Washington Coalition of Crime Victim Advocates

Olympia, WA – The Washington Coalition of Crime VictimAdvocates (WCCVA) invites the public to attend its annual Capitol Day to beheld Friday, January 27th in Olympia.  The theme of WCCVA’s Capitol Day this year is“Victim Rights Are Human Rights.”  

Each yearWCCVA holds a day for crime victims, advocates, and the public to gather tolearn about the legislative process, discuss critical topics regarding victimrights and services, and to meet with legislators to share the importance ofestablishing and maintaining meaningful crime victim rights and services inWashington State.  The event is free andopen to the public; however, attendees are requested to RSVP.

The keynotespeaker at this year’s event will be Meg Garvin, Executive Director of the NationalCrime Victim Law Institute and a clinical professor of law at Lewis & ClarkLaw School in Portland, Oregon.  Garvinis recognized as a leading expert on victims’ rights. She regularly presents onvictims’ rights and participates in national forums to develop policy onvictims’ rights. She has testified before Congress and the Oregon Legislatureon the current state of victim law. She serves on the Legislative & PublicPolicy Committee of the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force,and co-chairs the Oregon Attorney General’s Crime Victims’ Rights Task Force.She served as co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Criminal JusticeSection Victims Committee from 2005-2010, and has served as a member of theboard of directors for the National Organization of Victim Assistance. 

In addition to the keynote addressfrom Garvin, the day will include an in-depth look at how laws are made, a tourof the capitol campus, and a presentation on WCCVA’s Victim Rights Alliance – agroup WCCVA recently formed to address the gaps in victim rights in Washington.

“WCCVA’s Capitol Day is a great wayfor those who are not familiar with the legislative process, especially crimevictims, survivors, and advocates, to learn about how they can make adifference,” said Karla Salp, Executive Director of WCCVA.  “Crime victims and the advocates within theirown communities are the ones that truly know and experience the shortcomings ofthe criminal justice system as well as what rights and services victimslack.  This day honors victims and givesthem tools to make systemic changes that diminish the inequalities victimsexperience in the criminal justice system and society.”

The Washington Coalition of CrimeVictim Advocates was established in 1984 and is a coalition of individuals andagencies that work to insure that all victims and witnesses of crime havemeaningful rights and services, enabling them to recover from crime.  WCCVA has played a significant role inestablishing crime victim rights in Washington State statutes and theWashington State Constitution, maintaining the Crime Victims Compensationprogram, and supporting the crime victim services centers throughout thestate. 

WCCVA’s Capitol Day begins at 8:15 AMon Friday, January 27th in the Columbia Room at the LegislativeBuilding on the capitol campus in Olympia. For more information or to RSVP, visit their website at www.wccva.org or call Shayna at 360-456-3858.

Some thoughts from Karla, WCCVA's Executive Director

http://www.wccva.org/NoRoomAtTheInn.pdf

Join us in the Columbia Room in the Legislative Building at the Capitol for WCCVA's Capitol Day on January 27th!  Our keynote speaker will be Meg Garvin from the National Crime Victim Law Institute!  This year's theme is "Victim Rights are Human Rights!"  Don't miss it!  Travel assistance may be available!

On September 7th, the Washington Supreme Court rejected a proposed court rule - CrR 4.11 - which would have given attorneys the power to record pre-trial witness interviews against the wishes of the witness.  When this rule has been presented in the past, the court had sent it back to the bar association, who proposed the rule, for revisions.  This time the court rejected the rule without requesting further revisions. 

Congratulations to everyone who signed the petition, wrote letters, or sent comments to the court regarding the negative impact that such a rule would have on the participation, dignity, and respect of victims and witnesses.

We are excited to announce that we have recently added a new member - Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Network - which is our 100th member for the year!  Welcome and thank you all for helping us continue the growth of our coalition and to expand our reach and impact for crime victim rights and services awareness!

Tickets to WCCVA's Harlem Ambassador Basketball benefit are on now!  Don't miss it!  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/189743

Doing your school shopping online?  Your purchases canbenefit WCCVA at no cost to you!  Just go to www.goodshop.com and select the WashingtonCoalition of Crime Victim Advocates as your charity!  Then look for thestores you normally shop at – most of them are there!  A percentage ofyour purchase will go to support WCCVA at no cost to you!  Want to catchevery possible donation from your online purchases?  Download theGoodSearch/GoodShop toolbar at http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/washington-coalition-of-crime-victim-advocates-wccva

We invite you to check out the newly release book, Victim Advocacy in the Courtroom: Persuasive Practices in Domestic Violence and Child Protection Cases.  It features (on page 17) a copy of the sample victim impact statement created by the Grant County Victim/Witness Unit.  Check it out!

We'd like to welcome Rose Torgerson - our new Training Facilitator!  She will be taking over the training portion of Shayna's job and will update and revise our trainings as well as develop new trainings - in addition to facilitating trainings!  Shayna will continue in her role of administrative support and expand her role as our Outreach Coordinator! 

We'll be distributing 7500 of these during National Crime Victims' Rights Week April 10-16th!