Crapo: Dating Violence Victims To Receive Last Needed Federal Recognition

Washington, DC â?? Language to complete Idaho Senator Mike Crapo's efforts to include dating relationships in federal domestic violence cases has been included in a bill that passed committee this week. The language is in a bill to eliminate the substantial backlog of DNA and Rape Kit samples just reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. This completes a legislative process Idaho Senator Mike Crapo started four years ago to amend the Violence Against Women Act to include victims of dating violence. Section 105 contains language from Crapo that makes certain that victims of dating violence are included in federally-fund legal assistance programs. â??This announcement has been four years in the making, when I first met with an Idaho mother who lost her daughter through a violent dating relationship,â?? Crapo said. â??Cassie Diehlâ??s mother Barbara was tireless in her efforts to change the law in Idaho to recognize dating violence as part of domestic violence, and I am thrilled to be able to finish the work on a federal level. No one should be denied assistance when seeking protection from a violent relationship, whether it is a spouse or a boyfriend. Domestic violence is a problem in our society that will only improve when we refuse to allow our family, friends, neighbors and communities to sit idly by. I commend those who have worked so hard to protect women and children who suffer through domestic violence, and this added definition will now protect another group of women who previously had been denied such assistance.â?? The measure was completed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 21, 2004, and will now be referred to the full Senate for debate and vote. # # #