Recommended Reading
From: Anne Seymour
The Office for Victims of Crime
U.S. Department of Justice
December 12,
2011
I hope everyone is
having fun gearing up for the holidays, I know I am! Four Missives for you this
week…………
An important study
published last week by the National Center for State Courts found that courts in
nearly all states are enduring severe budget cutbacks, thus reducing public
access to justice. This is such useful information for MMMers, and at
http://www.ncsc.org/Newsroom/Backgrounder/2011/Court-Budget-Cuts.aspx, you
can read a brief backgrounder; click on your own state to see what’s up; and
link to a great NYT article on the study.
The Bureau of
Justice Statistics just released Probation and Parole in the United States,
2010, which is full of great data about community supervision. Make sure to
share this with your colleagues in community corrections! You can download the
report at
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2239.
December is
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Month. The National Criminal
Justice Reference Service has put together a website with current information
and resources about DUI. You can access this at
https://www.ncjrs.gov/impaireddriving/.
The Missing
and Exploited Children's Program (MECP), operated through Fox Valley Technical
College's National Criminal Justice Training Center on behalf of the Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency, invites you to participate in December's
webinar, entitled Child Sexual Abuse Victims: How to Recognize the Signs and
How to Help. The webinar is this Wednesday, December 14th, from
1 pm to 2 pm EST, and it’s FREE. Space is limited, so sign up quickly at
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/322575832.
November 21,
2011
When the tragedy at
Penn State began to unfold over two weeks ago, I immediately called some
advocate friends in Pennsylvania. Of course, they were working around the clock
to make sure that assistance was available to anyone who needed it –
Pennsylvania victim service providers are simply angels in my books!
So what follows was
my gut reaction to this case, please feel free to share………………
“The Arc of the Moral Universe”
Any crime victim
advocate can tell you that violent crimes are all about the “power and control”
of criminals who seek and prey on innocent victims. Any football fan can tell
you that success on the field results from the ultimate “power and control” of
not only the players, but the franchises that operate them. As a longtime
victim advocate and life-long football fan, I am absolutely horrified that these
combined forms of “power and control” failed to prevent an alleged sexual
predator from committing devastating, deviant acts against so many children.
There are
written laws and regulations in every state that provide for mandatory
reporting of any suspicion of crimes against children. There are
unwritten regulations of many sports franchises that promote victory at
any cost. In the recent tragedy of Penn State, the “cost” to the victims of
alleged child molester Jerry Sandusky, and Penn State’s consistent inactions to
stop these alleged sexual assaults and rapes, was their innocence and their
trust in so many systems that should have been designed to protect them.
How can so many
people have been aware of so many violent acts against children without putting
an end to them? Undoubtedly, their legal defense will be that they did at the
very least what was needed to wash their hands of any guilt. Their moral
defense? Non-existent. There is none. Shame on them.
Far too many people
are quick to dismiss clear evidence of child sexual abuse because an alleged
perpetrator doesn’t “look” or “act” like a child molester. This horrendous case
depicts the classic “grooming” behavior of pedophiles: find a child who appears
to be easy prey; shower him with attention and gifts; commit their horribly
violent and sexually abusive acts; and then make sure that the child is so
terrified, so traumatized and so threatened that he will never report the abuse
and, if he does, that “nobody will believe him” because of the pedophile’s
absolute power and control.
In the Penn State
tragedy, I see a system of indifference and inaction combined with moral
blinders that place victory on the football field above victory over the sexual
abuse of children. Shame on them.
In his speech
following the historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery on March 25,
1965, the Reverend Martin Luther King said, “The arc of the moral universe is
long, but it bends toward justice.” For the countless child sexual abuse victims
in this heinous case, the moral “arc” was severed by inaction, indifference and
insolence. Let’s hope that these children’s path to justice today is
free of any such road blocks.
Anne Seymour
National Crime
Victim Advocate
Washington, DC
# # #
The American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has published excellent “facts for
families” on “Child Sexual Abuse” and “Responding to Child Sexual Abuse” (http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/child_sexual_abuse).
These are great resources for MMMers.
