[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 40 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[Pages 1940-1941]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

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Proclamation 7129--National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, 1998

September 30, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Domestic violence is a leading cause of injury to American women, 
and teenage girls between the ages of 16 and 19 experience one of the 
highest rates of such violence. A woman is battered every 15 seconds in 
the Untied States, and 30 percent of female murder victims are killed by 
current or former partners. Equally disturbing is the impact of domestic 
violence on children. Witnessing such violence has a devastating 
emotional effect on children, and between 50 and 70 percent of men who 
abuse their female partners abuse their children as well. From inner 
cities to rural communities, domestic violence affects individuals of 
every age, culture, class, gender, race, and religion.
    Combatting the violence that threatens many of our Nation's families 
is among my highest priorities as President. Through the Violence 
Against Women Act (VAWA), included in the historic Crime Bill I signed 
into law, we have more than tripled funding for programs that combat 
domestic violence and sexual abuse--investing over half a billion 
dollars since 1994. The Violence Against Women Office at the Department 
of Justice, which coordinates the Federal Government's implementation of 
the Act, is leading a comprehensive national effort to combine tough 
Federal laws with assistance to State and local programs designed to 
fight domestic violence and aid its victims. With VAWA grants, 
communities across our country have been able to hire more prosecutors 
and improve domestic violence training among police officers, 
prosecutors, and health and social service professionals.
    My Administration has also worked to enact other important 
legislation that sends the clear message that family violence is a 
serious crime. The Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act of 
1996 stiffens the penalties against perpetrators who pursue women across 
State lines to stalk, threaten, or abuse them; and an extension of the 
Brady Law prohibits anyone convicted of a domestic violence offense from 
owning a firearm. Since 1996, the 24-hour National Domestic Violence 
Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE) we established has provided immediate crisis 
intervention, counseling, and referrals for those in need, responding to 
as many as 10,000 calls each month.
    In observing the month of October as National Domestic Violence 
Awareness Month, we also recognize the dedicated efforts of 
professionals and volunteers who take up this cause every day, offering 
protection, guidance, encouragement, and compassion to the survivors of 
family violence. We reaffirm our pledge to strengthen our collective 
national response to crimes of domestic violence. Most important, we 
strengthen our commitment to raise public awareness of the frequency of 
domestic violence, recognize the signs of such violence, and intervene 
before it escalates. If we are ever to erase the pain of these heinous 
crimes, we must help victims become survivors and, once and for all, end 
the scourge of violence in America's homes.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 
1998 as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I call upon 
government officials, law enforcement agencies, health professionals, 
educators, community leaders, and the

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American people to join together to end the domestic violence that 
threatens so many of our people.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day 
of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., October 2, 
1998]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
5.