#483: 10-01-96 - Justice and HHS Offer New Recommendations to Combat Domestic Violence

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         VAW
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1996                           (202) 616-2777
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT OFFER NEW RECOMMENDATIONS TO COMBAT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT

Booklet Released on First Day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Attorney General Janet Reno and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala today released new recommendations to help individuals and communities across America combat domestic violence and sexual assault. The recommendations are contained in a 15-page booklet prepared by their Advisory Council on Violence Against Women. It was released at the Second Annual Justice Department Violence Against Women Information Fair, and will be distributed nationwide.

The booklet, entitled Community Checklist: Steps to End Violence Against Women, offers practical suggestions on what employers, the media, sports industry, schools, law enforcement, and religious groups can do to combat violence against women. For example, employers are encouraged to work closely with local police departments to make workplaces secure for women, to distribute education materials about domestic violence to all employees, and to provide corporate sponsorship to community-based shelters and events. More than 60 suggestions are listed.

Publication of the handbook was the culmination of more than a year's work by members of the Violence Against Women Advisory Council, whose membership includes leaders from law enforcement, healthcare, business, labor, the religious community, sports and the media.

10,000 copies of the booklet will be distributed during October, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, to domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions, local service programs, and health services and police organizations.

"Communities can make a difference. We are offering them straight-forward, practical suggestions to help them turn the corner against domestic violence," Reno stated. She noted the Justice Department has an on-going domestic violence employee awareness campaign. "We recognize that problem of domestic violence affects the workplace and the workplace can be part of the solution," Reno stated.

"Many battered women are working women, and while they may not go to the police or to a hospital, they do go to work," Reno said. "These women need colleagues and supervisors who understand their situation and support their efforts to protect themselves and their families."

"This checklist will help communities reach battered women where they work, learn, worship and live," Secretary Shalala said. "Together, we are creating a seamless system of protection, so that no woman falls through the cracks."

The Justice Department Violence Against Women Information Fair was organized in response to a directive from President Clinton last year which called on all executive branch agencies to create employee awareness campaigns. More than a dozen national and local organizations serving victims of family violence provided counseling, information and displays in the Justice Department's Great Hall.

The text of the Community Checklist is available at the Violence Against Women Office home page on the internet at http://www.usdoj.gov/vawo. ###

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