1996 CRIME VICTIM SERVICE AWARD NOMINEES
JOHN AND PAT BYRON
Survivors of Homicide Victim
Louisville, Kentucky
Mr. and Mrs. Byron's daughter--Mary--was murdered on her 21st
birthday by a former boyfriend the day after he posted bail on a
charge of raping her. Mary had asked to be notified of his release
since she had been stalked by him and feared for her life. No notice
was provided. After Mary's murder, the Byrons committed their lives
to ensuring that victims throughout their state would be notified
regarding the release of their offenders. Their dedication and
advocacy led to the development in louisville of the VINE system
which stands for Victim Information and Notification Everyday. The
system allows victims to register anonymously and be notified by a
computerized call-back system upon the release of a specific inmate.
On March 25, 1996, the Governor of Kentucky signed legislation
enacting this system statewide.
Kentucky governor parul patton recently said about the byrons:
"Their courageous leadership in kentucky paves the way for other
states to adopt similar notification systems that will save countless
lives."
FRANCES DAVIS
Founder, Mothers of All Children
Brooklyn, New York
During the past eight years, Frances Davis has survived
extraordinary tragedy. In separate incidents in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of New York, each of her three sons was
killed by gunfire. Ms. Davis turned her pain into service, and in
1993 created her own all-volunteer organization called Mothers of
All Children. Ms. Davis recruits, trains, and inspires her
volunteers, who then provide other survivors of homicide victims with
bereavement counseling. They also help organize community violence
prevention activities such as "Shoot Hoops, Not Guns"--basketball
tournaments for youth. Frances Davis deals with her grief and her
loss by continuing to participate on victim impact panels before
young people at high schools and detention centers throughout the
northeast. She is a national role model for other crime victims
whose powerful stories can be part of stopping the cycle of youth
violence.
Her nominator Dr. Lucy Friedman said, "Frances has helped lead
other survivors out of despair and shown them how advocacy can
provide a constructive channel for their rage. I have no doubt that
the work she as done with kids has saved many lives."
DOROTHY L. MERCER, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Eastern Kentucky University
In 1983, Dr. Mercer was hit by a drunk driver. In the years that
followed the crash, Dorothy was forced to begin her Ph.D. work in
counseling psychology over again because of the severe brain injury
caused by the crash. Dr. Mercer has become a nationally-recognized
trainer and consultant on crime victims' issues, particularly related
to drunk driving and closed head injuries. Her pioneering research
on the results of victims serving on impact panels confirmed the
beneficial effects for both the victims and the offenders who
participate. Dr. Mercer's writings, including a brochure, "Don't
Call Me Lucky," which is an account of her own personal struggle,
and a book, Injury: Learning to Live Again, have inspired many
victims to make the transition from victim to survivor to victim
advocate.
According to the Director of Victim Services for Mothers Against
Drunk Driving, Janice Lord, "Dr. Mercer, through her writings,
training, and personal example, has influenced thousands of victims
and advocates over the last decade. Her writings will continue to be
valuable forever."
SHIRL PINTO
Director, Healing Hearts
Lame Deer, Montana
Shirl Pinto was a witness to family violence as a child on the
Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. For
16 years, she has been serving her people, first as a Head Start
teacher and now as the director of Healing Hearts, a domestic
violence program. Healing Hearts serves approximately 35 women and
children each month, and Shirl Pinto is the only paid staff. Ms.
Pinto is on call for victims of domestic violence seven days a week,
24 hours a day. She routinely responds to police calls late at
night, drives victims over 100 miles to the nearest shelter, incurs
personal expenses to buy them meals or other necessities, and often
shares her own home with them. One volunteer noted that the whole
community counts on her. Ms. Pinto also is a forceful voice in
Montana for the needs of Native American crime victims and is
working for stronger domestic violence laws within the Northern
Cheyenne tribe. statewide, Healing Hearts has established a network
with other Indian reservations in Montana, sharing information and
assisting women from other tribes.
Says Montana Attorney General Joe Mazurek, "her greatest
accomplishment is the women she has helped.. those who are able to
now support others and donate their time to the Healing Hearts
program."
