42 U.S.C. § 10401
Section 10401 · Declaration of purpose
This is the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Ankenbrandt Lr Sr v. A Richards (1992)
Most recently applied in Lujan Ex Rel. Lujan v. Casados-Lujan (October 2003)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
This chapter may be cited as the “Family Violence Prevention and Services Act”.
It is the purpose of this chapter to—
(1) assist States and Indian tribes in efforts to increase public awareness about, and primary and secondary prevention of, family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence;
(2) assist States and Indian tribes in efforts to provide immediate shelter and supportive services for victims of family violence, domestic violence, or dating violence, and their dependents;
(3) provide for a national domestic violence hotline;
(4) provide for technical assistance and training relating to family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence programs to States and Indian tribes, local public agencies (including law enforcement agencies, courts, and legal, social service, and health care professionals in public agencies), nonprofit private organizations (including faith-based and charitable organizations, community-based organizations, and voluntary associations), tribal organizations, and other persons seeking such assistance and training.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 10401, Pub. L. 98–457, title III, §302, Oct. 9, 1984, 98 Stat. 1757; Pub. L. 102–295, title III, §302, May 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 201; Pub. L. 108–36, title IV, §415(1), June 25, 2003, 117 Stat. 830, related to declaration of purpose, prior to the general amendment of this chapter by Pub. L. 111–320. See subsec. (b) of this section.
A prior section 301 of Pub. L. 98–457, title III, Oct. 9, 1984, 98 Stat. 1757, provided a short title for title III of Pub. L. 98–457 and was set out as a note under former section 10401 of this title, prior to the general amendment of this chapter by Pub. L. 111–320.
Study of Training Needs of Health Professionals
Pub. L. 105–392, title IV, §407(b), Nov. 13, 1998, 112 Stat. 3589, related to study by the Institute of Medicine concerning the training needs of health professionals with respect to the detection and referral of victims of family or acquaintance violence and required the Institute to submit a report to Congress concerning such study not later than 2 years after Nov. 13, 1998.