Feminist Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Feminist Movement - Essay Example In the past state have had primary jurisdiction in the field of domestic abuse legislation. However, recently Congress has enacted legislation because of the increasing mobility of society and therefore the potential for perpetrators to cross state lines to commit their crimes against their partners. States vary somewhat in their legislation, although police officers in all states can now arrest someone they suspect has committed a domestic assault without having witnessed the event.(State) They do however vary in that 3 states require an arrest if they are called to investigate an incident whereas the others don’t if they file a report explaining why they did not arrest. Most states and the federal legislation have similar definitions of domestic violence as that noted above. At one time forced sex by a man on his female cohabitating partner was not considered criminal sexual conduct or rape because this was regarded as his prerogative, but fortunately, this has changed. An a rrest usually requires some or all of the following conditions, a probable cause, suspect, and victim fit the definition of a domestic relationship (cohabitation), alleged act fits definition of domestic assault ( actual or threatened physical violence), reason to believe domestic abuse will continue if suspect not arrested or evidence of injury and incident reported within 28 days of occurrence. The 2 main acts of federal legislation are the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) originally enacted in 1994.