NOVA'S 22ND ANNUAL NORTH AMERICAN VICTIM ASSISTANCE CONFERENCE

LUNCHEON ADDRESS

BY

AILEEN ADAMS

AUGUST 13, 1996

I HAVE TO SAY THAT THE CLOSE INTERACTION WITH VICTIMS' LEADERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD DURING THESE PAST FEW DAYS HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST GRATIFYING EXPERIENCES OF MY TENURE AS DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME. TO A VERY LARGE EXTENT THIS COLLABORATION TOOK PLACE BECAUSE OF MARLENE'S LEADERSHIP -- WITH MARLENE IT'S MORE THAN LEADERSHIP -- ITS PASSION -- ABOUT INTERNATIONAL VICTIMS ISSUES. AS THOSE OF YOU KNOW WHO ATTENDED THE INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON SUNDAY, OUR COLLEAGUES IN OTHER COUNTRIES WHO ARE STRUGGLING AS WE ARE TO MAKE VICTIMS RIGHTS AND SERVICES A CENTRAL COMPONENT OF THEIR JUSTICE SYSTEMS -- ARE NOT ONLY FACED WITH THE CHALLENGES OF CHANGING VICTIM-BLAMING SOCIETAL ATTITUDES, AND A COMPLETE LACK OF FUNDING. AT TIMES THEIR COMMITMENT TO VICTIMS PUTS THEIR VERY LIVES AT RISK, ESPECIALLY IN COUNTRIES WHERE COUNTLESS VICTIMS HAVE BEEN TORTURED AND ABUSED BY AGENTS OF THE STATE. OUR COLLEAGUES ABROAD ARE TRULY A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION, OF VISION, AND THEY NUMBER AMONG THE REAL HEROES OF THE VICTIMS MOVEMENT AROUND THE WORLD.

I AM REMINDED IN A VERY PERSONAL WAY OF THE CLOSE CONNECTION BETWEEN VICTIMS AROUND THE WORLD EVERY TIME I THINK OF THE STORY OF A YOUNG BOSNIAN CRIME VICTIM WHOM I MET SOME YEARS AGO. NADA WAS STANDING ON THE SIDEWALK TALKING WITH A FRIEND LATE ONE AFTERNOON WHEN A CAR DROVE UP; 3 MEN WITH MACHINE GUNS GOT OUT; AND THEY PISTOL-WHIPPED HER FRIEND AND LOCKED NADA IN THE TRUNK OF THEIR CAR. THEY DROVE TO A SECLUDED LOCATION, WHERE NADA -- WHO HAD JUST COMPLETED HER 14TH BIRTHDAY -- WAS TORTURED AND RAPED FOR HOURS AND HOURS. SHE WAS LEFT NAKED IN A FIELD.

THIS, OF COURSE, IS A REALITY REPLAYED AGAIN AND AGAIN IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA. BUT NADA'S PARENTS HAD USED MOST OF THEIR FUNDS TO SEND HER TO THIS COUNTRY WHERE THEY BELIEVED SHE WOULD BE SAFE. NADA WAS KIDNAPPED AND RAPED ON THE STREETS OF LOS ANGELES AND CAME TO THE RAPE TREATMENT CENTER WHERE I WORKED FOR HELP.

WE KNOW THAT THE VICTIMS' MOVEMENT HERE CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT JUST EXIST IN ISOLATION FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD. THERE IS A GENUINE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MOTHER WHOSE CHILD IS TORTURED AND MURDERED IN RWANDA AND THE SURVIVING FAMILY MEMBERS OF A CHILD GUNNED DOWN IN THE STREETS OF DETROIT.

AS WE INTERACT WITH OUR COLLEAGUES FROM ABROAD TO ENFORCE THE UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION OF BASIC PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME AND ABUSE OF POWER, WE NOT ONLY HEAR ABOUT THE HEROIC ACTIONS OF OUR COLLEAGUES, BUT WE ARE ALSO IN SOME CASES EXPOSED TO SYSTEMS WHICH GO FAR BEYOND OURS IN GUARANTEEING FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS FOR CRIME VICTIMS.

