Article from Dr. DeCesare, Clery Compliance Assistant Director

On March 15^th, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 2022. This is momentous news as the law provides national funding for violence prevention, victim support resources, research, and guidance for agencies’ response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Prior to this recent reauthorization, the law expired in early 2019. Provisions of the law that specifically pertained to higher education amended the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) in 2013. This amendment required institutions to compile statistics for dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking and to include policies, procedures, and programs pertaining to these crimes in their annual security reports.

Sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking have come to the forefront of the national conversation as these crimes have seen a rise in prevalence, especially during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Attention and funding to the prevention and response of these crimes is a positive step in aiding victims and advancing the field of research on violence prevention.    

Below are some of the highlights within the Reauthorization of VAWA:

Future Grant Programs

Abby Honold Act

This Act centers around providing trauma-informed, victim-centered training for law enforcement, named after survivor and activist Abby Honold who sought to establish funding for appropriate training for first responders. Grants offered under this Act will provide funding for agencies and partners to implement evidence-based or promising investigative policies and practices based in trauma-informed, victim-centered techniques.

Bree’s Law

This law centers around providing grant funding to reduce the incidence of violence among adolescents, particularly teen dating violence.

Grants to combat violent crimes on campus

In addition to grant funding made available to institutions of higher education centering around prevention and response to the crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, the Secretary of Education will provide a report to Congress on best practices regarding programs, events, and educational materials. This assessment will be made publicly available to institutions of higher education to use as a resource.

National Strategy on Cybercrimes

This national strategy and grant program provides insight to the federal response and attention to cybercrimes, which has seen a dramatic rise during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

National Campaigns

Choose Respect Act

This Act declares October 1^st of each year as Choose Respect Day. On this day, the national campaign will further change the culture around the tolerance of violence again women – specifically domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Higher Education

Task Force on Sexual Violence in Education

The Secretary of Education, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Attorney General will establish a joint interagency Task Force on Sexual Violence in Education. This task force will provide recommendations to institutions of higher education regarding survivor resources, best practices for responses to and prevention of sexual violence and dating violence, and assess the ability for the U.S. Department of Education (Ed.) to levy intermediate fines for noncompliance with Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972. Currently, Ed. uses their oversight of the Clery Act as means to fine institutions for noncompliance under Title IX. Michigan State University and the University of California, Berkeley are two of the most recent examples of Civil Monetary Penalties (CMPs) levied for findings of noncompliance under Title IX within Final Program Review Determinations (FPRDs).

Online Survey Tool for Campus Safety

This section will require institutions of higher education to implement, analyze, and distribute a campus climate survey to students based on their experiences with sexual assault, sexual harassment, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking and their experiences with institutional response to the violence.

The majority of VAWA and the amendments made by VAWA will not take effect until October 1^st, 2022. Ed. and many other federal departments have action items to complete before that date in order to communicate with respective agencies and institutions. In the coming months we anticipate we will have further guidance on how this will impact the University of Florida and respective institutional compliance partners.  

For more information, check out this section-by-section summary provided by Senators Feinstein (D-CA), Ernst (R-IA), Durbin (D-IL), and Murkowski (R-AK)

The full text of the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act can be found within the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 under Division W – Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022