VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES OVER $161 MILLION

FOR COMMUNITIES TO ADDRESS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Vice President Gore today announced that the Justice Department is awarding $138.4 million to all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five territories to improve law enforcement, prosecution and victim service responses to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Gore also announced another $22.9 million for 69 jurisdictions in 32 states and five territories to help investigate and prosecute domestic violence as a serious criminal offense.

"The Administration's Violence Against Women Act and the funding that it provides has led to a sea change in attitude and action, where victim advocates now work hand-in-hand with community police officers and others to prevent and respond to domestic violence," said Gore. "Their joint efforts ensure we hold offenders accountable, keep our communities safe, and help victims."

The awards mark the fifth year of the STOP (Services, Training, Officers and Prosecutors) Violence Against Women formula grant program and the fourth year of the Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies program, both authorized by the Violence Against Women Act, part of President Clinton's 1994 Crime Law. Since its enactment, the Justice Department has awarded over half a billion dollars under five Violence Against Women Act grant programs.

"We are also using our Grants to Encourage Arrest funding to train state and local police officers, prosecutors, judges and victim advocates so that victims know that protection orders from one state can be used in another," said Attorney General Reno. "In addition to raising awareness about full faith and credit, we're using the funds to improve and establish state-wide protection order registries."

Before enactment of the full faith and credit provision, victims with protection orders in one state could not use that order if the victim went to work in, traveled to, or moved to most other states. Now states must honor other states' protection orders.

The STOP grants are awarded by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) to designated state agencies, which must award 25 percent of the funds they receive to law enforcement, 25 percent to prosecution and 25 percent to victim services' programs. The remaining 25 percent of the funding may be allocated at the state's discretion for other STOP program purposes.

VAWO is awarding Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies to 46 communities to continue projects begun with FY 1996 or FY 1997 dollars. Twenty-three new grantees will also receive arrest program funds. In addition to enforcing protection orders, these funds can be used to combat stalking, provide for the education of judges and others about domestic violence, develop systems to track domestic violence cases and strengthen services for domestic violence victims.

Lists of the FY 1999 STOP grants and the Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies are attached. For more information about the STOP and arrest programs or other violence against women efforts, visit the Violence Against Women Grants Office web site at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/VAWO or OJP's web site at www.ojp.usdoj.gov, or call the National Criminal Justice Reference Service toll-free on 1/800-851-3420.

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VAW99049

After hours, contact: Linda Mansour on 202/616-3534 or page on beeper number

STATE	JURISDICTION	AMOUNT
ALABAMA	Birmingham	$154,103
ALASKA	State of Alaska	$487,697
ARIZONA	Coconino County	$647,974
	Salt River Pima-Maricopa	$487,476
	White Mountain Apache Tribe	$452,525
ARKANSAS	Little Flock	$360,583
CALIFORNIA	Antioch	$634,870
	Humboldt County	$244,547
	Lake County	$650,768
	Marin County	$250,000
	Mariposa County	$260,076
	Riverside County	$100,000
	San Mateo County	$781,356
	Tulare County	$674,036
COLORADO	Colorado Springs	$700,000
	State of Colorado	$564,262
CONNECTICUT	New Haven	$975,000
FLORIDA	State of Florida	$358,525
	Glades County	$91,844
IDAHO	Bonneville County	$100,000
MASSACHUSETTS	Boston	$650,000
	Brookline	$203,539
MASSACHUSETTS	Framingham	$287,728
	Williamsburg	$140,335
MICHIGAN	Marquette County	$260,000
MINNESOTA	Hennepin County	$765,898
MISSOURI	Lee's Summit	$254,385
MONTANA	Chippewa Cree Tribe	$145,847
	Northern Cheyenne Tribe	$142,584
NEVADA	State of Nevada	$50,000
NEW HAMPSHIRE	Manchester	$340,412
NEW YORK	Cayuga County	$363,001
	Erie County	$395,519
	Monroe County	$161,937
	New York City	$250,000
	State of New York	$500,000
	State of New York (Center for Court Innovation)	$619,560
OHIO	Cuyahoga County	$185,000
OREGON	Gresham	$347,319
	Jackson County	$472,236
TEXAS	Austin	$750,000
UTAH	Salt Lake City	$337,291
VERMONT	St. Albans	$255,534
	St. Johnsbury	$248,839
VIRGINIA	Commonwealth of Virginia	$282,457
WASHINGTON	State of Washington	$200,000
TOTAL	(46)	$17,585,063

NOTE: These are tentative award amounts pending final budget review.

February 1999

STATE	JURISDICTION	AMOUNT
AMERICAN SAMOA	American Samoa	$25,000
ARIZONA	State of Arizona	$100,000
GUAM	Guam	$25,000
ILLINOIS	State of Illinois	$234,027
IOWA	State of Iowa	$380,357
KANSAS	State of Kansas	$50,000
MASSACHUSETTS	Lowell	$361,932
MINNESOTA	State of Minnesota	$250,000
MISSOURI	State of Missouri	$250,000
	St. Louis	$250,000
NEW MEXICO	State of New Mexico	$100,000
NORTH CAROLINA	State of North Carolina	$378,041
NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS	Northern Mariana Islands	$25,000
OREGON	Portland	$725,000
PENNSYLVANIA	Butler County	$378,698
	Philadelphia	$250,000
PUERTO RICO	Puerto Rico	$25,000
SOUTH CAROLINA	Spartanburg	$282,271
TEXAS	Bastrop County	$422,309
VIRGINIA	Alexandria	$500,000
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS	U.S. Virgin Islands	$25,000
WASHINGTON	Mountlake Terrace	$181,903
WYOMING	State of Wyoming	$50,000
TOTAL	(23)	$5,269,538

NOTE: These are tentative award amounts pending final budget review.

February 1999