Millennium: Ending Domestic Violence
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Timeline of Milestones
The Timeline of Milestones chronologically lists significant benchmarks of domestic violence events in the United States. Among the items posted include literature publications, enacted legislation, programs and services, and highly publicized domestic violence cases.
Women’s
advocates in St. Paul, Minnesota start the first hotline for battered
women.
Women’s
advocates and Haven House in Pasadena, California establish the first
shelters for battered women.
1974
Erin
Pizzey publishes Scream Quietly or the Neighbors Will Hear in England, the first book
about domestic violence from the battered woman’s perspective.
1976
The
National Organization for Women announces the formation of a task force,
co-chaired by Del Martin, to examine the problem of battering.
It demands research into the problem and money for shelters.
Del
Martin publishes, Battered Wives, the first American feminist publication showing that
violence against wives is deeply rooted in sexism.
Pennsylvania
establishes the first State coalition against domestic violence.
It also becomes the first State to create a statute providing for
order of protection for victims of domestic violence.
La Casa de la Madres
in San Francisco, California is opened.
This was the first battered women’s shelter established by
women of color.
1977
National
Communications Network for the Elimination of Violence Against Women,
the first national newsletter on battered women, is published.
The following year, it merges with the feminist, Alliance Against Rape, to publish, Aegis, the Magazine on Ending Violence Against Women, a grassroots
feminist forum on rape, battering, and other issues of violence
affecting women.
Oregon
becomes the first State to enact legislation mandating arrest in
domestic violence cases.
1978
U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights holds a forum entitled Consultation
on Battered Women in Washington, DC.
The forum brings together hundreds of activists and results in Battered Women: Issues of Public Policy, which offers more than 700
pages of written and oral testimony.
National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a grassroots organization is
organized and becomes the voice of the battered women’s movement on
the national level. It
establishes the vision and philosophy that will guide the development of
hundreds of local battered women’s programs and State coalitions.
It also initiates the introduction of the Family Violence
Prevention and Services Act in the U.S. Congress.
Rippling
effects of women-led initiatives result in pioneering work in
California, Washington, and Minnesota.
Such initiatives led to Minnesota becoming the first State to
allow probable cause or “warrantless” arrest in cases of domestic
assault regardless of whether a protection order had been issued against
the offender.
1979
Office
on Domestic Violence is established in the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, but is closed in 1981.
First
congressional hearings are held on the issue of domestic violence.
After 12 black women are murdered in Boston, a public outcry about the lack of media attention to violence against women of color leads to the formation of the Combahee River Collective.
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First
national day of unity in October is established by the National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence to mourn battered women who have
died, celebrate women survivors, and honor all who have worked to defeat
domestic violence. National
day becomes domestic violence awareness week and, in 1987, expands to a
month of awareness activities.
The
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence holds the first national
conference in Washington, DC, which is attended by more than 600
battered women’s advocates from 49 States.
The conference gains Federal recognition of critical issues
facing battered women and inspires the creation of several State
coalitions.
1982
Susan
Schechter publishes Women &Male Violence: The Visions and Struggles of the Battered
Women’s Movement, South End Press, Boston, Massachusetts.
60 Minutes
airs a program filmed in Austin, Texas entitled, A Place to Go,
describing the work of battered women’s shelters.
More viewers watched that program than any other program during
that television season.
1984
U.S.
Attorney General establishes task force on family violence to examine
scope and nature of problem. Nearly 300 witnesses provide public testimony in 6 cities.
The final report offers recommendations for action in many areas,
including the criminal justice response, prevention and awareness,
education and training, and data collection and reporting.
Passage
of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act through grassroots
lobbying efforts earmarks Federal funding for programs serving domestic
violence victims.
1985
Thurman v. Torrington
is the first Federal case in which a battered woman sues a city for
police failure to protect her from her husband’s violence. Tracy Thurman, who remains scarred and partially paralyzed
from stab wounds inflicted by her husband, wins a $2 million judgement
against the city. The suit
leads to Connecticut’s passage of a mandatory arrest law.
U.S. Surgeon General issues report identifying domestic violence as a major health problem.
Evelyn
White publishes Chain, Chain Change: For
Black Women Dealing with Physical and Emotional Abuse, the first
book about African American women and abuse.
1986
Children’s
Hospital in Boston establishes AWAKE (Advocacy for Women and Kids in
Emergencies); the first advocacy program for battered women in a
pediatric setting.
New York Women Against Rape, a women of color-led organization, holds the first conference against violence for women of color.
1987
National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence establishes the first national
toll-free domestic violence hotline.
1988
The
U.S. Surgeon General declares wife abuse as the leading health hazard to
women.
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National
Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges publishes Family
Violence: Improving Court Practice.
1991
The
Domestic Violence Coalition on Public Policy is formed by State
coalitions to examine Native American public policy issues.
1992
Femicide: The Politics of Woman
Killing, edited by
Jill Radford and Diane E.H. Russell is published.
