US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

 
    §    8-902   Declaration   of   Legislative   Findings   and   Intent.
  Gender-motivated  violence  inflicts  serious  physical,  psychological,
  emotional  and economic harm on its victims. Congressional findings have
  documented that gender-motivated violence is widespread  throughout  the
  United  States, representing the leading cause of injuries to women ages
  15 to 44. Further statistics have shown that three  out  of  four  women
  will  be  the victim of a violent crime sometime during their lives, and
  as many as four million women a year are victims of  domestic  violence.
  Senate hearings, various task forces and the United States Department of
  Justice   have  concluded  that  victims  of  gender-motivated  violence
  frequently face a climate of condescension indifference and hostility in
  the court system  and  have  documented  the  legal  system's  hostility
  towards sexual assault and domestic violence claims.
    Recognizing this widespread problem, Congress in 1994 provided victims
  of  gender-motivated  violence  with  a cause of action in federal court
  through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) (42 USC § 13981). In a May
  15, 2000 decision,  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  held  that  the
  Constitution  provided no basis for a federal cause of action by victims
  of gender-motivated violence against their perpetrators either under the
  Commerce Clause  or  the  Equal  Protection  Clause  of  the  Fourteenth
  Amendment. In so ruling the Court held that it could "think of no better
  example  of  the  police  power,  which the Founders denied the National
  Government and reposed in the States, than the  suppression  of  violent
  crime and vindication of its victims."
    In  light  of  the  void  left  by  the Supreme Court's decision, this
  Council finds that victims of gender-motivated violence  should  have  a
  private   right   of   action   against  their  perpetrators  under  the
  Administrative Code. This private right of action aims  to  resolve  the
  difficulty  that  victims face in seeking court remedies by providing an
  officially sanctioned and legitimate cause of action for seeking redress
  for injuries resulting from gender-motivated violence.