On May 7, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed, by voice vote, S. 327, the Improving Assistance to Domestic and Sexual Violence Victims Act of 2009. Sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the bill would amend the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-322) and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (P.L. 90-351) by strengthening assistance for, and funding to, victims of abuse.
The committee approved, by voice vote, a substitute amendment by Sen. Leahy that clarifies the definition of “rural state” and directs the attorney general to submit a report to Congress on violence against Native American women.
The committee also passed, by voice vote, an amendment by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) to set a federal mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for individuals convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a victim over the age of 15. Sen. Kyl said, “For a lot of reasons, a lot of people who commit sexual assault and rape on Indian reservations end up not doing time…women on Indian reservations are especially vulnerable.” Noting that a 30-year mandatory minimum already exists for cases where the victim is 15 years of age or younger, Sen. Kyl asserted that his amendment “fills a gap that all of us should be shocked exists in the law today.”
Although Sen. Kyl initially introduced the amendment with a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, the committee passed, by voice vote, a second-degree amendment by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to reduce the minimum sentence to five years. Sen. Feinstein noted that in California, the mandatory minimum for the crime is three years in prison; the average sentence is six years.
