From SAVE:
Leahy’s Draft VAWA Bill is a Stinker
Sen. Patrick Leahy is currently circulating a draft of the Violence Against Women Act. Even though SAVE representatives repeatedly met with Sen. Leahy’s staff over the last 2 years, and even though the staffer seemed sympathetic to our concerns, the draft VAWA totally, completely, 100% misses the mark. These are the reasons the draft bill is Dead on Arrival:
Nothing to make sure real victims get priority – see summary: http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/Fatally-Flawed.pdf
-Zero attention to false allegations.
-Nothing to rein in DV lies.
-Nada to address mandatory arrest.
-No attempt to make VAWA gender-neutral.
Worse, the bill will take the Dept. of Education’s directive on sexual assault on campus and turn the “preponderance of evidence” standard into statutory law – see page 69 of the draft bill: http://www.saveservices.org/wp-content/uploads/VAWA-2011-Draft.pdf
We need to raise a holy stink about this. Call your Senators today at 1-202-224-3121, and tell them to refuse to co-sponsor the bill. Sen. Leahy’s bill is fatally flawed.
