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2003 National Crime Victims' Rights Week The honorees received special recognition during the awards ceremony hosted April 12, 2003, by the Office for Victims of Crime to honor victim advocates, organizations, and programs in the field of victim services.
On the photos provided, all the award recipients are accompanied by OVC Director John W. Gillis and Assistant Attorney General Deborah J. Daniels from the Office of Justice Programs. To view more details, click on any photo for an enlarged view.
Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation Modesto, California In February 1999, Carole and Juli Sund and Silvina Pelosso disappeared while on a sightseeing trip. After a month-long search, their burned rental car containing the remains of Carole and Silvina was located. A week later, Juli's body was also found. Francis and Carole Carrington, Carole's parents and Juli's grandparents, had posted reward money both for the safe return of the women and for information regarding the whereabouts of their rental car. They were grateful they had the resources to post the rewards, but also wondered what the outcome might have been had they not had the funds to do so. In April 1999, with a donation of $200,000, the Carringtons created the Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation. The Foundation provides funds to families who have missing or murdered loved ones but do not have the resources to post reward money themselves. To date, the Foundation has posted 152 rewards in 30 states totaling more than $1,117,500. Results have included apprehending 17 murder suspects and one child molester who attempted to murder his young victim, the safe return of a missing woman and her critically ill 1-year-old son, and locating a missing man who had died in a car accident.
Director Onondaga County District Attorney's Victim Advocate Program Baldwinsville, New York In 1990, Mary Lawrence's only brother, whom she helped raise, was murdered. Ms. Lawrence began volunteer work with crime victims at the Volunteer Center, Inc. in Syracuse, New York. At the Volunteer Center, she helped establish a Victim Advocate Program that provided enhanced services for families and victims in cases where a violent crime had occurred. Supported by funding she obtained from the New York State Crime Victims' Board, Ms. Lawrence accompanied victims and their families to hospitals, funeral homes, and police stations and was available to guide them throughout the criminal justice process. Ms. Lawrence's support for victims of violent crimes and homicides continues on a full-time basis at the Onondaga County District Attorney's Office. She also manages and co-facilitates the Homicide Victims' Family Support Group on her own time. Over the past 10 years, she has personally provided support to hundreds of family members of homicide victims and thousands of other people affected by serious crimes. Homicide investigators routinely contact her when they first receive a report of a homicide so she may provide immediate assistance to family members. This early support also frequently aids the police investigation. Ms. Lawrence has advocated for stronger laws for victims at state legislative hearings, educated new recruits on victims' rights at the police academy, and lectured at local college and high school classes.
Victims of Crime and Leniency Montgomery, Alabama Joyce Miller works as a licensed counselor for VOCAL (Victims of Crime and Leniency) Angel House Counseling Centers in Montgomery, Alabama, which provide crisis intervention, trauma counseling, ongoing daily/weekly counseling, crime scene cleanup, and trial advocacy. Ms. Miller has worked with hundreds of families throughout Alabama. When Ms. Miller is not at work, she provides a 24-hour toll-free crisis hotline for crime victims. Ms. Miller receives many calls through the hotline and treats all of the callers with caring and patience. She is also on call with the Montgomery Police Department. When a homicide occurs, she immediately responds to the scene to assist the family members, regardless of the time of day. According to a parent whose daughter was murdered, "Joyce forgets no one. She calculates her life around victims—no rewards, no perks, no glamour, just the assurance of helping a victim through the night. Joyce's compassion and professionalism is an unsung combination. No one can count the number of encounters Joyce has with victims. She is my family's hero. I shudder at the thought of where I would be now without her."
Victims' Rights Advocate Scottsdale, Arizona Steven Twist has spent the past 27 years successfully advocating for stronger legal protections for crime victims. As Counsel to the Majority in the Arizona House of Representatives from 1976 to 1978, he drafted the state's new criminal code, which included the state's first victims' rights laws. In 1980, as the state's Chief Assistant Attorney General, he established the nation's first Victim Witness Division based in an Attorney General's Office. Over the next several years, he worked to promote passage of several victims' rights laws, and by 1990 he had drafted a bill to amend the state's constitution to guarantee certain fundamental victims' rights. After organizing and leading a statewide campaign to secure the amendment's adoption, he drafted legislation to implement it, which was passed by the state legislature in 1992. His success in Arizona drew the attention of other state legislators, who asked him to assist them in drafting and promoting their own amendments. He also continued to labor on behalf of victims in his home state, establishing a statewide coalition of victim advocates called Arizona Voice for Crime Victims. He has given victims access to much needed legal aid by founding the Victims Legal Assistance Project, in partnership with the Arizona State University College of Law, and by helping to found the National Crime Victims Law Institute. Mr. Twist has testified many times since 1996 on behalf of a federal constitutional amendment and has spoken in support of the amendment across the country. |
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