---
kind: "section"
citation: "34 U.S.C. § 12462"
title: "34"
title_heading: "Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
number: "12462"
heading: "Purpose"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/34/12462"
units:
  - "Subtitle I — Comprehensive Acts"
  - "Chapter 121 — Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement"
  - "Subchapter III — Violence Against Women"
  - "Part K — Strengthening America’s Families by Preventing Violence Against Women and Children"
---

# §12462. Purpose


The purpose of this part is to—

- (1) prevent crimes involving violence against women, children, and [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52);
- (2) increase the resources and [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) available to prevent violence against women, children, and [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52);
- (3) reduce the impact of exposure to violence in the lives of children and [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) so that the intergenerational cycle of violence is interrupted;
- (4) develop and implement education and [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) programs to prevent children in vulnerable families from becoming victims or perpetrators of [domestic violence](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-12), [dating violence](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-11), [sexual assault](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-35), or [stalking](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-36);
- (5) promote programs to ensure that children and [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52) receive the assistance they need to end the cycle of violence and develop mutually respectful, nonviolent relationships; and
- (6) encourage collaboration among [community-based organizations](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-5) and governmental agencies serving children and [youth](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-52), providers of health and mental health [services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) and providers of [domestic violence](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-12), [dating violence](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-11), [sexual assault](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-35), and [stalking](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-36) [victim services](/usc/34/12291.md?p=a-51) to prevent violence against women and children.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 103–322, title IV, § 41302, as added Pub. L. 109–162, title IV, § 401, Jan. 5, 2006, 119 Stat. 3018.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was formerly classified to section 14043d–1 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.