November 21,
2011
While I try to be
thankful every day of my life, this holiday gives me the opportunity to thank
each of you from the very center of my heart! Our work is never easy, our hours
are never short, and the challenges we face grow larger with every new budget
cutback we face. But you always find ways to make sure that every survivor who
needs help gets it. So this is YOUR time to receive the dignity and
respect you deserve! I appreciate each of you so very much, and
thank you for your amazing and inspiring work! FIVE MISSIVES FOR YOU THIS
WEEK…..
MMM “MUST READ:”
My colleagues at the Pew Center on the States Public Safety Performance
Project have just published State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of
America’s Prisons, which found that more than four in 10 offenders returned
to state prison within three years of their release, despite a significant
increase in state spending on prisons. This important eye-opening report
relates directly to my (and many of our!) work on justice reinvestment
initiatives, so these are important findings for MMMers. You can download the
report at
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/initiatives_detail.aspx?initiativeID=85899358500.
An amazing report
was released earlier this week from Mothers Against Drunk Driving: “5th
Annual Report to the Nation: Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving.” The Report
found that in 2009 alone, drunk driving cost the United States $132 billion and
(some good news), since MADD was founded over 30 years ago, DUI fatalities have
been reduced by almost half. MADD was my first job in the field nearly 30 years
ago, and I am so proud of its efforts! Do take a minute to read this Report
(AND share it widely) at
http://www.talklikemadd.org/books/statereport/#/1/.
The National Center
for Victims of Crime has just published a great Restitution Toolkit – it’s
concise and full of great information for justice professionals, advocates and
survivors. You’ll definitely want to check it out at
http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbID=DB_MakingRestitutionReal171.
The Bureau of
Justice Statistics has just released “Homicide Trends in the United States: 1980
to 2008,” which cites that since 2000, our homicide rate has decreased to levels
last seen in the mid-1960s. You can download this report at
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2221.
The Police
Executive Research Forum and National Institute of Justice have just released a
study which found that school-level interventions reduced dating violence as
much as 50 percent in 30 NYC public schools. It’s an incredible study and very
lengthy report, so you can read the summary at
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/2011/OJP_PR-110911.pdf.
And finally, I’m
including a very rare attachment to this Missive, the poem “Thanks” by a
survivor from New Mexico that’s so very fitting for this holiday week.
October 31, 2011
Today, the world population is
seven billion people! This fact simply
amazes me and surely affects our work in the U.S. and around the world. You can
check out a great article in USA Today at
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-10-30/world-population-hits-seven-billion/51007670/1?csp=34news,
and this is a fact worth considering as we look to the future as a field!
Five missives for you this week…………………
The
“Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance” have just been
published. The Guidelines establish policy and provide guidance to be followed
by U.S. Department of Justice personnel in their interactions with crime victims
and witnesses. The revised guidelines have been updated to reflect best
practices and integrate new case law. You can download the Guidelines at
http://www.justice.gov/olp/pdf/ag_guidelines2011.pdf.
The National Sexual Violence
Resource Center has published a “Housing and Sexual Violence Research Brief,”
which explores the relationship between housing issues, homelessness, and sexual
violence. This is an MMM “must read!” You can download this Research Brief at
http://www.nsvrc.org/publications/housing-sexual-violence-research-brief.
This week, the National
Institute of Corrections will hold a Public Hearing to address “Shifting the
Focus to Reshape our Thinking toward Performance-based Outcomes.” The two-day
hearing will be held at Stanford University on November 2nd and 3rd
and victim advocates are among the experts providing testimony. Additional
information about the NIC Public Hearing can be found at
http://community.nicic.gov/blogs/nic/archive/2011/10/26/press-release-national-institute-of-corrections-to-hold-public-hearing-on-corrections.aspx,
and MMM will provide a summary of its key findings in the future.
The National Governors
Association has just released an Issues Brief entitled “State Efforts in
Sentencing and Corrections Reform.” This provides an excellent overview of
strategies being used to drive down corrections costs and reduce recidivism
(which is my current work in Justice Reinvestment!). You can download this
Brief at
http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/1110SENTENCINGREFORM.PDF.
