Experimenting with the Lives of Victims of Gender-Based Violence in America

Today, a battle rages in this country that is a life and death struggle. COVID-19? Racial injustice? Yes, those are important issues but my biggest concern right now is the effort, by those professing to speak for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, to decriminalize gender-based crimes in America. Just days ago, the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence held a press event calling for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. They recruited actress Angelina Jolie to speak with them. I strongly support reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Everyone who cares about domestic and sexual violence in this country should support VAWA. It is long overdue.

But there is dishonesty being perpetrated on the public in this effort to reauthorize VAWA. First, the new bills in both the House and the Senate end mandatory arrest for domestic violence in this country. This deserves major public dialogue. Mandatory arrest has helped play a role in holding misogynistic, rage-filled abusers accountable for more than 20 years in this country. Second, the program that has always supported criminal justice system accountability for offenders is being renamed from "Improving Criminal Justice Response" to "Alternatives to Criminal Justice Response." Let's talk publicly about this decision without finger-pointing or name-calling toward those who disagree with us. It is a major policy shift. Third, hidden inside the House-version of the VAWA bill (HR1620) and still hidden inside the Senate-version of the bill is a section called "Restorative Practice." It currently seeks to appropriate $125 million over the next five years ($25 million per year for FY22,23,24,25, and 26) to promote "victim-offender reconciliation" programs for gender-based violence offenses in the United States. The provision has faced no public scrutiny in the House or the Senate. It has not been covered for the public in a single national news story. Why?

I cannot help but state the obvious. If it became widely known that Congress is going to create a massive, funded, untested program to divert crimes against women away from arrest and prosecution, the public would never support it. It would cause outrage and anger from tens of thousands of survivors of sexual and domestic violence and the first responders who risk their lives every day to protect them. If it became publicly understood, for example, that near-fatal strangulation cases (causing brain damage to victims), cases involving firearms, and even cases involving the attempted murder of women could now be diverted into "victim offender reconciliation" programs, no money would ever be authorized by Congress for such a purpose.

In the last two years, domestic violence homicides have spiked in this country. Women are being murdered at one of the highest rates in decades. Consequences for those who commit domestic and sexual violence have dropped dramatically in the face of COVID and the reduction in arrests and prosecutions of offenders. The majority of police officers in this country murdered in the line of duty has risen 28% just in the last year. The majority of those who kill officers have a history of violence against women (and often strangulation of women). There is little doubt that the attack on law enforcement is, in part, fueled by the failure of the criminal justice system to hold perpetrators of gender-based violence accountable BEFORE they kill a woman or a police officer. Bail reform efforts alone are letting thousands of dangerous offenders out of jail within hours of their arrest. But now, we are pursuing ways to have even less violent offenders prosecuted. I fear more women will die if we further erode the power of the criminal justice system to stop dangerous abusers. There is certainly no evidence that further weakening our response to gender-based violence will possibly make women, men, and children safer in this country.

The current public draft of the Restorative Practice section of VAWA Reauthorization directs the Office on Violence Against Women to use $25 million of taxpayer money per year to pilot programs that decriminalize domestic violence. There is little doubt in my mind that Angelina Jolie. knew nothing about the provision when she spoke on behalf of VAWA Reauthorization. Most members of Congress who voted for VAWA last year in the House of Representatives probably did not know about the provision. Most Senators would never publicly support such an approach. Yet, here we are...

This issues deserve public scrutiny and honest public hearings in the Senate and the House. There is a place for some types of domestic violence and even sexual assault cases to offer victims an alternative to the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system is a blunt instrument that sometimes turns the actual victim into an arrested offender (when she fights back, for example). The criminal justice system often fails to treat domestic and sexual violence seriously and re-victimizes victims by not protecting them and by not holding offenders accountable. I was recruited into the battered women's movement in this country by an amazing survivor and leader in San Diego, Ashley Walker in 1985. Feminist advocates knew that they needed the criminal justice system to help them stop violent and abusive men in this country. It became one of the very core reasons for the Violence Against Women Act. Since the murder of George Floyd in 2020, there has been important public discussion about misconduct by law enforcement officers, including police officers who perpetrate domestic violence against their partners and avoid consequences. I was a prosecutor for 20 years in San Diego and I know well the failures and deficiencies of the system and, at times, the professionals inside the system, including the system's disparate impacts on communities of color.

But now we are dishonestly (and very covertly) seeking to spend a MASSIVE amount of money experimenting with the lives of victims of gender-based violence in this country. Some advocates claim that this is what victims want and that the VAWA provision is based on research. Don't be deceived. Most victims of gender-based violence in our published research at Alliance for HOPE International don't support decriminalizing violence against them. And nearly 100% don't want their abusers to be able to avoid arrest, prosecution, and consequences for their choices to hurt another person. No survivor, nearly killed by her partner, would want to be asked to "voluntarily" agree to participate in a victim-offender reconciliation program. While our published research does not represent the views of all survivors, it is important for us to elevate their voices. Where is the research proving that most survivors want gender-based violence decriminalized?

There is no body of research -- peer-reviewed, academic research -- that supports decriminalizing gender-based violence in order to stop it in this country. Yet, Congress is about to authorize $125 million for a program that is unsupported by research -- without any public discussion on Capitol Hill. We have a coalition of nearly 150 organizations that want a public discussion of "Restorative Practice." Let's debate it publicly. Let's talk about how to protect victim safety while trying to identify some cases that could be appropriate for having the victim and the offender sit down together with a community organization. Let's not just pretend that dialogue between a violent, rage-filled man about stopping his power and control techniques perpetrated on his victim and honed over years -- will stop gender-based violence in America.

The largest statutory restorative justice program in America is in the State of Oregon. But it does not allow perpetrators of gender-based violence to avoid the consequences of their crimes. It is focused on post-conviction cases AFTER THE ABUSER has taken responsibility for his offenses. The program has some positive outcomes -- based on published research. Yes, the Congress of the United States is about to pass a program worth $125 million to experiment with cases even BEFORE anyone has been held accountable for their crimes --without even a public hearing on the proposed experiment.

Let's have the courage to discuss the expenditure of taxpayer money in public. Let's be honest enough to let the voters and concerned public weigh in on whether this is how we should be addressing gender-based violence in this country. Secrecy and subterfuge will NEVER produce transparency and integrity in our efforts to reduce gender-based violence and keep victims safe in America.

Casey Gwinn has worked in the domestic and sexual violence field for nearly 40 years, including 20 years as a prosecutor. He and Ashley Walker, the founder of the YWCA's Battered Women Services in San Diego in 1977, founded the San Diego Task Force on Domestic Violence in 1987 and then founded the San Diego Domestic Violence Council. He has authored or co-authored ten books on gender-based violence in America. He served as the elected City Attorney of San Diego from 1996 - 2004. Currently, he serves as the President of Alliance for HOPE International.