MARILYN SMITH
Founder and Executive Director
Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services (ADWAS)
Seattle, Washington
More than twenty-five years ago Marilyn Smith, deaf since the age of
six, was brutally raped. With no services for the hearing impaired,
her recovery was long and lonely. Honoring a vow she made to
herself, Ms. Smith has worked since 1980 to provide deaf women and
children who have been violently assaulted access to a supportive
healing environment where they could receive understanding and
appropriate services. In 1986, Ms. Smith founded the Abused Deaf
Women's Advocacy Services (ADWAS) which operates a 24-hour crisis
line, provides safe homes for battered women, and offers counseling
to sexually abused deaf children. ADWAS's mission is unique in
this country and probably the world. Through Marilyn Smith's
leadership, her program has developed training for deaf and hearing
crime victim service providers, and also provides materials such as
"Sexual Assault, It Happens to Deaf People Too," "Domestic
Violence, Deaf People are Hurt Too," and "Date Rape and
Acquaintance Rape, What Deaf Teenagers Should Know" to victims and
service providers.
Says Wendy Reed, the former President of ADWAS, "Marilyn is
definitely a pioneer -- a deaf woman in the hearing world, fighting
for and winning equal and accessible services for deaf victims of
domestic violence and/or sexual assault."
Marilyn has also been chosen as one of the "community heros" to
carry the Olympic Torch as it goes across America this spring!
We'll be watching you, Marilyn, and cheering you on!!
TEENS ON TARGET
FIDEL VALENZUELA and SHERMAN SPEARS
Program Coordinators
Los Angeles and Oakland, California
Four years ago, in an effort to reduce the epidemic of violence among
youth, Teens on Target was created in collaboration with municipal,
public and private agencies within the Cities of Oakland and Los
Angeles, California. Teens on Target organizes gunshot victims,
many of whom are paraplegic, to address the consequences of violence,
to speak at schools, and to counsel other shooting victims. The
victims use their leadership skills to encourage other victims not to
seek revenge, but instead to seek nonviolent solutions. Their
workshops reach over 4,000 young people each year. Two youth
leaders, Fidel Valenzuela who heads Teens on Target in Los Angeles
and Sherman Spears, the project coordinator in Oakland, have been
selected to receive the Crime Victim Service Award on behalf of
Teens on Target.
In his nomination letter, the Mayor of Oakland, Elihu M. Harris,
stated that,"Mr. Spears and Mr. Valenzuela, survivors of two of
this country's most violent neighborhoods, are now using their
energy, talent, and leadership skills to help other children escape
violence."
DAVID BEATTY
Director of Public Policy
National Victim Center
David Beatty's name is synonymous with national leadership in public
policy to benefit crime victims. During the past ten years, his
work at the National Victim Center has focused on providing policy
makers, service providers, and other victim advocates with
information, training, and hands on consultation in the fight to
legally establish victims rights at the state and national levels.
For example, Mr. Beatty instituted a legislative database of more
than 27,000 victims' rights statutes, the only comprehensive
compilation of victim legislation in the U.S. He has also helped
crime victim advocates organize successful constitutional amendment
campaigns in many of the 20 states which have enacted an amendment.
His pioneering work in civil legal remedies includes developing a
civil legal remedies resource center for crime victims, with a
directory of attorneys to assist them, and co-authoring the
innovative Civil Justice for Crime Victims Training Curriculum,
which is used nationwide.
Victim advocate Roberta Roper, whose daughter was a homicide victim,
pays the highest tribute to David when she notes, "Honoring David
with this national recognition is a way for all crime victims, like
myself, to thank him for his gift of effective advocacy for all of
us."
CONNIE LEE BEST, Ph.D.
National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center
Medical University of South Carolina
For two decades, Dr. Best, through her teaching, clinical
supervision, academic research, and publications, has helped to
shape compassionate public policy and greatly improve training
programs for rape crisis counselors, police, physicians, military
personnel, and others who work with sexual assault victims. Dr.
Best created the nation ' s first multi-disciplinary assistance
program for hospitalized crime victims, and pioneered research in
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She served as a co-nvestigator for
the national study, "Rape in America: A Report to the Nation,"
which was a groundbreaking study documenting the extent of violence
against women, particularly adolescents. Dr. Best, a Commanding
Officer in the Naval Reserve, has been an outspoken advocate and
trainer for victims' rights within all branches of the military, and
serves on the Executive Committee of the Department of Defense
Advisory Committee on Women which advises Secretary of Defense
William Perry.