The National Center for
Juvenile Justice has published “Juvenile Court Statistics 2008,” which was
developed with funding from OJJDP. The report profiles more than 1.6 million
delinquency cases that U.S. courts with juvenile jurisdiction handled in 2008.
It also describes trends in delinquency cases that juvenile courts processed
between 1985 and 2008. You can download this report at
http://www.ncjj.org/pdf/jcsreports/jcs2008.pdf.
October 23, 2011
I had a truly wonderful “walk
down memory lane” with over 30 survivors and advocates from Missouri this week,
where I facilitated a great Justice Reinvestment victim/advocate Roundtable.
Missouri was one of the FIRST states I worked in as a young advocate nearly 30
years ago, so a big SHOUTOUT to my fabulous Missouri friends! Five great
missives for your this week….and don’t forget the
deadline to apply for NCVRW CAP funding is this Tuesday (see the end of
this MMM for the URL link)………..
It’s once again time to
sign up for OVC’s 2012 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week mailing list. When
you sign up, you’ll receive a notification about when the NCVRW Resource Guide
is available for download; and information about Prelude Events in DC and other
important updates. AND if you sign up by December 16th, you’ll also
receive a free copy of the 2012 NCVRW Theme Poster.
IMPORTANT: If you received the 2011 Resource Guide from OVC, you do NOT have to
sign up again! To sign up, visit
https://puborder.ncjrs.gov/Listservs/Subscribe_NCVRW.asp.
AND please help spread the word about
these important resources!
The award-winning documentary
“Crime After Crime” is premiering on Thursday, November 3rd at 9 pm
EST on the Oprah Winfrey Network. This film documents the journey of Deborah
Peagler, a battered woman who in 1983 was sentenced to 25 years-to-life for her
connection to her batterer’s murder. I’ve been hearing great things about this
documentary ALL YEAR, and plan to watch it for sure! You can download more
information AND a discussion guide at
http://crimeaftercrime.com/.
The FBI has just released its
2011 National Gang Threat Assessment report, which found that there are 1.4
million active gang members in 33,000 gangs across our Nation. A really good
summary of the findings, along with links to the full report, can be found at
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/october/gangs_102011/gangs_102011.
Carnegie Mellon CyLab and
AllClear ID have published the largest report on child identity theft ever
conducted in the US, and there are some surprising findings! You can access a
great summary of the “Child Identity Theft” AND download the full report at
https://www.allclearid.com/resources/research.
OJJDP has just released “Juvenile Court
Statistics, 2008” which profiles more than 1.6 million delinquency cases that
U.S. courts with juvenile jurisdiction handled in 2008. It also describes the
trends in delinquency cases processed by juvenile courts between 1985 and 2008
and the status offense cases they handled between 1995 and 2008. You can access
this Report at
http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/publications/StatBBAbstract.asp?BibID=258095.
August 01, 2011
I just had my best week of the
summer, beginning with the fantastic Arkansas State Victim Assistance Academy
and then onto the great state of Georgia to help them plan for a possible SAVIN
program. AND my icing on the cake was a glorious weekend in PA with my personal
shero, Connie Clery, who founded Security on Campus following the rape and
murder of her beautiful daughter Jeanne. Talk about a week of inspiration,
whew, I am truly blessed! Four missives for you this week………….
AND speaking of Security on
Campus: SOC and Lehigh University are co-sponsoring a national summit on campus
safety, “Proceeding in Partnership: The Future of Campus Safety,” with sessions
on sexual violence, alcohol and other drug abuse, and emergency response. This
will take place on September 29th at Lehigh University; registration
is limited and seats are filling up! There is a $99 registration fee, and well
worth it! For more information, please visit:http://www.cvent.com/events/proceeding-in-partnership-the-future-of-campus-safety/event-summary-aa5c9cce1c4d4775a9c2a4bdbe60bbee.aspx
.
On July 21, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the launch of the Supportive
School Discipline Initiative, a collaborative project to encourage effective
disciplinary practices that help make classrooms safer and more conducive to
learning. It will also promote evidence-based practices that reduce the
likelihood that students disciplined at school will have subsequent contact with
the juvenile justice system. In announcing the initiative, Attorney General
Holder referred to the release of the “landmark” report that the CSG Justice
Center released two days earlier and to the briefings the Coordinating Council
had received on the report. Attorney General Holder and Secretary Duncan cited
various statistics from
Breaking Schools’ Rules: A Statewide Study on How School Discipline Relates to
Students’ Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement, which tracked nearly
1 million public middle and high school students in Texas. This is a timely and
important report that I hope you take time to review!
