Office of the Attorney General
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Friend:October was recognized by the President as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The month gave all of us an opportunity to gather information, hold discussions, and increase awareness about domestic violence. However, if we are going to be successful in putting an end to violence against women, we must keep the issue at the forefront all year long.
Violence against women is perpetrated in all types of intimate relationships and crosses economic, educational, cultural, racial, and religious lines. Nearly one-third of women murdered each year in the United States are killed by their current or former intimate partners. Approximately 1 million women are stalked each year, and 1 in 36 college women is a victim of an attempted or completed rape in each academic year. As a result, across the country, women live in constant fear that they will be attacked at home, at work, at school, or in public places. Few women walk home alone at night without being concerned for their safety.
To assist communities and individuals engaged in activities to end violence against women, we are pleased to announce the development of the Web-based Toolkit To End Violence Against Women. The Toolkit was developed by the National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women, a council that is chaired by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The recommendations and information contained in the Toolkit were the result of input from leaders and practitioners around the country with expertise in domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Input was also provided by key individuals working in the areas of criminal justice, health, sports, faith, the media, the military, and entertainment. As you know, to end violence against women we must change our culture, and all facets of society need to play a role.
The Toolkit comprises 16 chapters that provide recommendations for strengthening prevention efforts and improving services for victims. Each Toolkit chapter focuses on a particular audience and includes recommendations for a range of professionals. The format is designed to help readers quickly pinpoint topics of interest, and each chapter is relevant to more than one group of individuals. We encourage you to consult all chapters of the Toolkit for instruction, guidance, and inspiration.
The Toolkit will be available beginning November 1, 2001, at the following Internet address: http://toolkit.ncjrs.org.
We consider the Toolkit to be a “living” document that will evolve as the issues surrounding violence against women continue to grow. We encourage your feedback and look forward to working with you to eradicate violence against women and to make this country a safer one for all individuals. Sincerely,
Attorney General John Ashcroft
U.S. Department of JusticeSecretary Tommy Thompson
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Stop infringing on their 2nd amendment rights and those numbers will plummet. Typical of politicians and bureaucrats to create a problem (trashing 2nd amendment) while lauding how they're fixing a problem (gun violence). Next problem (the one the politicians and bureaucrats made worse -- see above italicized quote) they want more more money and power to fix. The "tool kit" is a nice idea but it rests on a problem government made worse. The end result will be no different than the first problem they created in order to claim they're fixing a problem. They do that in order to "justify" their unearned paychecks.
_Jim, thanks for bolding The Point.
If the sudy includes he-said-she-said date rapes, it could be true.
I don't want to blame any victims of real crime at all, but the typical undergrad college party, with lots of drinking among strangers, is a date-rape allegation waiting to happen.