dormitory at Brigham Young University or sign up for freshman classes, Brooke had to sign the college’s Honor Code. Part moral compass and part contract, the Honor Code is a cornerstone of life for the nearly 30,000 students at Brigham Young, a Mormon-run university.…
Jen Wright It’s so painful to lose colleagues and friends. We lost Jen Wright on March 16th to cancer; she was a great team member who gave so much to her work. Jen was a long-time staff member at Arrowhead Regional Corrections in Duluth, MN. Jen loved training too, she…
The first-of-its-kind study, funded by ACF’s Family & Youth Services Bureau and conducted by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, focused on 873 youth ages 14 to 21 in 11 cities. Respondents included street youth receiving services from ACF’s Street Outreach Program grantees and street youth who were not currently…
#Children and TeensObama created the Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument with a presidential proclamation, honoring both Alva Belmont, the National Woman's Party benefactor, and Alice Paul, who founded the party and served as its chief strategist. Obama will deliver remarks Tuesday morning at the house, which served as the party's fifth headquarters,…