Useful information from the Bureau of Justice
Statistics: “Criminal Victimization Statistics Tables, 2008” feature lots of
great data about crime, victims and the justice system presented in a
user-friendly format. You can download these data at:
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2218.
CULTURAL TIP OF THE
WEEK: I just finished reading The
Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author
David McCullough. While I usually plow through books, I slowly savored this gem
over a three-week period, it’s just a great read for any MMMers who are history
buffs (yes, that means YOU John Stein!). My highest recommendation, and
you’ll thank me!
Looking forward to seeing any MMMers at the
National Victim Assistance Academy in Madison a week from today!
July
24, 2011
I just returned from nine
glorious days in Loreto, Baja where I learned to paddleboard, caught three
beautiful dorados in the “Fishin’ for the Mission” tournament, and got to be the
only person in Hot Baja would could say “it’s cooler here than at home!” Hope
you are all coping with this nasty heat and having a nice summer; I’m off to the
very first Arkansas State Victim Assistance Academy, WOOHOO!!! …..Four missives
for you this week………………
Through support by the Office
on Violence Against Women (OVW), the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA)
has developed a free online training on “Domestic Violence: Fundamentals for
Community Corrections Practice,” which provides critical information and
supervision strategies to community corrections professionals who supervise
domestic violence cases. This is a great opportunity for MMMers, and please
share this information with your probation and parole colleagues! For more
information about the training, including registration instructions, please
visit
http://www.appa-net.org/dv/online_training.htm.
One of my favorite “annual
reports” has just been published by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and
Family Statistics. You’ll definitely want to download “America’s Children: Key
National Indicators of Well Being, 2011,” which includes data about health and
safety, among other issues. You can access this great report at
http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/index.asp.
Please visit
http://www.ovc.gov/pdftxt/Article_ChildIDTheftSnapshot.pdf for a great
article about child identity theft, written by OVC Fellow (and my great friend
and colleague) Jaimee Napp, who is a survivor of identity theft and who’s
committed herself to ID theft prevention and victim assistance, and OVC Fellow
Bethany Case. Important issue and great insights from these great fellows…..
The
National Victim Assistance Academy will be held in Madison, WI from
August 8-12, 2011 (and I’ll be teaching the fabulous
Foundation-level Course!). The Academy is an evidence-based training
designed to support and aid professionals in the field of victim assistance to
broaden their knowledge and increase their skills to more effectively respond to
the needs of victims of crime. Academy courses will be taught by teams of
nationally recognized scholars and researchers from the academic community and
practitioners with years of experience providing direct services to victims.
This OVC training event is geared towards victim advocates, service providers
and allied professionals from entry-level to more senior managers of programs
and services. Enrolled applicants will complete one of three comprehensive NVAA
training tracks: Foundation-Level Training, a Professional Skill-Building
Institute, or the Leadership Institute. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will
be awarded to participants who successfully fulfill their respective track
requirements. For additional information and registration please visit
https://www.ovcttac.gov/views/TrainingMaterials/dspNVAA.cfm . Please
join us in Madison!!!
July 03, 2011
I am wishing you all a wonderful holiday weekend,
with hopes that we ALL cherish our liberty and freedom on July 4th
(AND that you might actually GET a day of “freedom from work!”). I only have
ONE missive for you this week, but it’s a very
important one to me personally.
For several years, I have been
working with the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the
States, the Council of State Governments Justice Center and many national
partners to promote fiscally-sound, research-based sentencing and corrections
policies and practices that protect public safety and reduce victimization, hold
offenders accountable, and control costs. Our work at the national level and in
over a dozen states has proactively engaged crime victims and survivors, and
those who serve them, to seek their input about victims’ rights, needs and
concerns related to criminal justice and corrections. Through these efforts,
priorities in each state have been established to ensure that the voices of
victims and advocates are heard throughout efforts to improve and reform
criminal justice and corrections practices.
