2024-01-24_NSAG-Meeting_Presentation_Victim-Witness-Advocate_Norfolk-Family-Justice-Center

The speaker introduces Lisa Hicks and Susan Flowers as the presenters. Lisa explains that their office is funded by the Department of Criminal Justice Services and they support attorneys in the Norfolk office. They assist victims and witnesses by explaining the legal process, notifying them of court dates, and acting as a liaison between the prosecutor and the victim's family. They have advocates dedicated to juvenile cases, domestic violence cases, and other felony cases. The average case load is around 77 cases. They also inform victims of their rights and the services provided by the Virginia Victim Fund. The fund covers various expenses such as burial, medical bills, mental health services, lost wages, and crime scene cleanup. That's the end of my opening remarks, so I'm going to briefly introduce our wonderful speakers. Lisa Hicks is the Director of the Office of the Norfolk Commonwealth Attorney's Victim Witness Assistance Program. Thank you so much for coming. And our other wonderful presenter is Susan Flowers. She is the Assistant Director of the Norfolk Family Justice Center. So each person, I've allowed 15 minutes to speak because I want to make sure I'm respectful of everyone's time here. I'm going to put a timer on my phone. I'm going to sit by the front. And everyone, if you could please hold your questions and comments until the end after they've both finished speaking, and then we're going to give the questions at the end. So, Ms. Hicks, I've decided you can speak first if that's okay, unless you guys want to spend a dime or both toss a dime. And I'll just let you know when your time is up, if that's okay. Thank you. It will probably be much shorter than 15 minutes. As the speaker said, I'm Lisa from the Norfolk Commonwealth Attorney's Victim Witness Program. We are a program located within the Commonwealth Attorney's Office, which that is where most victim witness programs are at in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Our programs are codified within the Code of Virginia. If you go to Code Section 19.2-11.1, that is where our offices are, the specifications for our offices are located. That lays out how we're funded. We are funded by the Department of Criminal Justice Services within the Commonwealth of Virginia, which receives funding from the Office of Victim of Crime in Washington, D.C., and several other agencies. We are a grant funding program. Our grant renews every two to three years. We have to make sure that we follow specific guidelines and that we are doing the services that are required by that program. We support the attorneys in our office. Within the Norfolk office, we have 45 attorneys that we support. We do that by going to court with victims, make sure that they understand the legal process. If they have questions while they're going throughout that process, we make sure that they're made aware of court dates. Anything that happens throughout their cases, if something happens and the attorneys are not able to speak with them, we're the ones that make those phone calls when they're going to be out of court, when they're not going to have to go to court. We make those phone calls and let them know what's happening and what's going on. We're often the liaison between the prosecutor and that victim or that witness's family. We do coordinate a lot throughout the duration of the cases. If something goes wrong in court, if they hear something in court they don't understand, because a lot of people, this time, this is their first interaction with the criminal justice system. Before having to come to court as a victim or a witness of a crime, they have never had any interaction with the justice system. And the only thing they know is what the appeal is. And oftentimes they think that they're going to walk into a courtroom and what they saw in Law & Order or what they saw in Connie Cochran, that is what's going to happen. We walk them through the process and let them know that that is not what you think. That's not going to be what happens. Within our office, we have two advocates that are dedicated to our juvenile team. And those are cases that deal specifically with juvenile victims and witnesses. Everything from juvenile sex cases to juvenile cases that are felonies within the city of Norfolk. We have four advocates that deal with our precinct teams and those are all other felony cases that happen within the city of Norfolk. Everything from malicious looting all the way up to homicides within the city of Norfolk. And we have two advocates that are dedicated specifically to domestic violence. We have two domestic violence attorneys that are in court every day of the week. Those advocates are specifically for them and they deal with domestic violence victims every day of the week. Those advocates do not change. If something happens, if you have a question about your case, if you need to meet with your attorney, those advocates will be the ones that you talk to for domestic violence. The average case load for all of my advocates is around 77 cases right now. That number is increasing because crime within the city of Norfolk is increasing. We can't help what happens within the city, but we have to be there to support those people, to support those men and women who are victims of crime. That is our number one job, to make sure they understand what's going on. To make sure they have someone with them in court. To make sure those families that lose a loved one have someone with them to support them throughout the criminal justice process. We can't change what happened that day, but we can change what happens throughout this process to make sure they understand exactly what's going on and how they fit into that puzzle. We do also try to let people know ahead of time when they are not going to be needed in court. We understand their time is valuable. We understand you don't get paid to be in the courtroom. We chose this job. You did not. We chose to be in court every day. You did not. So we're going to make sure that we're respectful