Misstropolis

Monday, March 24, 2008

Help Protect Victims of Crime

by Robin Hauck

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In 1984 Massachusetts passed the MA Victim Bill of Rights, putting us at the forefront of the growing Victims’ Rights Movement and allowing us to offer more comprehensive support and protection to victims of crimes than any other state in the nation.

24 years later, with few amendments to that law, Massachusetts lags behind most other states. The MA Office for Victim Assistance, or MOVA, established in 1984 in accordance with the Bill of Rights, is determined to change that.

With powerful bi-partisan support and a group of extraordinarily brave victims willing to share their stories, MOVA is working to see a new bill, Senate Bill 802, signed into law. Entitled “An Act to Protect & Enhance the Rights of Child & Adult Victims & Witnesses of Crime,” S.802 would:

* Ensure victims and witnesses in court have a separate and secure waiting area.
* Allow child or disabled victims and witnesses to have a support person in the courtroom during their testimony and an orientation to the court process.
* Ensure broader notification of victim rights, including making rights available to non-English speaking victims and witnesses, and to families of victims in unsolved homicides.
*Require that a summary of victim rights be posted conspicuously in courthouses and police stations and that police notify victims of their rights.

In a massive show of support, hundreds joined MOVA, Committee Chair Attorney General Martha Coakley, legislators from across the state, and seven astoundingly brave victims at the State House on March 4th at a public hearing for the bill. The testimonies of the victims were a key factor in the bill’s successful award of an Extension Order for further review.

Yoko Kato lost her 23 year old daughter and 18 month old grandson in 1993 when they were brutally murdered by the baby’s father. Stabbed 57 times, they died in each other’s arms in a pool of blood. In support of the bill, she told her story to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary and the hundreds of others gathered.

“A year and a half later, the murder trial was underway… The courtroom was filled with over 100 members of the defendant’s family and friends. Because my family is back in Japan, I had only my eldest daughter and a few friends with me for support. It was terrifying and intimidating for us – but we felt we had to be there for [our loved ones], who had lost their voices.  During the five days of the trial, we sat on a hard, cold bench in the hallway of the courthouse. The courtroom and hallways were filled with supporters of the defendant – who spit on us as they passed. They followed us and imitated our walks, stared us down, and added to the terror and pain of the process.”

Emma McAlary, the survivor of a sexual assault that occurred just two months into her freshman year of college shared her experience.

“I’ve come to terms with what happened to me… What I have not come to terms with is the re-victimization I felt when I had to come face-to-face with my perpetrator in the Eastern Hampshire District Court House. I am still angry to this day.”

These courageous testimonies more than obviate the need for the security provisions in the bill; they make it seem criminal that Massachusetts fails to offer them. As Beverly Myers Bailey, who along with her parents learned of her younger brother’s gruesome murder on the news rather than from the police or the state put it, “I urge you to pass Senate Bill 802, because victim safety is a basic human right.”

What you can do: write to your local lawmakers in support of the bill. Share information about the MA Office of Victim’s Assistance with your friends. Show up at the Massachusetts Victim Rights Conference - Preventing Youth Violence: Supporting Youth, Strengthening Communities, Inspiring Hope, on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at the State House in Boston. If these testimonies don’t move you to act, hearing keynote speaker, Mr. Hubie Jones who has had a long and illustrious career fighting for social justice, racial justice and children’s rights surely will.