This collection contains the working papers of Virginia Committee on Sexual Assault Reform (VCOSAR) members Betty Ardus and Ann Warshauer. They include VCOSAR meeting minutes, correspondence, drafts of legislation, mass mailing materials, clippings, research materials, and printed materials.
There are no restrictions on access to the materials in this collection.
In October 1981, Betty Ardus and Ann Warshauer, active members of VCOSAR, donated the files in the the first series to the University of Virginia Law Library. In June 2021, Ann Warshauer donated the files in the second series to the University of Virginia Law Library.
This collection is arranged into two series. The materials are divided into these series according to the time of their donation to the University of Virginia Law Library. The items in the first series were donated in 1981, and the items in the second series were donated in 2021.
In the late 1970s, the Virginia Committee on Sexual Assault Reform (VCOSAR) was a coalition of organizations that pressed for the reform of Virginia's sexual assault legislation. VCOSAR met frequently between 1976 and 1977 to draft proposed legislation, and it collaborated closely with the Virginia State Crime Commission's Task Force on Sexual Assault.
In 1976, around the same time that VCOSAR had formed, the General Assembly appointed the State Crime Commission, which in turn established the Advisory Task Force to Study Criminal Sexual Assault. The Task Force met for the first time on October 18, 1976, and five committees were charged with studying the crime, its impact, prevention, and punishment. Lane Kneedler was appointed to the Court Process Committee, which later merged with the Legislation Committee as the drafting of the bill began; the other committees were Treatment, Rehabilitation, and Punishment; Law Enforcement; and Public Education. All the committees carried out research and held public hearings before making recommendations.
VCOSAR leaders were appointed to most of the task force committees. In May 1977, VCOSAR presented a proposed criminal sexual assault reform bill to the Legislation Committee. By late fall of that year, Kneedler and his research assistants made recommendations to the merged committees on the proposed bill, which in January 1978 became S. B. 291. Introduced by Senator Stanley Walker, it passed the Senate by a vote of 32-6. S. B. 291 then went before the House Courts of Justice Committee, where it was amended; in the 1979 session, the bill passed the House by a vote of 77-21, but the Senate rejected a conference committee report on it. Consequently, S. B. 291, sponsored in 1979 by Senator Joseph Gartlan, died with the close of the session.
After presenting its proposed bill, VCOSAR met less frequently and devoted its energy toward public education and promotion. Work on the bill continued with the Task Force to Study Criminal Sexual Assault. Task Force members and additional legislators revised the bill in the summer and fall of 1979. The resulting S. B. 258, sponsored by Senator Frederick Boucher, was diligently studied by the Senate Courts of Justice Committee in early 1980. On 18 February, the bill carried the committee, 11-4, and passed the Senate the same day by a 31-9 vote. The House Courts of Justice Committee, however, voted to carry the bill over to the 1981 session.
A special committee to study S. B. 258 was appointed in June of 1980, but this committee did not work on the bill. Task Force members and representatives of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys (VACA), the principal opponents of the bill, constructed a compromise version of it. The Task Force members were Senators Boucher and Gartlan, Ann Warshauer of COSAR, and Lane Kneedler; VACA was represented by William Person and Daniel Chichester, President and Past-President, respectively, and by Robert Horan, Chairman of the Legislation Committee.
The compromise version of S. B. 258 passed the House Courts of Justice Committee with an amendment to the evidence section by Delegate Robrecht. Before the House, that amendment was defeated and replaced by a more specific one sponsored by Delegate Theodore Morrison; the deletion of the section on spousal rape was the only other change to the compromise bill. S. B. 258 passed the House by a vote of 98-1 on 28 January. At this point, VACA withdrew its support for the bill due to the Morrison amendment, but the group did not oppose its passage in the Senate. S. B. 258 was signed into law by Governor John Dalton in March 1981 and went into effect in July.
For more documentation of VCOSAR's work as well as the later work of some of its members, see the following collections at the Arthur J. Morris Law Library: the H. Lane Kneedler papers on Virginia's criminal sexual assualt legislation, 1977 - 1981 [VCOSAR], MSS 81-1; and the Joseph V. Gartlan Jr. papers on Virginia's criminal sexual assault legislation, MSS 81-3.
Because of the nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the materials. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items; these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. The University may grant permission to publish or reproduce intellectual property it owns in the name of The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.
In October 1981, Betty Ardus and Ann Warshauer, active members of COSAR, donated the files in this series to the University of Virginia Law Library.
In 2021, Ann Warshauer donated the files in this series to the University of Virginia Law Library.