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http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/editorials/2014/09/06/joe-bidens-fight-end-abuse-women/15200915/

Joe Biden's fight to end abuse of women

It is hard to believe that here, in the United States, just a little over 25 years ago, the law and much of society were indifferent to violence against women.

Today, domestic abuse is not only a crime, but society finds it repulsive. Even the NFL has created penalties to punish players who abuse their spouse or significant other. It has not been a perfect conversion. Many college campuses, of all places, still struggle to confront incidents of date rape. And in our military, scandals keep erupting about officers or NCOs abusing female personnel.

That these are even considered scandals is primarily due to one thing, the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. Many of us take its protections for granted, but getting it into law was no easy task. That it was done was due largely to a then-junior U.S. senator from Delaware, Joe Biden.

DIALOGUE DELAWARE: Biden: The hard fight to end violence against women

As the vice president explains, on the 20th anniversary of the act, even as late as the 1980s, "No one denied punching a wife in the face or pushing her down the stairs was reprehensible. But most people refused to intervene. They called domestic violence a 'family affair.'" Critics went after anyone who dared question this state of affairs as favoring the "disintegration of the family."

However, voices were rising against it. Primarily, they were the voices of women – many of them victims of this abuse. Researchers began documenting the staggering number of cases and, worse, the poor response from the nation's prosecutors and police departments. With that, Sen. Biden introduced a Violence Against Women Act in 1990. Again, it is hard to believe, but there were opponents, despite the evidence. Sen. Biden kept coming back. When a major anti-crime bill began moving through Congress in 1994, the senator, joined by Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, launched a campaign that showed the country the scandalous response to these outrages by the law enforcement establishment. It was a battle for hearts, minds and legal procedures. By making the public case and moving behind the scenes in Congress, Sen. Biden was able to turn heads. With that, attitudes changed.

The Violence Against Women Act passed in 1994 as part of a larger crime bill. Of the many laws passed by Congress, few can be said to have had an effect on the country. This one did. It pushed crimes of abuse to the forefront of police investigations. It mandated restitution and changed the sentencings of repeat offenders in sexual abuse cases. It also influenced states and other nations. Very quickly, the issue of women's safety became an urgent topic.

The bill was not perfect, of course. Nor did it solve all of the problems its sponsors hoped to address. No bill ever can. But it has been reauthorized by Congress several times. It has been improved, debated and criticized. That is to the good. It pushed a genuine problem onto the nation's agenda.

Today, the vice president considers the bill one of his greatest accomplishments. He is right to do so.


Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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