An Imperfect Remedy for Imperfect Violence: The Construction of Civil Rights in the Violence Against Women Act

Authors

David Frazee, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

Along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) could be the most significant addition to federal civil rights laws in the last century. While potentially revolutionary, the VAWA's civil rights remedy forges two problematic legal concepts-traditional civil rights jurisprudence and "perfect" violence-into a super-remedy that risks combining the worst aspects of each. Those who utilize and interpret the Act can avoid this outcome by situating individual violent acts in the broader social and historical context of gender-motivated violence.

Recommended Citation

David Frazee, An Imperfect Remedy for Imperfect Violence: The Construction of Civil Rights in the Violence Against Women Act, 1 Mich. J. Gender & L. 163 (1993).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjgl/vol1/iss1/11