Federal Legislative Priorities

FCASV is excited about the success of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence to secure an $8 million increase in the Sexual Assault Services Program for FY 2012 from $15 million to $23 million. Additionally the Rape Prevention Education Program (RPE) was level funded and the Preventive Health and Health Services Block grant was funded at $80 million. This means that the $7 million sex offense set-aside will be funded (at the same level) this year (FY 12).

On November 30, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) including exciting provisions to strengthen the criminal justice response to sexual assault and public housing protections for victims of sexual assault. House champions, Representatives Lamar Smith (R-TX) and John Conyers (D-MI) are working with advocates in preparation for introducing legislation in the House. One way to follow the progress of VAWA is to visit the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women Facebook page.

On December 14th, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the initial findings of the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS). The full 124-page report is available on the CDC website. This large-scale, ongoing study is based on a nationally-representative telephone survey that collects detailed information on sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence victimization of adult women and men in the United States. The survey collects data on past-year experiences of violence as well as lifetime experiences of violence. The 2010 survey is the first year of the survey and provides baseline data that will be used to track trends in sexual violence, stalking and intimate partner violence. NISVS also provides the first-ever simultaneous national and state-level lifetime prevalence estimates of violence for all states demonstrating that:

• Nearly 1 in 6 women in Florida have been raped in their lifetime and 42% have experienced other forms of sexual violence.
• 20% of men in Florida have experienced a form of sexual violence other than rape in their lifetime.

Florida Council Against Sexual Violence (FCASV) Policy Update on Sex Offender Management