Actress and UN special envoy for refugees Angelina Jolie told NBC News on Wednesday that the updated Violence Against Women Act that just became law was “a long time coming” — and “personal.”
“It is personal to everyone,” said Jolie, who has been advocating for a revamped version of the law for years. “Everyone who cares about family, everyone who cares about children, everyone who cares about their own safety and the health of their community.”
“I [think] this country doesn’t recognize what a serious domestic violence and child abuse problem it really has,” she said.
Watch the interview tonight on “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” at 6:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. CT (or check your NBC station).
The Violence Against Women Act is a landmark 1994 law that created grant programs for states to provide services and housing to abuse victims and training to improve the legal system’s response to domestic violence. It was renewed three times since its pᴀssage, each time with stronger protections for victims, before expiring in 2018 (Congress continued to fund its programs in the years since).
The Senate renewed the act last Thursday as part of its mᴀssive $1.5 trillion spending bill, which also prevented a government shutdown, renewed funding for Pell Grants and other programs, and provided billions in emergency aid for Ukraine.
President Joe Biden vowed during his campaign to enact the reauthorized bill in the first 100 days of his presidency, and the House pᴀssed a version of it last year. Though the administration did not meet that ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, Biden signed the bill Tuesday and advocates, including Jolie, attended a Wednesday event to mark its pᴀssage, nearly a decade after its last reauthorization.
A longtime human rights activist, Jolie campaigned to pᴀss the law and strengthen its provisions, including those on family courts, in the years since it expired, including appearing with Senators pushing for the bill’s pᴀssage last month. Jolie’s own split and custody battle with ex-husband Brad Pitt gave her experience with the family court system.
The updated act includes an addition called Kayden’s Law, named after a seven-year-old Pennsylvania girl killed by her father in a murder-suicide during an unsupervised visit in 2018. Championed by her mother Kathy Sherlock, Kayden’s law focuses on how family courts handle custody cases involving abuse allegations, including improving training for judges who hear custody disputes, outlining required qualifications to give expert testimony about abuse, and asking states to change their statutes to limit therapies focused on forced family reunification.