Said Senator Hollings, "For more than 20 years, Connie has fought
with great heart and courage on behalf of violent crime
victims...Without the dedication shown by Connie and those like her,
people in my hometown and across the nation would be considerably
worse off. She has earned this top Justice award."
HEIDI HSIA, Ph.D. (Pronounced Shaw)
Director
Division of Services for Victims
and Their Families
Montgomery County, Maryland
For the past ten years, Dr. Heidi Hsia has been the Director of the
Division of Services for Victims and Their Families for Montgomery
County in Maryland. Her work has had a dramatic impact upon
improving crime victims' rights and services throughout Maryland.
Dr. Hsia was an important leader in increasing the rights of sexual
assault victims to receive HIV information; passing a bond to
support domestic violence centers; and producing an educational
program in Spanish on legal options of abused women. On the national
level, Dr. Hsia is a noted trainer on multicultural issues. In
1989, she planned the first judicial education program on Minority
Women as Crime Victims, and for over ten years has trained people on
the needs of Asian crime victims, including abuse among the Asian
elderly, and cultural barriers in the criminal justice system. On
the international level, Dr. Hsia has served as a consultant to the
United Nations Development Program.
Says Nominator Dr. Illeana Herrell, "Dr. Hsia has creative ideas,
academic credentials, and an impressive list of publications, but
what is most worthy of recognition is the energy and patience that
she has devoted to inspiring her own staff, municipal leaders, and
other members of her community to work as hard as she has to enhance
victim services and establish victim rights."
BARBARA J. HART, egal Director
Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence
For over twenty years, Barbara Hart has been a leader in the fight
to provide greater protections to battered women and their children.
She has helped to create numerous organizations across the nation
that advocate for increased safety for victims of domestic violence,
including the Women's Legal Clinic at George Washington Law School;
the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the first
statewide domestic violence coalition in the nation; the National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and the Leadership Institute
for Women, which designed a training curriculum for lay and
professional women aimed at ending violence against women. Ms. Hart has
conducted studies and written position papers, model policies, and
protocols that have dramatically influenced public policy on violence
against women in Pennsylvania, nationally, and internationally. In
nominating Barbara Hart, Thomas W. Corbett, Jr., the Pennsylvania
Attorney General said, "Barbara Hart has been a central catalyst for
much of the creative and critical thinking that has been invested
over the last twenty years in reducing violence against women. The
impact of her involvement on the lives of domestic violence victims
is immeasurable but there is no doubt that her efforts have laid the
foundation for much of the important reforms that have been
achieved."
JERRY TELLO ( pronounced Tayo)
Project Coordinator
The California Consortium of Child Abuse Councils
According to the Los Angeles Times, "Una Familia Buena y Sana" (A
Strong and Healthy Family) is no ordinary theatrical presentation.
An unprecedented drama dealing with a subject that is often taboo
among Latinos, the play is about a family's ordeal when they
discover that their children have been sexually abused by a relative.
Jerry Tello, a psychologist who is credited nationally with creating
model prevention programs, developed the project after he reviewed
child sexual abuse prevention programs and found that "there was
nothing available for Latinos, nothing culturally sensitive or
linguistically relevant." The play, which was viewed by thousands of
school children, is just one example of Jerry Tello's contributions.
over the past twenty-four years, Mr. Tello has worked in Los
Angeles to help victims of child abuse, sexual assault, and family
violence, particularly within the Latino community. He has pioneered
programs in detention facilities to help break the cycle of violence.
Mr. Tello has a statewide and national reputation for excellent and
innovative training on these issues, and many of his written works
are in both English and Spanish. Jerry Tello was one of the first
and only males to work at the East Los Angeles Rape Hotline. His
expertise regarding multi-cultural issues and Latino males have made
him a valuable asset to the California Youth Authority's Gang
Violence Reduction Project. He was also the lead consultant for the
innovative Young Men as Fathers Parenting Program designed for
incarcerated delinquents and co-authored the Preparing for Positive
Parenting program for paroled young felons. These two programs are
widely acknowledged to be groundbreaking in helping to prevent the
cycle of violence. He presently is co-chair of the National
Compadres network, an organization that promotes the positive,
responsible involvement of Latino males in their family and
community.
Says Walt Jones, Program Manager for the Young Men As Fathers
Program, "Jerry was brave enough in the mid-1970's to confront the
secret of sexual violence in his community, and he continues to be a
powerful voice against violence and for strong, caring families."