The collective “priorities”
from victims and advocates in states across the nation, along with input from
national victim assistance leaders, contributed to the development of the
Sentencing, Corrections and Public Safety Guiding Principles for Crime Victims
and Survivors in America. They reflect the important role that victims have in
justice processes, and the critical need to adopt evidence-based practices in
offender management that contribute to reduced recidivism and fewer victims. I
believe these Guiding Principles offer an important foundation for ongoing
efforts in states that, today and in the future, seek approaches to criminal
justice and corrections that are cost-effective, evidence-based and “smart on
crime.”
Please take a moment to review the Guiding Principles (featured on the Public
Safety Performance Project’s website in the right hand “Spotlight” column):
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/initiatives_detail.aspx?initiativeID=31336.
Many national and state organizations and leaders have signed on in support of
our Guiding Principles (see the second page following the Guiding Principles for
the list of original signatories).
MY
SPECIAL MMM REQUEST: If you are interested in supporting these important
Principles, I hope you will complete the form below and return it to me (by
simply responding to this email, or cutting-and-pasting the response form into
another email to me at
annesey@atlantech.net ). I am very proud of my work with victims,
survivors and advocates in over a dozen states so far (with another six or so in
the near future), and would gratefully welcome your support and validation of
these Guiding Principles that help ensure that the voices of victims and
survivors, and those who serve them, are heard throughout corrections reform and
justice reinvestment initiatives.
July 10, 2011
I am leaving on Tuesday for a
much-anticipated vacation at my Mexican casita, where I’ll be joining the
fantastic “Fishin’ for the Mission” tournament (with proceeds going to help the
local school and domestic violence shelter, woohoo!). So you won’t receive a
Missive from me next weekend, as I’ll be wrestling pescadoes grandes in the
amazing Sea of Cortez! Five missives for you this week (and please scroll down
to the bottom if you’ve not yet signed onto our “Guiding Principles”)…
From the National Coalition to
End Domestic and Sexual Violence: A great publication highlights new research
findings on the effectiveness of protective orders. “Civil Protective Orders:
Improved Safety for Victims & Cost Effective for State Governments” can be
downloaded at
http://www.ncdsv.org/images/CivilPOImprovedSafetyforVictims.pdf.
At the excellent meeting of
the U.S. Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus Advisory Board held earlier this
week, we received a briefing on efforts to sustain greatly needed funding for
VAWA and FVPSA. Please visit
http://www.nnedv.org/policy/action/45-policy-making/845-call-your-senators-today-to-make-vawa-and-fvpsa-funding-a-priority.html
and join the National Network to End Domestic Violence and many of us who are
working on this important issue (AND you can sign up online at this website to
receive their great “action alerts”).
As an Advisory Board member of
the National Institute of Corrections, I’m pleased with its new publication
entitled “The Future of Parole as a Key Partner in Assuring Public Safety.” It
has many notations specific to the important role of victims in parole
processes, YAY! You can download this publication at
http://static.nicic.gov/Library/024201.pdf.
The latest data on adults in
America under any form of correctional supervision are highlighted in
“Correctional Populations in the United States, 2009,” published by the Bureau
of Justice Statistics. You can access this important information at
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/glance/corr2.cfm.
ONE OF
MY FAVORITE ANNUAL CONFERENCES THAT I HOPE MMMERS WILL JOIN ME AT THIS
YEAR!: The National Association of Victim Services Professionals in
Corrections (NAVSPIC) is excited to announce the 2011 Victim/Offender Dialogue
Summit (October 24-25) and the 2011 National Conference (October 26-27) at the
Sheraton at the Falls in beautiful Niagara Falls, NY. Collaborative planning
and cooperation between criminal justice and community agencies working together
to address the needs of crime victims will be the theme throughout the
conference. Hear experts describe effective reentry programs, model
collaborative partnerships, and how to maximize grant opportunities. Learn more
about Vision 21, Race to the Top funding, victim offender dialogue issues, model
standards for service providers and enjoy a special treat from The Laugh
Academy. For more information, please visit the conference website at
http://www.navspic.org/2011conference.html.
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