|
|
2008 National Crime Victims' Rights Week The honorees received special recognition during the awards ceremony hosted April 11, 2008, by the Office for Victims of Crime to honor victim advocates, organizations, and programs in the field of victim services.
National Crime Victim Service Award To view more details, click on a photo for an enlarged view.
Andrea Conte After becoming a victim of violent crime in 1988, Andrea Conte made victim advocacy and justice issues a priority. In 1993, she founded You Have the Power…Know How to Use It, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to raising awareness about crime and justice issues. You Have the Power produces documentary DVDs and resource guides on topics such as domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and elder abuse, and distributes them nationwide to law enforcement agencies, schools, civic groups, and therapists. You Have the Power also conducts public programs throughout the State of Tennessee on various crime issues, and its representatives frequently appear on television talk shows. In addition to presenting programs to the general public, You Have the Power conducts intensive Victim Impact Programs with individuals incarcerated at the Tennessee Department of Correction. Andrea became the First Lady of Tennessee when her husband, Phil Bredesen, became Governor of the state in 2003. Using her new platform as First Lady, Andrea created a statewide Commission on Crime Victims Assistance to provide recommendations regarding benefits and other issues associated with the Criminal Injury Compensation Fund. She also walked more than 600 miles across Tennessee in 2004–05 to raise awareness of the prevalence of child sexual abuse and the role of Child Advocacy Centers in helping these children recover. Today, local communities host shorter walks every April to raise funds for these centers. Andrea also helped establish “Tennessee Season To Remember,” an annual statewide ceremony held to commemorate loved ones lost to homicide. Andrea Conte was nominated by Viola Miller, Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
Nora J. Baladerian, Ph.D. Since 1971, Dr. Nora Baladerian has made the problem of abuse of people with disabilities her life's work. In the early 1970s when she began working on this topic, virtually no information or funding was available to help ameliorate the problem. Today, however, the abuse of people with disabilities is a nationally recognized issue with millions of federal and state dollars allocated to address it—largely because of Nora's passion and dedication. She has authored several internationally distributed guidebooks for individuals with disabilities, their parents, and the professionals who work with them, and written more than 50 articles related to the abuse and neglect of children and adults with disabilities. She also has convened 10 national conferences and an online conference on the topic. In her work as a psychologist, Dr. Baladerian has become an expert in conducting evaluations of suspected sexual abuse of people with disabilities and conducting assessments with children and adults with developmental disabilities, as well as providing clinical intervention. Most recently, her video “Victims with Disabilities: The Forensic Interview” has helped debunk the myth that crime victims with developmental disabilities cannot be good witnesses. Nora's work has affected policies and practices in many arenas, including the policies of school campuses, mandatory reporting, minimum standards for responding to child abuse calls, and protocols and practices for investigators, prosecutors, protective services caseworkers, and victim advocates. Victim services in California and throughout the Nation provide more consistent services to crime victims with disabilities, and to crime victims who acquire a disability due to an act of violence, because of Nora's lifetime of advocacy. Nora Baladerian, Ph.D., was nominated by James N. Stream, Executive Director, Arc Riverside.
|
||