of your time, your space, and what your needs are. Our attorneys are available at any time to meet with people. We just need to be able to let them know, hey, what day and time you want to meet. If you're not able to come to our office to meet, we work with the Norfolk County Justice Center. You can go to the Park Place location and one of our attorneys will meet you there. We just have to let Susan know ahead of time, hey, we have a victim or a witness that wants to meet at a Park Place. It's not a problem for us to meet you there. We just have to let them know so that way we can get closer to you. No problem. One thing a lot of victims don't know is that you have six rights that are enumerated within the Code of Virginia. They're located in Section 19.2-1101. All of them are enumerated and we make sure those rights are invoked. If there's ever one of the victim's rights that you don't want invoked, all you have to do is tell us and we'll back off. At any point during the criminal justice process, if you don't want us to contact you, all you have to do is tell us. Tell us you don't want to hear from us, you don't want to know anything else that's going on. We will respect that and we will respect your decision. At the end of the case, you'll receive a letter from the prosecutor saying, hey, this is what happened. If you have any questions, please call us and let us know. Some people prefer to go through the criminal justice system like that and not know. But we're still going to move forward with your case. A lot of people think that they don't have a choice in this, but they do. And you need to make sure that you exercise that choice and that right. Another thing is a lot of people feel that the attorneys aren't listening to them, but they aren't. They don't always agree. It's like having a husband and a wife. You're not going to agree on every single thing. You're not going to agree on what you're supposed to do in every situation. But you can agree to disagree. And that's something that a lot of people do. A lot of attorneys will do. They will sit, they will listen, they will take your input, and you're going to agree to disagree. But they have a job to do. They have to make sure the citizens of Norfolk are protected. And to make sure we have justice for the person that is either a living or deceased victim. And to make sure who this happens to might speak. As victim witness advocates, we're kind of in the middle. Making sure that everybody gets along as best they can. Victim witness advocates are also responsible for what's called the Virginia Victim Fund. It is a fund that was created within the state of Virginia for victims of crime that are innocent victims of crime. Meaning you have nothing to do with black lives. A lot of people feel like if they were involved in a situation, if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, they're not going to get funding from the Virginia Victim Fund. That is not true. People are often there. If something happens, you know you shouldn't have been there. You can still apply. The Victim Fund is located in Richmond. We submit the application for you to make sure all the information is in there. And Richmond is the final decision. They cover burial. They cover medical bills, mental health for grief counseling, and mental health services in general. When people are victims of crime or families are victims of crime, mental health is still something that needs to be considered and taken care of. Crime affects people in different ways. Trauma is trauma. It doesn't matter how it happens. Trauma is trauma. It covers lost wages for people who are out of work as a result of a crime happening. It covers if you lose a prosthetic limb, eyeglasses, they will cover the replacement of that. It covers homicide and loss of support. So if someone was a breadwinner and they lost their life, it covers that loss of support for that multiple work period of time. They cover temporary housing. If your home was affected by the incident, they will cover temporary housing for up to 30 days if you meet certain parameters. It covers the cost of prescription. Domestic loss of support if it's a domestic violence situation and that person incarcerated was a breadwinner, they will cover that as well. It covers crime scene cleanup if your home was a location of a crime. If you have a licensed and bonded agency from the Commonwealth of Virginia that comes in and has to clean your home, they will cover the cost of that. With crime scene cleanup, our crime scene guys are really good at not making a mess in your home. They will do everything they can to try to put it back the way they found it. If they can't, they will let you know. It also covers moving expenses if you have to relocate as a result of a crime. It's moving expenses up to $2,000. The funeral expenses, the cap is $10,000. The only other thing there's a cap on is re-counseling services. That cap is $3,500. Everything else has not a cap on. You just have to meet the requirements, fill out the application, and come in and we can assist you. They generally take about 60 to 120 days to get back with you as far as letting you know we have your application. It's a process. After 120 days, we generally do a check-up 30 days later, letting you know this is how much we're giving you. The awards are cleanup stuff. They can always be supplemental awards. They can always come back and do extra assistance given the situation. You can always reapply if they denied you the first time. You can always appeal only if she was your appeal. Because they're human. They don't understand everything. Make sure that they understand that you need to understand that she was getting out assistance if you need it. My office is located in the school board administration building on the 6th floor, and I am there Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Some of my advocates do come in early at 730, and if you ever have questions, concerns, you can e-mail me. You can call me. I will give you all my contact information, so that way if you want to ask questions or anything like that, you guys can reach out. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much for the classroom. Thank you, everyone, for coming. The next person speaking will be Susan Sowers, director of the Norfolk Family Justice Center. It's good you let her go first because, number one, I'm not going to talk as long, and number two, she knows more about victim witness and advocacy than I hope to learn in the time that I'm going to be here. And it's kind of nice that I follow her because at the Norfolk Family Justice Center, all we do is provide access to resources for victims of crime. Can everyone hear her okay? Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Thank you. Okay, so what is the Family Justice Center? The idea started when the Alliance for Victim Justice and the Alliance for Victim Justice So what is the Family Justice Center? The idea started when the Alliance for Hope in California. Ours in Norfolk is the first and only Virginia Family Justice Center. So we're the only one in Virginia. Now, that doesn't mean we can't help you if you're in another state. The answer at the Family Justice Center is always yes. So when you call us, e-mail us, contact us somehow, you've got an issue, you've been a victim of a crime, the answer is going to be we're going to help you. It may take a while, it may take even days, but we will do our best to find you the assistance that you're looking for until we're told that that's just plain as impossible. Okay, so what do we do? We're considered a multi-agency, multidisciplinary, co-located service center. What that means in regular words is we're in one spot so that if you've been a victim of a crime, you can come to one location, tell us you've been a victim of a crime, tell us what you're looking for, what you need. We're going to listen, we're going to be empathetic, and we're going to try to help you any way we can. So maybe you've been a victim of domestic violence, which is one of the things that we emphasize, we focus on is elder abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and also human trafficking. But we're not limited to just those crimes. Any crime, no matter where it happens. So what used to happen is you've been the victim of a crime, you call the police, the police do their thing. Now you need to relocate, you've lost your phone because maybe it was broken in a scuffle, you don't have a car. And if you have kids, now it's going to take you days to go to human services to try to find housing, get a new phone, get to all of the services that you're trying to get to via bus with your kids who may or may not need to be in school. So you've got a window of time before the kids are going to get off the bus. The idea is you come to the Family Justice Center, it's one stop shop. We're going to help you find what you need right there. And if you don't have a car to get there, we'll send a cab, we'll come get you and take you home. All right, so I said, oh, so the focus is, of course, on reducing the number of times a place the victim needs to tell their story as well. Nobody wants to be re-traumatized 14 times telling the same story over and over and over when you can just go to one place, explain what happened, and never have to say it again unless you're going to court to tell your story. The other idea is that we're providing wraparound services, which I've kind of already said in as many words. We want to holistically treat the person for everything that they need, not just, okay, you've been a victim of a crime. We need you to come to court. We need you to, you know, like Lisa had already said, we're kind of taking over your life for a period of time. You've had this terrible thing happen. We really want to be able to negate some of the awful things that come along with that. I think that is the meat and bones of it. Now she did mention that the victim decides what happens, and I want to reiterate that because even if you've been a victim of a crime, say a sexual assault, but you're not sure you're ready to go to the police about it. It's a very private matter. You can come. You can talk to us. We can talk you through. We'll listen. We'll give you advice. We have the YWCA also is there. We partner with them. They can provide counseling, and sometimes that's what it takes is a little bit of counseling to kind of get you on a right footing where, you know what, I think I do want to see charges happen, or the opposite. You may just not want to go there, and that's your right. So no one is going to force you to go forward with criminal charges if that's not what you want to do. We have not only... So the way the Family Justice Center works is we have a government side, which is the Commonwealth Attorney. That's who I work for. And then we have a nonprofit side, which is the YWCA, and we work in the same building and just kind of pool those resources, and every once in a while we've got to go across the hall to each other because maybe there's a criminal case. Maybe there's not. The victim still needs help, so it doesn't matter. We're going to help you whichever side of that hallway you need to see. We've got a prosecutor on the team. We've got two victim advocates. We have a case manager. We have a detective, and we have an assistant Commonwealth Attorney that works with Reentry Council and Mental Health Court and those kinds of things. She's also on our team in Detroit. So Lisa was kind enough to hand out our RAC card to you guys. On the back of that card, it says Services Available. That is a sample of the services that we work to access for you. And then at the bottom, Onsite Partners, we have the YWCA, which I mentioned, Human Services. We have the police department. We have a detective on staff. Chesapeake Forensic Specialists have, they are not onsite currently. We've got the disability issues, but they're still part of our team. So if there's been a sexual assault in the middle of the night, we call Chesapeake Forensic Specialists to do a perk. You probably all watch Law and Order. You know what a perk is. And then we have the Commonwealth Attorney on site as well. I believe that is the end of my show. Thank you. Thank you.