WHILE WE STRUGGLE TO ENACT A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT THAT WILL AMONG OTHER THINGS GUARANTEE VICTIMS THE RIGHT TO BE PRESENT IN THE COURTROOM (INSTEAD OF BEING LOCKED OUT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AS SO MANY OF OUR VICTIMS HAVE BEEN), OTHER COUNTRIES CONSIDER VICTIMS TO BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THEIR PROCESS. VICTIMS IN SOME COUNTRIES CAN REVIEW EVIDENCE; THEY CAN ASK QUESTIONS DURING THE TRIAL; THEY CAN BE REPRESENTED BY THEIR OWN ATTORNEY; SOME COUNTRIES PAY FOR THE ATTORNEY; VICTIMS HAVE THE RIGHT TO APPEAL THE CASE; IN SOME PLACES THEY CAN EVEN APPEAL THE DECISION OF A PROSECUTOR WHO DOESN'T FILE THEIR CASE; AND A FEW COUNTRIES HAVE AN OMBUDSMAN TO ENSURE ENFORCEMENT OF VICTIMS RIGHTS. WHAT DO WE THINK OF THAT?

YOU KNOW, I THINK AS WE ARE GATHERED HERE TODAY THAT WE ARE AT A UNIQUE MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE VICTIMS' MOVEMENT IN THREE IMPORTANT WAYS. FIRST, BECAUSE THERE IS AN UNPRECEDENTED SENSE THAT THIS IS NOT JUST AN AMERICAN MOVEMENT, IT IS A WORLD MOVEMENT AND WE HAVE TAKEN REAL STEPS HERE TO JOIN OUR INTERNATIONAL COLLEAGUES TO ENFORCE THE U.N. CHARTER.

SECOND, BECAUSE NEXT YEAR OVC WILL HAVE FOUR TIMES THE AMOUNT OF FEDERAL FUNDS TO DISTRIBUTE TO STATE VICTIMS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS -- UP FROM $110 MILLION THIS YEAR TO OVER $400 MILLION NEXT YEAR. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW OUR OFFICE, WE ADMINISTER THE CRIME VICTIMS FUND, WHICH IS DERIVED FROM FINES LEVELED AGAINST CRIMINAL OFFENDERS -- NOT FROM TAXPAYERS. WE DISTRIBUTE MORE THAN 90 PERCENT OF THESE VOCA FUNDS TO STATES TO SUPPORT LOCAL VICTIM ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS AND STATE COMPENSATION PROGRAMS. THE INCREASE IN OUR FUNDS -- NEXT YEAR OUR TOTAL BUDGET WILL EXCEED $1/2 BILLION -- THIS WILL HELP YOU NOT ONLY EXPAND THE COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES THAT EXIST IN SOME COMMUNITIES -- THAT PROVIDE MODELS FOR OTHERS TO EMULATE, BUT TO ENSURE THAT RURAL AREAS AND INDIAN COUNTRY AND HOUSING PROJECTS AND OTHER UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES HAVE FUNDS, PERHAPS FOR THE FIRST TIME, TO SUPPORT NEEDED SERVICES FOR CRIME VICTIMS.

THIRD, THIS IS A UNIQUE MOMENT FOR US IN THIS COUNTRY -- INDEED A CROSSROADS -- BECAUSE SO MUCH OF WHAT WE HAVE HOPED FOR, SO MUCH THAT WE HAVE FOUGHT FOR, AND SACRIFICED FOR IS WITHIN OUR REACH. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT GUARANTEEING VICTIMS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS WITHIN OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IS WITHIN OUR GRASP. IT WAS A PROUD MOMENT WHEN MANY OF US HERE STOOD IN THE ROSE GARDEN LAST JUNE AND HEARD THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES SAY -- QUOTE "WHEN SOMEONE IS A VICTIM OF VIOLENT CRIME, THEY SHOULD BE AT THE CENTER OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROCESS -- NOT ON THE OUTSIDE BEGGING TO LOOK IN --- IT IS TIME FOR AMERICANS TO PROCLAIM THAT 'WITH JUSTICE FOR ALL' MEANS JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS AS WELL."

