Crime victim services

By SISTER ANNE TOOMEY, OP

The week of April 22 through 28 will be the 21st anniversary of National Crime Victims Rights Week. Today is the 30th month of a victim program in Sullivan County, which has counseled approximately 1,500 victims since October 1998. Important steps have been taken to shed light on the plight of crime victims and encourage community support to meet victims needs.

This county does not stand alone. Across the land from impoverished ghettos to the gates of the security conscious wealthy, victims of crime receive service. Sullivan County has its own special statistics. In the last six months alone, approximately 180 victims have been serviced in one form or another. Restitution and reparations have been awarded through the courts.

Often, working together with the district attorney’s office has produced a host of remedies for victimization. Information and recent referrals to the Department of Family Services has broadened the base of support for crime victims. Victim impact statements sent to the judges since October 2000 number 175 in Sullivan County.

We can murmur “I know how you feel,” we can even dab at moisture in the corner of our eyes, we can part with monies and take people into our homes. We may even “walk the walk” and accompany people to the judge, but there must be more depth than a mere surface involvement. From the earliest moments of police involvement, there is an obligation to touch bases with the victim and to stay with them through the whole of their ordeal. There is no lasting effect when concerns over a stabbing, a murder, sexual abuse, scam or computer tampering, draws an anguished cry for justice, restitution and reparation for some small slice of time in our infinity.

No, we are called to emphasize victimization always and in all ways. We would be a better world, a more straight-forward people if only we had cried out even more when Gail Kearns lost her life, when Angelo Barbaria was murdered and when tiny Joshua Foerster was shaken to death. It is only correct if we never forget victims have rights. Cries of anguish reach us in different ways.

However, the anguish comes to us as a reality and all victims deserve to be seen and heard. Victims’ rights must never be over looked. Use available resources. Call Sullivan County Crime Victim Unit at 845/794-3000, ext. 3400, whenever victimization ought to be addressed. You can be assured of the assistance of the crime victim advocate care.

Let us take this year’s theme: “Victims Rights: Reason for the Stars” and turn our star gazing into concrete action by reaching way out and beyond the wildest expectations for victims. Isn’t that what dreams are made of?