Biden’s plan to stop gender-based violence shows criminalization isn’t enough

For nearly three decades, President Biden heralded the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which he shepherded through Congress in 1994, as a clear-cut victory that made women safer.  

The reality is a lot murkier. VAWA helped move us out of an era when police responding to reports of domestic violence were instructed to simply take men for a walk until they calmed down enough to return home. But the law was at once too much and not enough. On the one hand, impunity persisted and survivors continued to experience minimization and barriers to police reporting; on the other, it enabled overzealous policing and aggressive prosecutions.  

Both leave women in jeopardy. Women of color, who experience gender-based violence disproportionately, are especially underserved as they weigh their personal safety against fears that reporting abuse will lead to an escalation of violence or police brutality. 

The new National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, released on May 25 at a moment when the threat of gender-based violence intensified after the COVID-19 lockdown, indicates the Biden administration now recognizes that criminalization alone will not end intimate partner violence.  

The plan, the first of its kind, is a major step away from a system that focuses on arrests and jails and instead brings a holistic approach that emphasizes prevention, survivor-centered care and the economic, social and health protections necessary for survivors to heal and thrive.  

VAWA, while well-intentioned, was a product of the tough-on-crime ‘90s and took a heavy-handed, law-and-order approach. For example, as a strategy to ensure enforcement, VAWA incentivizes states through grant funding to adopt so-called “mandatory arrest laws,” which require police to make an arrest whenever they respond to a domestic violence call. One study concluded that these laws increased violence and were responsible for an additional 0.8 homicides for every 100,000 people. They also led to arrests of women who were fighting back, and fear of this outcome discourages survivors from reporting abuse.   

What’s more, VAWA encouraged “no-drop prosecutions,” which direct prosecutors to pursue cases of intimate partner violence, even if the survivor opposes it. This has led to survivors being subpoenaed — and even jailed — to compel testimony.   

Today, it is clear that criminalization isn’t sufficient. The most striking evidence? Intimate partner violence and sexual assault remain among the most underreported crimes. Taking agency away from survivors through mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution has turned survivors away from the traditional criminal justice system — not toward it.   

The creation of the new National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence was led by the White House Gender Policy Council with extensive input from advocates, experts, researchers and communities with lived experience. With this plan, the Biden administration is setting forth a bold strategy that is as groundbreaking as it is responsive to the real needs of survivors.   

The plan is a major step away from a system that is over-reliant on criminal justice, arrests and jails. It’s specifically designed to empower survivors and maximize choice and agency, and reflects a full public health lens, prioritizing prevention and addressing root causes alongside justice. It responds to urgent needs that advocates have long called for, including access to safe and affordable housing and economic protections, as well as the survivor-centered support services that are the unsung heroes of healing and thriving following acts of gender-based violence.  

Areas that have long been underemphasized in gender-based violence, including prevention, racial justice, LGBTQ needs and social norms change, are also prioritized. And because gender-based violence starts earlier than most people realize, the plan takes a life-course perspective. An estimated one in four female intimate partner violence victims first experience partner violence before age 18. The numbers are even more staggering for sexual violence: An estimated 35 percent of female survivors were first victimized between 11-17 years of age, and for 14 percent, the abuse started at age 10 or under.   

There’s reason to be optimistic that these interventions will have a meaningful effect. Here in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins’s recent work at House of Ruth Maryland showed that providing housing for intimate violence survivors, alongside comprehensive services, was critical. Knowing they had a safe place to live, survivors could safely restart their lives. After six months in the program, participants reported fewer instances of domestic violence. Economic dependence on abusive partners also decreased — a critical metric, as financial considerations often force women back into unsafe situations. By meeting survivors’ basic needs, together with trauma-informed support, the cycle of violence can be broken.  

If ending gender-based violence was simple, we would already be there. Yet, it’s achievable. We now have a strong national framework that encompasses support for survivors, accountability and prevention. 

We can look toward a safe and vibrant future for women and girls, and everyone affected by gender-based violence. Now let’s summon the courage to implement it.

Michele Decker, ScD, MPH, is a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.