Will Either Presidential Candidate Keep Women Safe From Their Partners?

From funding to police reform, where each candidate stands on issues surrounding domestic violence

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In light of the upcoming election, I wanted to know where each presidential candidate stood on issues related to domestic violence. How will they help shape laws that ensure abusers are prosecuted? Will they continue to fund programs that help survivors leave safely? Do they want law enforcement to include advocates or social workers in their domestic violence response?

Despite reaching out to the White House and Joe Biden’s national campaign, as well as state Republican and Democratic headquarters, representatives from both campaigns opted not to respond to my polite but insistent inquiries on issues that, as both a constituent and reporter, you’d think they’d want me to know. Alas, the internet is a deep well of information and, using credible sources and the candidates’ own websites, I was able to piece together where it appears each candidate stands on the issues below.

Will they reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)?

Biden

The Short Answer: As one of the original authors of the act, he wants to reauthorize VAWA within his first 100 days in office.

Tell Me More: Vice President Biden wrote and introduced the Violence Against Women Act in 1990 when he served as Chair of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. VAWA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994. Biden has said his impetus for creating it was when women came forward to testify in the House and Senate about their experiences with domestic violence. In a TIME opinion piece, Biden wrote said the bill was his “proudest legislative accomplishment” and that as a result, there is now “rightful public outrage” over abuse. “It matters that the American people have sent a clear message: you’re a coward for raising a hand to a woman or child — and you’re complicit if you fail to condemn it.” It’s believed VAWA, which has sent some $8 billion in grants to local, state and tribal organizations to fund programs that specifically target protecting women and educating police and the court system, contributed to the 64 percent decrease in domestic violence between 1993 and 2010.

While VAWA has been renewed and expanded on in the years since, its reauthorization stalled last year in the Senate (despite passing the House with the support of 33 Republican representatives). Some Senate Republicans oppose a gun-safety measure nicknamed “the boyfriend loophole” that would place gun ownership restrictions on dating partners accused of stalking or abuse. (An abuser having a gun increases a victim’s risk of homicide by more than 500 percent.)

VAWA programs continue to be funded in the meantime and the legislative provisions within the Act never technically expire, Biden promises on his campaign website to make reauthorizing VAWA a top priority within his first 100 days in office.

Trump

The Short Answer: It’s unclear. President Trump has been mostly silent on whether or not he has any interest in specifically renewing VAWA, even though he released a proclamation Oct. 1, acknowledging Domestic Violence Awareness Month, saying his fiscal year 2020 budget “allocated nearly $500 million for the Department of Justice to support respectful, nonviolent relationships and reduce domestic violence.”

Tell Me More: Unfortunately, it looks like the National Rifle Association wants to get in the middle of VAWA. Despite the Department of Justice (DOJ) under Trump being in support of closing the “boyfriend loophole,” according to The Daily Beast, the NRA threatened to negatively rate legislators who voted in favor of this. (Reminder: The NRA made a $30 million donation to Trump’s 2016 campaign.) So, that may have something to do with the delay. Furthermore, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence says VAWA hasn’t exactly been fully funded in the meantime, receiving nearly $100 million less in fiscal year 2019. Reports that VAWA was funded with a transfer from the Crime Victims Fund are also concerning.

“This transfer is anticipated to decrease funding available to shelters and other direct service providers by up to almost 26%. Not only is this financially devastating for programs, it also diverts resources from victims to law enforcement. Both are necessary, and the presumption that they are equivalent is absurd. The budget and addenda also make recommendations that would empty the Crime Victims Fund, leaving no reserves or sustainability.”

Will they support law enforcement reforms that include advocates and mental health professionals in the police response to domestic violence?

Trump

The Short Answer: Maybe….? Trump signed an executive order in June that would incentivize local police departments to include experts in mental health, addiction and homelessness as co-responders in certain calls.

Tell Me More: Activists say Trump’s order doesn’t go far enough to reform policing, mostly since most decisions for police departments are made at a state and local level, and not within the departments themselves (which is where he is focusing his incentives). At the same time, Trump’s website boasts $98 million in grant fundingthrough the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program to hire 802 additional full-time law enforcement officers in order to “protect American communities.”

Also, let’s not forget Trump’s administration low-key redefined domestic violence last January through the DOJ as strictly a criminal act, deleting any reference to the pattern of coercive control, psychological abuse or other nonphysical abusive tactics. Advocates worry this means, among other ramifications, that less emphasis will be put into the training of police officers to understand the pattern of control that a victim may be under and focus only on arrests, potentially putting survivors in further danger.

Biden

The Short Answer: Also maybe….? In an op-ed for USA Today, Biden says he wants to allot $300 million to “reinvigorate community policing” and “institute real reforms.”

Tell Me More: Biden has repeatedly voiced he does not want to “defund the police” but rather fund reforms to eliminate things like systemic misconduct, racism and dangerous chokeholds. He also said he wants to make “serious investments in mental health services, drug treatment and prevention programs, and services for people experiencing homelessness. That may also mean having social service providers respond to calls with police officers.” It’s unclear what trickle-down effect this will have on domestic violence response.

How will the candidates’ potential picks for a new Supreme Court Justice influence decisions surrounding women’s rights and violence against women?

Biden

The Short Answer: Remains to be seen. Biden’s declined to name any names for possible RBG replacements should it be his decision.

Tell Me More: Biden told CNN in September, “If I win, I’ll make my choice for the Supreme Court not based on a partisan election campaign, but on what prior presidents have done … only after consulting Democrats and Republicans in the United States Senate and seeking their advice and asking for their consent.” He did mention, however, that he wants to choose a Black woman for the court, “to make sure we … get everyone represented.”

Trump

The Short Answer: Trump announced his intent to nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Sept. 26. She’s known for her conservative decisions and also the fact that she served as a “handmaid” in the People of Praise religious community.

Tell Me More: A handmaid, in this case, is a terrifying moniker for a high-ranking position. The religious group reportedly holds men as the “heads” of family and faith and preaches that wives must submit to the will of their husbands, which may or may not sway her decisions regarding women’s’ rights.

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