Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa’s Criminal Justice Planning Agency is set to receive $617,851 in federal funds for the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program under the leadership of CJPA Director Mariana Timu-Faiai.

“Thank you to Director Faiai once again and the Criminal Justice Planning Agency for ensuring first of all that they qualify and obtain these important funds, as well as administering the program to provide these specialized services,” said Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata. “Thank you for this support from the U.S. Department of Justice to strengthen protections and domestic violence and help in recovery.”

The STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program (STOP Formula Grant Program) was authorized by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994, reauthorized by subsequent legislation, and is regularly funded by Congress through each year’s appropriations bills.

The STOP Formula Grant Program encourages partnerships between law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and victim services organizations to enhance victim safety and hold offenders accountable in cases of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

The goal of the grant program is to develop and strengthen law enforcement, prosecution, and court strategies to combat violent crimes against women and to develop and strengthen victim services, including community-based, culturally specific services, in these cases.

Violence Against Women Act

Last week was the 30th anniversary celebration of the groundbreaking 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which provided protections and support for victims of domestic violence, and is funded by Congress annually with bipartisan support.

“We must keep working together to reduce domestic violence in American Samoa and all through the country, but it’s appropriate to pause and appreciate the progress of the last 30 years in providing important tools for prevention, prosecution, training for officials, and especially services, shelter and restoration for victims,” said Uifa’atali Amata.

Over the past 30 years, the Act has been broadened and strengthened during reauthorizations under majorities of both parties, and a hotline added.

President Biden, who passed the bill as a U.S. Senator at the time, led the White House celebration, and gave remarks on the South Lawn, in which he stated, “The Violence Against Women Act broke the dam of congressional and cultural resistance, brought this hidden epidemic out of the shadows, and began to shift the legal and social burdens away from the survivors onto the perpetrators where they belonged.”