JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT AWARDS DELAWARE $819,000 TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Contact:
U.S. Justice Department Violence Against
???????? ?Women Office, 202-307-0703
?? WASHINGTON, July 18 --? Attorney General Ashcroft
announced
today that the Justice Department is awarding
$819,000 to
Delaware to prevent and respond to violence against
women, as
part of this year's STOP (Services, Training, Officers
and
Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grants Program.
This program
is funded under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
?? "No American should feel outside the
protection of the law, or
beyond the
reach of the law.? The STOP program
supports communities
that
champion victims' rights and develops coordinated responses to
violence
against women" said Attorney General Ashcroft.? "The funds
will give
law enforcement and victim services the resources they
need to do a
better job of investigating, prosecuting and
preventing
crimes against women.? We must continue
to provide our
communities
with the resources to hold offenders accountable and to
meet the
needs of victims."
?? STOP funds are used to promote partnerships
among law
enforcement,
prosecution, the courts and victim advocates to ensure
victim
safety and accountability for offenders.
?? The Justice Department has awarded Delaware
over $4.3 million in
STOP funds
since 1995, for total funding exceeding $6.4 million
under the
VAWA grant programs since the enactment of the VAWA
legislation
in 1994.? In the President's FY 2002
budget request,
the Justice
Department seeks $390 million in overall VAWA funding,
a $102.52
million increase over FY 2001.
?? Through this funding, states and
communities are urged to
restructure
and strengthen the criminal justice system response to
domestic
violence, sexual assault and stalking, utilizing the
expertise of
all participants working in the system, including
victim
advocates.
?? The State of Delaware has used STOP funds
to address the gaps
identified
within the state that are impediments to victims of
domestic
violence, rape, sexual assault and stalking in either
accessing
the criminal justice system or receiving services
available to
them.
?? Current project priorities include:
?? -- Supporting two prosecutors and the
implementation of vertical
prosecution
in domestic violence and sexual assault cases;
?? -- Providing statewide training for law
enforcement personnel on
advanced
issues relating to domestic violence;
?? -- Creating domestic violence victim
advocate/specialist
positions in
several municipal law enforcement agencies, and
?? -- Funding for staff and services in
several victim services
organizations
around the state.
?? The State of Delaware has also used STOP
funds to enhance domestic
violence
victim services to Latino women in rural Delaware and to
support a
program to enhance services to elderly victims of
domestic
violence and sexual assault.? The State
plans to continue
its support
of local and statewide initiatives to effectively
strengthen
the criminal justice system and enhance its response to
victims of
domestic violence and sexual assault.
?? The STOP Program is authorized under the
Violence Against Women
Acts of 1994
and 2000.? The STOP grants are awarded
by the Office
of Justice
Programs' (OJP) Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) to
designated
state agencies, which must award 25 percent of the funds
they receive
to law enforcement, 25 percent to prosecution, 30
percent to
victim services, 5 percent to courts and 15 percent at
the state's
discretion for other STOP program purposes.
?? For information about the Delaware STOP
grant contact Maureen
Querey, with
the Delaware Criminal Justice Council, at 302
577-5025.? Information about the STOP program and other
initiatives
involving
violence against women issues is available on VAWO's
Website at
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo or QJP's Website at
www.ojp.usdoj.gov,
or by calling the National Criminal Justice
Reference
Service toll-free at 800/851-3420.