A New York congresswoman introduced Thursday what could be the most ambitious legislation ever to try to reform the military’s response to violence against women, proposing broad measures for improving investigations and victim services.
Democrat Louise Slaughter’s 241-page bill, which probably will not see light during the current lame-duck session, is unique because it attempts to tackle both sexual and domestic violence crimes with the same resources, despite a history in Washington of treating the crimes separately.
“We must change entirely the culture that permits this kind of abuse to occur,” said Slaughter, who chairs the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. “It is my hope that this bill is a first step in that direction.”
Slaughter’s bill, the Prevention and Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Act, would expand and add specificity to recent congressional mandates that ordered the military to standardize victim services and investigations into sexual assault crimes.
Under her bill, services and treatment for victims of domestic and sexual violence would be made more widely available through designated response teams, a concept long proposed by a Connecticut-based advocacy organization, the Miles Foundation. The foundation advised Slaughter on drafts of the bill.
“The bill would create a foundation of law and policy,” according to Anita Sanchez, spokeswoman for the foundation.
Among other actions, passage of the bill would:
Establish two senior executive level offices, Director of Special Investigations and Office of the Victims’ Advocate. One would support timely investigations of sexual assault, domestic violence, family violence and stalking and would manage sexual assault response teams and domestic violence response teams. The other would improve access to services for victims and survivors.
Allow service members to take “extended” emergency leaves from their units to seek treatment for trauma, as well as safety planning.
Make communication between victims and advocates confidential.
Staff writer Miles Moffeit can be reached at 303-820-1415 or mmoffeit@denverpost.com .
