Friday, January 11, 2008
A priority to treat victims with respect
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Pat Brown
Brown is the executive director of The Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley in Radford.
Gov. Kaine has made sexual assault and domestic violence a prominent issue in Virginia.
Most have heard the statistics, but statistics change when you line up five of your closest friends and understand that at least one of them is going to be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. But there's more to sexual assault than just the crime -- it's also dealing with the criminal justice system after you've already gone through the sexual assault. And for many victims, navigating the system after an already traumatic experience is another traumatic experience in itself.
We at the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley applaud Kaine's efforts to hear the issues, shine his spotlight on them and to help find solutions to make our system better for sexual assault victims.
Kaine has recommended that hospitals and forensic nurses can perform evidence collection at the request of a victim. Now, a hospital or a forensic nurse cannot perform evidence collection unless it's approved by law enforcement officials. The change in legislation empowers victims to control their own treatment.
Kaine's proposed legislation also prohibits law enforcement officials from asking a victim to take a lie detector test. Now, a law enforcement official can request a victim to submit to a lie detector test even though the results are not admissible as evidence. The damage inflicted on victims is that they feel their credibility is being questioned.
There are other recommendations in the legislation, but we at the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley are most satisfied with these two changes to Virginia laws.
These proposed law changes are an example of how a political process should work. These recommendations are the direct result of Kaine sending staff throughout the state to collect public input from four public hearings held on sexual violence. Those public hearings attracted 230 people and agencies that let their voices be heard: private residents, crisis centers, alliances and councils, health care professionals, representatives from higher education, the judicial system, local government and law enforcement, the military and state agencies.
That public input was taken back to governor-appointed committees. Members of those committees sifted through the public input and drafted legislation to address the most pressing issues. This first round of recommendations from Kaine is the first crop from several committees.
Chairwoman of the Commission on Sexual Violence, Criminal Justice Committee was Del. Vivian E. Watts and vice chairwoman was Fran Ecker, a former director of the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley. Both of these women understood the depth and breadth of domestic and sexual violence issues that needed addressing. Our own staff member Betty Jones, sexual assault program coordinator, had a seat on the committee as well.
We at the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley are not only satisfied with the political process, but we applaud the recommendations that now go to our legislators for their approval. We will watch our legislators' actions closely in the coming months.
