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Victim Issues in the News
National
The National Crime Victims’
Service Awards
submission deadline is fast approaching!
OVC encourages you to
nominate outstanding victim service providers, allied professionals, and
crime victims and survivors for the 2011 National Crime Victims’ Service
Awards with our convenient
Online Nomination Form.
OVC annually recognizes
individuals and organizations that demonstrate outstanding service in
supporting victims and victim services. The award recipients will be
honored at the National Crime Victims' Service Awards Ceremony on April
8, 2011, a prelude event to National Crime Victims' Rights Week, April
10–16, 2011.
Visit OVC's Gallery to read
about individuals and programs that have received awards in previous
years. Extraordinary people that have been recognized in past years
include, among others, a person with a disability serving as an advocate
for victims of crime who have disabilities; a police chaplain who helps
victims and law enforcement handle the emotional aftermath of violent
crime; and a licensed psychotherapist who implemented an
anti-trafficking program, and developed a training program and direct
intervention model to assist victims of the World Trade Center attacks.
Don't miss this opportunity. The National Crime Victims' Service Awards
Online Nominations are due Wednesday, September
15, 2010.
posted
08-07-2010
"Redeeming the Wounded"
Long time list member B.
Bruce Cook, chaplain and Director of Pastoral Care at the
Crime
Victims Advocacy Council in Atlanta GA, would like to let our
members know of his new book, "Redeeming the Wounded".
If you are interested in more information, you can contact him at:
Rev. Dr. B. Bruce Cook
4329 Valley Trail Dr. SE
Atlanta, GA 30339
770-639-9585 (cell)
askcvac@aol.com
The National Day of Remembrance
for Murder Victims
will be held on Saturday,
September 25th, 2010, at the National Press Club in Washington,
DC. This will be co-hosted by the National Organization Of Parents Of
Murdered Children, Inc. and Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center, Inc.
It is sponsored by the Office for Victims of Crime and scholarships are
available for travel and lodging.
Download the scholarship form.
Woman stalked for 20 years to sue
police for wrongful arrest
13 Jul 2010
A woman who complained to police
that she was being stalked, only to be arrested herself for wasting
police time, has said she is taking legal action for wrongful
imprisonment.
Kate Hall, 47, had been stalked for more than 20 years by a man named
David Williamson, who had held her hostage in the past and smashed her
kneecap with steel toe-capped boots, the Scotsman reports....
Link to full article
NCVLI is seeking
information on best practices relating to how victims are treated by
state civil commitment systems across the country. We are seeking
information such as:
• How victims are notified of hearings or status changes? Does this vary
for child victims?
• How is the victim accommodated if she or he cannot physically attend
the hearing?
• How is the victim’s identifying information protected?
• How is the victim’s physical comfort and safety protected?
We’d also like to hear if there is a practice not on this list that
works particularly well or was a resounding failure. The hope is that by
gathering this information we can assist states in developing their
respective systems to be respectful, responsive, and sensitive to
victims.
Please send your comments to Marti Long at
mlong@lclark.edu or call
NCVLI at 503.768.6965.
Victim Services News
The Newsletter for MADD
Victim Advocates
May 2010
The 24th
Annual National POMC Conference will be hosted by the Delaware County
Chapter in Philadelphia, PA on
August 12 through August 15. The
conference is being held at the Philadelphia Marriott Hotel, One
Arrivals Road, Philadelphia, PA. Room rate is $89.00 per nite plus tax
and the cost of registration is $220.00. Download the
Conference Registration Forms. If you have any questions about the
conference, e-mail at
delcoconf20100@msn.com. As of now, there is no word of any
scholarships available. For more information about the conference please
check POMC Conference
Website. 
The Office of Justice
Programs (OJP)
Announces the Launch of Grants 101
OJP Grants 101 provides an
overview of OJP grants and funding opportunities and describes the
entire grant process—from choosing what type of grant is right for your
organization to how a grant is awarded.
Through OJP Grants 101 you will learn—
Garrido Parole Documents
Shed Light on Jaycee Dugard Case
H.R. 3402,
"The Crime Victims Fund Preservation Act of 2009"
Representatives
Ted Poe and Jim Costa, co-chairs of the Congressional Crime Victim
Rights Caucus, introduced
H.R. 3402, "The Crime Victims Fund Preservation
Act of 2009", which is attached to this email This is a companion
bill with identical language, to S. 1340, introduced last month by
Sens. Patrick Leahy and Mike Crapo.
