The National Organization for Women has long been concerned about the extent of  violence against women in this society and has made advocacy for government programs which promote prevention, assist survivors and punish perpetrators a top national priority.  We have been able to take great strides towards our goal of reducing the number of violent acts against women with the inestimable assistance of our friends and supporters in Congress, many of whom are present today.  A sincere thank you for your dedicated efforts in this regard.

H.R. 3514 both expands upon the advances made possible by the first Violence Against Women Act, passed in 1994, and proposes a number of new solutions in the continuing effort to eradicate violence against women.  The bill proposes numerous new measures that are designed to limit the persistent tide of sexual assaults which occur every year -- at home, on the streets, on college and university campuses, in the military and elsewhere.  Nearly 100,000 rapes and sexual assaults are reported annually, and hundreds of thousands more are left unreported and unaddressed.  This historic piece of legislation is integral to ensuring that sexual assault survivors receive the care and treatment that is necessary for recovery from their trauma.
 
The Center for Women Policy Studies found that only 19.4% of sexual assault survivors reported their incident to authorities.¹   Indeed, rape and sexual assault are the most underreported violent crimes in America.  By reauthorizing grants for judicial and police education about the nature of sexual assault and the psychological and emotional consequences to the survivor, H.R. 3514 compels authorities to initiate more actions that encourage women to report their assaults.  Moreover, only about half of the reported assaults result in an arrest.  The legislation would also amend and allocate more funding for STOP grants to improve law enforcement, prosecution and victim services in incidents of sexual assaults.  Even more importantly, H.R. 3514 would ensure that sexual assault victim advocates are involved in the planning and implementation of government programs intended to benefit survivors.

The proposed legislation would also have a deep impact in preventing sexual assaults against those groups that have been traditionally left without an influential political voice.  The Statistical Handbook on Violence in America shows that nearly 17% of girls and young women under the age of 20 have been compelled to have sexual intercourse against their will.²  Approximately 15% of girls (and 6% of boys) are sexually assaulted annually.³  Thus, H.R. 3514 includes provisions  intended to reduce the number of sexual assaults perpetrated against minors.   For example, the bill establishes grants to develop strategies of violence prevention against school-aged girls and young women.  The intended purpose of this provision is to train educational staff and to educate children about violence against girls and women and to teach them how to recognize and report it.  Another relevant provision provides grants to child welfare agencies to train them in diagnosing and treating sexual assault scenarios involving family members.

              H.R. 3514 also offers a new section that enhances protective services for elderly survivors of sexual assault.  Nearly 25,000 verbal threats and sexual assaults were perpetrated against women aged 50 and over in 1993.  In addition, the Center for Women Policy Studies has determined that women 65 or older were the age group least likely to report an act of violence committed against them.  Consequently, although younger women comprise the traditional survivors of violence, it is equally necessary to provide older women protection against sexual assault.  This legislation would provide that necessary and welcomed buffer. The bill would allot extensive aid to protect women against sexual assault and its repercussions in the workplace and on college campuses.  Statistics show that women suffer significant emotional and economic loss after enduring sexual assault.  Survivors normally spend 5 days away from work after an assault and frequently suffer from a high level of post traumatic stress disorder.  H.R. 3514 would prohibit employers from taking adverse job actions against an employee solely because she is an assault survivor.  Thus, the legislation would ensure that a woman would not be put in further economic straits by her employer.  The bill also would create programs to educate employers who may encounter survivors of sexual abuse and, as a consequence, assist employers in implementing policies to aid those employees.

 In addition, similar such programs would be developed for women assaulted on college campuses.  Programs authorized by H.R. 3514 could provide substantial aid to those 42% of all female college students who have reported some form of sexual assault, including forcible sexual contact, attempted rape and completed rape.  By establishing grant programs for campus administrators and organizations to inform them of prevalence and nature of sexual assault, the bill would help educational institutions stem the violence that rages against young women.

A further repercussion of sexual assault derives from the significant angst and danger that results when women forego medical care after surviving the assault.  The Statistical Handbook on Violence in America reveals that when a stranger perpetrated the assault, 66% of the survivors received no medical care.⁴  When a non-stranger committed the assault, nearly 83% of the survivors pursued no medical care whatever!⁵  H.R. 3514, however, would amend the Public Health Services Act to aid medical schools in teaching identification and treatment of sexual assault survivors.  Armed with that knowledge, doctors would be better able to recognize and care for survivors who would not normally seek treatment for their injuries.  Therefore, this provision would aid physically, as well as emotionally, in a woman's recovery from a sexual assault.

 H.R. 3514 also includes broad-based strategies to prevent future sexual assaults and to establish appropriate protocol when attempting to provide assistance to a survivor.  Indeed, hundreds of thousands of sexual assaults are committed against women annually, and H.R. 3514 advances many promising policies that would reduce that terrible statistic.

 Specifically, the bill would encourage individual states to work in conjunction with rape crisis centers and other non-profit state sexual assault organizations to disseminate information regarding rape and sexual assault prevention.  It would also establish a national resource center to address sexual assault and allot a certain percentage of its funds to provide preventative education.  The Attorney General would also be permitted to create, in conjunction with sexual assault experts, standards of training and practice for health care professionals and to develop a national protocol for the procedures in conducting exams of sexual assault survivors.  This would ensure that, regardless of the survivor's geographical location, she can receive comprehensive and knowledgeable treatment from medical professionals.

Finally, and most significantly, because sexual assaults are primarily crimes of hatred rather than of sexual desire or passion, H.R. 3514 would amend federal hate crimes law to include federal prosecution of crimes motivated by sex bias.  Therefore, sexual assaults perpetrated because of gender animosity would be prosecuted on a similar level as crimes involving racial or ethnic hatred.  Such stringent prosecution of sex-bias crimes would necessarily create a criminal disincentive against extreme cases of sexual assault.  Although current laws recognize many types of hate crimes, adding this category would clearly establish the punitive significance that a serious sexual assault warrants.

Consequently, H.R. 3514, if passed, will instigate a fundamental change in how our nation views sexual assault and how we aid its survivors.  Because of the significant import that this legislation would have upon the lives of sexual assault survivors, the National Organization for Women applauds you, Rep. Schumer and members of the committee, for holding this hearing and offering us the opportunity to talk about the importance of H.R. 3514.  We will continue to work for passage of this bill in the 105th Congress.  Thank you.

²Dorbin, Adam, Colin Loftin, David McDowall and Brian Wierseman, eds., Statistical Handbook on Violence in America, Oryx Press: Phoenix, Arizona (1996), p. 146.

³Dorbin, Adam, et. al., eds., Statistical Handbook, Oryx Press: Phoenix, Arizona (1996), p. 59.

⁴Violence Against Women Fact Sheet, Center for Women Policy Studies, 1995, p. 6.

⁵Dorbin, Adam, et. al., eds., Statistical Handbook, Oryx Press: Phoenix, Arizona (1996), p. 59.