JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HOLDING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TRAINING

IN RAPID CITY TO ASSIST NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN

RAPID CITY, S.D. -- Representatives from 14 states are meeting here this week to learn how to create a coordinated community response to stop violence against Native American women. The Sacred Circle, a nonprofit Native American organization and training and technical assistance grantee of the Justice Department's Violence Against Women Grants Office (VAWGO), is running the program.

Grantees from the VAWGO's STOP (Services, Training, Officers and Prosecution) Violence Against Indian Women program are attending. These recipients include law enforcement personnel, shelter advocates, batterers' program facilitators, judges, prosecutors and court personnel.

"The STOP Indian program funds have allowed us to assist tribal governments to partner with service providers who assist Indian victims of domestic violence and sexual assault," said Laurie Robinson, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. "We're building on the successful efforts of one of our STOP grantees, South Dakota's Oglala Sioux Tribe, by using them as a model for this training."

Since the inception of the STOP Violence Against Indian Women Discretionary Grant program in 1995, the Justice Department has awarded South Dakota $1.4 million in STOP Indian grant funds. The STOP Indian program provides funding to strengthen the tribal governments' justice system's response to violent crimes against Indian women. The program is authorized by the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.

Training Institute participants can choose from one of four training series: the role of law enforcement, the role of prosecution, the role of batterer's programs and the role of shelters and advocacy. Other topics to be addressed in general sessions include the dynamics of battering, gun control, stalking, full faith and credit and the Violence Against Women Act.

The 14 states participating in this domestic violence training include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin.

For more information about the STOP Violence Against Indian Women program and other violence against women efforts, visit the Violence Against Women Grants Office website at https://ojp.gov/VAWGO or OJP's website at https://ojp.gov, or call the National Criminal Justice Reference Service toll-free on 1/800-851-3420.

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VAW98208

After hours contact: Linda Mansour on 202/616-3534 or page on 888/582-6750