[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 40 (Monday, October 9, 2000)]
[Pages 2276-2277]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7348--National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, 2000

September 29, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Domestic violence transcends all ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic 
boundaries. Its perpetrators abuse their victims both physically and 
mentally, and the effects of their attacks are far-reaching--weakening 
the very core of our communities. Domestic violence is particularly 
devastating because it so often occurs in the privacy of the home, which 
is meant to be a place of shelter and security. During the month of 
October, all Americans should contemplate the scars that domestic 
violence leaves on our society and what each of us can do to prevent it.

[[Page 2277]]

    Because domestic violence usually takes place in private, many 
Americans may not realize how widespread it is. According to the 
National Violence Against Women Survey, conducted jointly by the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of 
Justice, each year in the United States approximately 1.5 million women 
are raped and/or physically assaulted by their current or former 
husbands, partners, or boyfriends. Many of these women are victimized 
more than once over the course of a year. As unsettling as these 
statistics are, it is also disturbing to realize that the children of 
battered women frequently witness these attacks, thus becoming victims 
themselves.
    My Administration has worked hard to reduce domestic violence in our 
Nation and to assist victims and their families. The cornerstone of our 
efforts has been the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which the 
Congress passed with bipartisan support in 1994 and which I signed into 
law as part of our comprehensive crime control bill. This important 
piece of legislation, which contains a broad array of ground-breaking 
measures to combat violence against women, combines tough penalties with 
programs to prosecute offenders and provide assistance to women who are 
survivors of violence.
    In the 6 years since I signed VAWA into law, the legislation has 
provided more than $1.6 billion to support prosecutors, law enforcement 
officials, courts, victim advocates, and intervention efforts. We have 
quadrupled funding for battered women's shelters, created the National 
Domestic Violence Hotline, and supported community outreach and 
prevention programs, children's counseling, and child protection 
services. The Department of Justice has awarded more than 900 
discretionary grants and 280 STOP (Services, Training, Officers, 
Prosecutors) Violence Against Women formula grants to help State, 
tribal, and local governments and community-based organizations 
establish specialized domestic violence and sexual assault units, train 
personnel, enforce laws, develop policies, assist victims of violence, 
and hold abusers accountable.
    These VAWA programs are making a difference across the country. A 
recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that the number 
of women experiencing violence at the hands of an intimate partner 
declined 21 percent from 1993 to 1998. I call on the Congress to 
reauthorize and strengthen VAWA so that we may continue to build on the 
progress we have made in combating domestic violence in our Nation.
    Through VAWA and other initiatives and programs, we are striving to 
create a responsive legal system in American communities that not only 
prevents domestic violence and sexual assault, but also ensures that 
every victim has immediate access to helpful information and emergency 
assistance. By taking strong public action against this crime, we are 
creating a society that promotes strong values, fosters a safe, loving 
home environment for every family, and refuses to tolerate domestic 
violence in any form.
    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 
2000 as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I call upon 
government officials, law enforcement agencies, health professionals, 
educators, community leaders, and the 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 twenty-ninth 
day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
fifth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., October 3, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on October 2, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
October 4.