1993
In
his introduction to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee report, Violence
Against Women: The Response to Rape: Detours on the Road to Equal
Justice, Senator Joseph Biden states, “These findings reveal a
justice system that fails by any standard to meet its
goals—apprehending, convicting, and incarcerating violent criminals:
98% of the victims of rape never see their attacker caught,
tried, and imprisoned.”
The
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention establishes the Family
Violence and Intimate Violence Prevention Team within the Division of
the Violence Prevention, National
Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
The Center begins to fund community-based prevention efforts,
studies on causality and consequences of domestic violence, evaluation
programs, public education, and training.
The
Domestic Violence Coalition on Public Policy incorporates as the
National Network to End Domestic Violence.
Donna Edwards is selected as the Network’s Director, becoming
the first woman of color to head a national domestic violence
organization.
Funding
from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services leads to the
creation of the Domestic Violence Resource Network, which includes the
National Resource Center on Domestic Violence; the Battered Women’s
Justice Project; the Resource Center on Domestic Violence: Child
Protection and Custody; and the Health Resource Center on Domestic
Violence.
State
Justice Institute funds the first national conference with
multidisciplinary teams from every State.
The Family Violence Project (now Fund), Urban Institute, and the
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges jointly hosted the
conference held in San Francisco.
1994
Nicole
Brown Simpson and friend Ronald Goldman are murdered in Los Angeles,
California. Publicity
reveals that her ex-husband, former football star O.J. Simpson, arrested
and charged with the murders, is a batterer.
President
Clinton signs the Violence Against Women Act as part of the Violent
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
The Act provides $156 million in State grants to bolster local
law enforcement, prosecution, and victims’ services to better address
violence against women.
1995
President
Clinton appoints former Iowa Attorney General Bonnie J. Campbell to head
the U.S. Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women Office.
Batterer
Christopher Bailey becomes the first person convicted of a
felony—crossing State lines (West Virginia to Kentucky) to assault his
wife, Sonya Bailey—under the Violence Against Women Act.
Co-chaired
by Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary of Health and Human
Services Donna Shalala, the first meeting is held of the joint U.S.
Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services Advisory Council on
Violence Against Women.
The
Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community headed
by Dr. Oliver J. Williams holds its first forum entitled Domestic
Violence in the African American Community.
1996
The
American Medical Association under the leadership of Dr. Robert McAfee
launches a Campaign Against Family Violence and forms the National
Coalition of Physicians Against Family Violence, as well as the National
Domestic Violence Council comprised of 35 medical specialty
organizations. The
Association also produces Diagnostic
and Treatment Guidelines on Domestic Violence and the Mental
Health Effects of Family Violence.
Congress
passes the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation
Act, which made dramatic changes to Federal and State welfare and child
support programs. As part of the Act, the Family Violence Amendment
allows States to respond with more flexibility to the needs of domestic
violence victims under these new welfare and child support rules and
highlights critical issues for battered women’s advocates.
Dr.
Beth E. Richie publishes Compelled to Crime, the Gender Entrapment of Battered Women.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE) funded by the Federal Violence Against Women Act, begins operation, responding to 8,841 calls during its first month.
1997
President
Clinton signs an anti-stalking law, which makes interstate stalking and
harassment a Federal offense, even if the victim has not obtained a
protection order.
Sacred
Hoop, the National Resource Center to End Violence Against Indian Women,
begins providing technical assistance and guidance to Native
communities.
Forty
Latin American activists, clinicians, and researchers from the United
States and Puerto Rico met in Washington, DC for the National Symposium
on La Violencia Domestica: An
Emerging Dialogue Among Latinos, with the support of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and
Families. From this
Symposium, the National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic
Violence was formed.
The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awards funds to Cangleska,
Inc. to operate Sacred Circle, a special-issue resource center to aid
tribes and tribal organizations to stop violence against Native women.
1998
The
U.S. Department of Justice announces grants totaling $53.8 million for
90 jurisdictions to help investigate and prosecute domestic violence.
The grants are through the Violence Against Women Act, Grants to
Encourage Arrest Policies.
Asian
Institute on Domestic Violence holds its first national forum on
domestic violence.
The
Violence Against Women Act II is introduced, calling for the
reauthorization of funding scheduled to expire in the year 2000.
1999
The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Community
Services, Administration on Families and Children sponsors the Next
Millennium Conference: Ending Domestic Violence in Illinois to
celebrate the accomplishments of the battered women’s movement and to
advance work to end violence against women.
Vice
President Gore announces that the Federal government will provide $233
million to help States and communities detect and stop violence against
women and provide shelter for victims of domestic violence.
The
Violence Against Women Act of 1999, which includes provisions to
implement workplace safety programs and offers grants to create safe
havens for children who witness domestic violence, is introduced on the
floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The
Violence Against Women Act II, Section 51, which would extend and
strengthen the original Violence Against Women Act, is introduced on the
floor of the U.S. Senate.
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Special thanks to Dr. Beth Richie and Ms. Anne Menard for their assistance in collecting applicable domestic violence milestones for this web page. We have sincerely attempted to post only true and correct information. We apologize for any false, incomplete, or misrepresented data