JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT AWARDS MARYLAND $2.1 MILLION TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Contact:
Violence Against Women Office, 202-307-0703
???????? ?or after-hours contact Angela Harless, 202-616-3266
????????? or (number)888-763-8943 (pager)
?? WASHINGTON, July 18 ?-- Attorney General Ashcroft
announced
today that the Justice Department is awarding $2.1
million to
Maryland to prevent and respond to violence against
women as
part of this year's STOP (Services, Training, Officers and
Prosecutors)
Violence Against Women Formula Grants Program. This
program is
funded under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
?? "No American should feel outside the
protection of the law or
beyond the
reach of the law. The STOP program supports communities
that
champion victims' rights and develops coordinated responses to
violence
against women," said Attorney General Ashcroft. "The funds
will give
law enforcement and victim services the resources they
need to do a
better job of investigating, prosecuting and
preventing
crimes against women. We must continue to provide our
communities
with the resources to hold offenders accountable and to
meet the
needs of victims."
?? STOP funds are used to promote partnerships
among law
enforcement,
prosecution, the courts and victim advocates to ensure
victim
safety and accountability for offenders.
?? The Justice Department has awarded Maryland
over $12.7 million
in STOP
funds since 1995, for total funding exceeding $32.2 million
under the
VAWA grant programs since the enactment of VAWA
legislation
in 1994. In the President's FY 2002 budget request, the
Justice
Department seeks $390 million in overall VAWA funding, a
$102.52
million increase over FY 2001.
?? Through this funding, states and
communities are urged to
restructure
and strengthen the criminal justice system response to
domestic
violence, sexual assault and stalking, utilizing the
expertise of
all participants working in the system, including
victim
advocates.
?? The State of Maryland has used its' STOP
funds to address the
gaps
identified within the state that are impediments to victims of
domestic
violence, rape, sexual assault and stalking in either
accessing
the criminal justice system or receiving services
available to
them.
?? Current project priorities include:
?? --Placing a greater emphasis on the
development of preferred or
mandatory
arrest policies and pro-prosecutorial initiatives with
criminal
justice agencies throughout the state;
?? --Supporting in collaboration with the
statewide coalitions, the
development
of training curricula and the provision of training for
criminal
justice professionals;
?? --Developing "model" policies for
initial law enforcement
response to
domestic violence and sexual violence crimes;
?? --Supporting Sexual Assault Forensic
Examination Training for
medical
personnel, law enforcement, advocates and others;
?? --Providing law enforcement officers easier
access to expanded
data bases
of domestic violence-related data; and
?? --Responding to requests for greater
intervention through the
provision of
direct services, advocacy, intervention and protection
of domestic
violence and sexual assault victims within the State.
?? With the 2001 funding, the State of
Maryland plans to continue
identifying
emerging needs and gaps in services within the state
and
improving its efforts for responding to victims of domestic
violence and
sexual assault.
?? The STOP Program is authorized under the
Violence Against Women
Acts of 1994
and 2000. 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, 30
percent to
victim services, five percent to courts and 15 percent
at the
state's discretion for other STOP program purposes.
?? For information about the Maryland STOP
grant contact Denise
McCain, in
the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention,
at
410-321-3521. Information about the STOP program and other
initiatives
involving violence against women issues is available on
VAWO's
Website at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo or OJP's website at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov,
or by calling the National Criminal
Justice
Reference Service toll-free at 800-851-3420.