[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 148 (Wednesday, October 31, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H7573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simmons). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to join in extension 
of remarks that were made earlier this evening by many in the Women's 
Caucus to stand to speak out this evening against domestic violence and 
I am graciously thanking my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Pallone) for yielding time for me to enter into this dialogue with 
my other colleagues earlier this evening. I thank the gentleman for 
yielding that time to me as well.
  October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This is the last day of 
that month. It is a time when battered women's advocates, policy makers 
and grassroots activists across this Nation focus the public's 
attention on the insidious epidemic of domestic violence. Of course, we 
can call attention to this fact and these matters in October. The 
challenge is before us every single day of the year.
  In the United States alone, nearly one-third of American women report 
being physically or sexually abused by a husband or a boyfriend at some 
point in their lives. For this reason I am introducing legislation 
which would provide women of all ages and backgrounds with preventive 
services such as domestic violence screening and treatment. With a 
simple screening test that can be administered by any health care 
provider such as a personal health provider, a doctor, a clinic, an 
emergency room provider, red flags and signals can be given and 
referrals can be made which can pick up more instances and get people 
into prevention and treatment much earlier.
  I believe that it is vital that we begin to educate young women and 
men in an effort to prevent the incidence of domestic violence and to 
curb its devastating effects.
  Not surprisingly, current Department of Justice statistics indicate 
that women in their high school years to their mid-twenties are nearly 
three times as vulnerable to attack by husband or boyfriend or former 
partner as those in any other age group. So we must keep in mind that 
domestic violence has ramifications for more than just those parties 
who are involved. It affects every family, every workplace and every 
community.
  For these reasons it is essential that we all play a role in 
combatting the prevalence of this epidemic. If we can take 
responsibility and action, we can prevent this criminal act from 
occurring. Action can be as simple as contributing money or clothing to 
a local battered women's shelter, volunteering time to a program that 
aids victims of abuse, talking to a child or to a classroom about 
relationship violence, posting awareness materials in public places.
  I stand here this evening in recognition and to honor the many people 
in my community on the central coast of California who work diligently 
each day staffing shelters, raising funds to keep the shelters going, 
working to develop materials within nonprofit groups that serve young 
women, Girl Scouts and Girls Clubs and Boys Clubs entering our school 
places and working with classroom teachers to create a climate of 
awareness and acceptance and referral possibilities.
  This is diligent work that goes on day in and day out in my community 
and across this Nation. This is the way we will get to the heart of the 
matter and the way we can hope for raising a generation of young people 
who can speak out against violence, can learn alternative ways of 
conflict resolution and protecting themselves and their friend and 
others, and that we can hope for a time when domestic violence will be 
a thing of the past.
  At the close of this month, we must remember that each citizen has a 
duty to help end domestic violence, not only nationally but also 
globally, and we think and are mindful of the Afghan women who are now 
subjected to the Taliban regime for whom this is an ever-present part 
of their lives.
  But our work does not stop today on the last day of October. We must 
continue to work diligently every day, every hour and every minute to 
put an end to domestic violence and all violence against women.

                          ____________________