Under the
proposal, the VOCA cap will be set at a minimum level that,
beginning in 2011, will increase by 23 percent each year through
2014. In other words, the VOCA cap in 2014 would be at least $1.6
billion. This will draw down the growing amounts being kept in the
Fund and use those funds for victim assistance services, as intended
by VOCA. The amount retained in the Fund by the end of 2014 will be
at least $800 million, enough to ensure the Fund's ongoing
sustainability (this projection does not include any new or
currently unknown large criminal fines that will be collected during
this period and is therefore a very conservative estimate).
May 21, 2009
Interview
of interest identified by NAVRA members on Marsy's Law
Dear
Friends:
In just two days since the KTTV Fox 11 interview with Dr. Henry
“Nick” Nicholas and his mother Marcella Leach about Marsy’s Law was
posted on You Tube, dozens of victims’ rights supporters have viewed
the program.
As many of you know, on May 17 Emmy Award-winning crime reporter
Tony Valdez devoted his entire half-hour show on KTTV Fox 11 in Los
Angeles to the interview.
Nick and Marcella -- the brother and mother of murder victim
Marsalee (Marsy) Nicholas, for whom Marsy’s Law is named -- talked
at length about the history of Justice for Homicide Victims, which
was co-founded by Marcella, and about Marsy’s Law, the strongest,
most comprehensive Victims’ Rights Amendment to any state
constitution.
If you missed the show, you don’t get it in your area, or you missed
our earlier email, you can still see the interview on YouTube, where
many of Mr. Valdez’s interviews are posted.
Even if you have already seen the show, we urge you to go to You
Tube and watch all three segments because that will increase
national awareness of these issues that are so important to us.
If you or your organization has a web site, we urge you to post the
links to the videos so that even more people will have a chance to
hear the message justice and due process for the accused doesn’t
have to mean silence and suffering for the victims.
Here are the links to the interview on YouTube. It is in three
segments, so you need to click the link for each segment, one at a
time, to view the entire interview:
Thank
you for your support.
Arnold Heilemann
President, Justice for Homicide Victims
February 27, 2009
Police
Executive Research Forum
February 2nd, 2009 - PRESS
RELEASE: Impact of Economic Crisis on Local Police
44% cite increases in crime due to economic crisis. 64% of local police
departments are facing cuts in their total funding, survey shows.
The
press release
February 27, 2009
Child abuse 'impacts stress gene'
BBC - Monday,
23 February 2009
Abuse in early childhood permanently alters how the brain reacts
to stress, a Canadian study suggests.
Analysis of brain tissue from adults who had committed suicide
found key genetic changes in those who had suffered abuse as a
child.
It affects the production of a receptor known to be involved in
stress responses, the researchers said.
The Nature Neuroscience study underpins the impact of stress on
early brain development, experts said.
Previous research has shown that abuse in childhood is
associated with an increased reaction to stressful
circumstances.
“ Whilst these results
obviously need to be replicated, they provide a mechanism by
which experiences early in life can have an effect on
behaviour later in adulthood ”
Dr Jonathan Mill
But exactly how environmental factors interact with genes
and contribute to depression or other mental disorders in
adulthood is not well understood.
A research team led by McGill University, in Montreal,
examined the gene for the glucocorticoid receptor - which
helps control the response to stress - in a specific brain
region of 12 suicide victims with a history of child abuse
and 12 suicide victims who did not suffer abuse when
younger.
They found chemical changes which reduced the activity of
the gene in those who suffered child abuse.
And they showed this reduced activity leads to fewer
glucocorticoid receptors.
Those affected would have had an abnormally heightened
response to stress, the researchers said.
Long-term
It suggests that experience in childhood when the brain is
developing, can have a long-term impact on how someone
responds to stressful situations.
But study leader Professor Michael Meaney said they believe
these biochemical effects could also occur later in life.
"If you're a public health individual or a child
psychologist you could say this shows you nothing you didn't
already know.
"But until you show the biological process, many people in
government and policy-makers are reluctant to believe it's
real.
"Beyond that, you could ask whether a drug could reverse
these effects and that's a possibility."
Dr Jonathan Mill, from the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings
College London said the research added to growing evidence
that environmental factors can alter the expression of genes
- a process known as epigenetics.
"Whilst these results obviously need to be replicated, they
provide a mechanism by which experiences early in life can
have an effect on behaviour later in adulthood.
"The exciting thing about epigenetic alterations is that
they are potentially reversible, and thus perhaps a future
target for therapeutic intervention."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7901337.stm
Published: 2009/02/23 01:16:12 GMT
© BBC MMIX
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