BUT WE KNOW THAT OUR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT IS NOT A PARTISAN POLITICAL ISSUE; INDEED IT IS AN AMERICAN ISSUE. AND WE KNOW TOO THAT TO PASS THIS AMENDMENT WE NEED EVERYONE HERE. THE EDITORIAL WRITERS, THE T.V. COMMENTATORS AND MANY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DON'T KNOW WHAT WE KNOW. THEY HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM THROUGH THE EYES OF CRIME VICTIMS. THEY HAVEN'T SEEN A JUDGE WARN MEMBERS OF VICTIMS FAMILIES THAT THEY CANNOT CRY, THAT THEY CANNOT HAVE KLEENEX OR EVEN DRINK WATER IN THE COURTROOM, AS KIM GOLDMAN TOLD US YESTERDAY.

THEY HAVEN'T SEEN VICTIMS LIKE ROBERTA ROPER AND COUNTLESS OTHERS WHOSE CHILDREN HAVE BEEN MURDERED TRYING TO LISTEN TO THE PROCEEDINGS THROUGH THE COURTROOM DOOR.

THEY HAVEN'T HEARD A JUDGE SAY TO A VICTIM, AS WE HAVE, THAT "I DON'T HAVE TIME TO LISTEN TO YOUR IMPACT STATEMENT" -- EVEN THOUGH THAT RIGHT IS GUARANTEED IN STATE LAW. THEY DON'T APPRECIATE THAT FOR VICTIMS IN THIS COUNTRY WE HAVE AN UNEVEN SYSTEM OF JUSTICE. EVERY STATE HAS A DIFFERENT SYSTEM OF RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS; THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS A DIFFERENT SYSTEM; IN MOST JUVENILE PROCEEDINGS VICTIM HAVE NO RIGHTS; AND IN THE MILITARY SYSTEM VICTIMS HAVE FEW RIGHTS. VICTIMS RIGHTS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DEPEND ON WHERE YOU ARE RAPED OR ROBBED OR THE AGE OF THE OFFENDER. THERE MUST BE A CONSISTENT SET OF RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS IN AMERICA.

THIS NOVA CONFERENCE MY FRIENDS MUST BE MORE FOR US THAN A TIME TO BECOME REINVIGORATED, TO EXPAND OUR EDUCATION, TO NETWORK. IT TRULY MUST BE A CALL TO ACTION -- A TIME TO JOIN WITH OUR COLLEAGUES FROM AROUND THE WORLD; A TIME TO ENSURE THAT COMPREHENSIVE RIGHTS AND SERVICES THAT SOME COMMUNITIES PROVIDE REACH EVERY COMMUNITY; AND TO COMMIT TO GIVE EVERYTHING WE HAVE FOR THIS AMENDMENT -- WHICH WHEN IT IS PASSED WILL FINALLY, AFTER 200 YEARS, HELP TO BALANCE THE SCALES OF AMERICAN JUSTICE.

I COMMIT THE OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME IN THE U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO WORK AT YOUR SIDE IN ACHIEVING THESE GOALS. OVC EXISTS BECAUSE OF THE VICTIMS MOVEMENT. WE WANT TO REFLECT YOUR VIEWS. WE WANT TO BE YOUR ADVOCATE AND YOUR VOICE WITHIN THE SYSTEM. TOGETHER, OVER THE NEXT YEAR AND THE YEARS AHEAD -- WE CAN AND WE WILL ACHIEVE THE FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES THAT CRIME VICTIMS EVERYWHERE DESERVE.