National - Last year the country's violent crime rate dropped 10.4 percent to its lowest level since the government began measuring it in 1973, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The figures, which are from the Bureau's National Crime Victimization Survey and exclude homicide statistics, demonstrate a continuation in declines in every major type of personal and property crime between 1993 and 1999.  The survey found that more than five in ten violent crime victims knew their assailants, and nearly seven in ten rape or sexual assault victims knew their attackers. In 1999, three women per 1,000 were raped or sexually assaulted, compared with 0.4 men per 1,000.

CA - 30 Minute Photos Etc. of Irvine donated eight 30-second advertisements during a local broadcast of the MTV Video Music Awards to nonprofit organizations, including the Museum of Tolerance, the Human Rights Campaign and the Family Violence Prevention Fund.  Company President Mitchell Goldstone made the decision to donate the spots when he learned that MTV was going to allow rap singer Eminem to perform live. Eminem regularly glorifies violence against women during his performances.

WA - Health and Mental Health Consequences of Domestic Violence in the African American Community, a forum sponsored by the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, will be held in Seattle on December 1 and 2. For more information, contact Sherri Goodall or Bernice Parks at 301/490-5500.

Al - The state will spend $1 million to place domestic violence assessors in welfare offices across Alabama, reports USA Today. The assessors will offer assistance to victims of domestic violence, and will be in place by September of next year.

MA - The first court in the country dedicated to domestic violence cases opened in Boston this month, reports UPI. The Dorchester District Court Domestic Violence Session is operated under a $1.9 million Justice Department Pilot Project.

MD - The state has begun implementation on a statewide automated phone system that will alert crime victims when their offender is released from prison or is facing a court hearing, reports the Washington Post.  Maryland is the eighth state to adopt the Victim Information and Notification Everyday System (VINE), but Maryland's is believed to be the most far-reaching because it uses a computer network to link the Division of Correction with county detention centers, courts and prosecutors. The VINE system also includes a toll-free number that victims can call to determine the whereabouts of their offenders.

NY - Former New York Jets football player Mark Gastineau was sentenced to 18 months in jail for failing to complete an anger-management course after hitting his estranged wife, Patricia Schorr. In 1998, Gastineau plead guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge and was ordered to spend a year in a treatment center. Prosecutors claim he did not fulfill his sentence, and left the program after about four months.

VA - A report from the Virginia Supreme Court finds that victims of domestic violence are "sometimes misunderstood in the male-dominated legal domain," reports the Associated Press. The report on gender bias in the state's legal system finds that victims of domestic violence "perceive that the courts do not always treat such cases seriously," and suggests that part of the problem is that some judges "do not fully understand the dynamics of domestic violence."

"Reprinted and adapted from 'News Flash' (http://www.fvpf.org/newsflash), an online newsletter of the Family Violence Prevention Fund."