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October 20, 2005

Video “Breaking Peace: Babies Have Their Say About Domestic Violence” (an unborn child’s perspective) is a training tool for professionals, but not for the general public. It is appropriate for a workshop with a forewarning of the context. The Community Crisis Intervention Team might find it a good resource.

October 2005 Domestic Violence Awareness Month Activities:

·    10/3/05 Day of Unity Update – Approximately 30 people, including students, families and adults, participated in this year’s observance. Senator Pacheco spoke about moving forward and supporting resources.

·    Make a Difference Day – Due to the state of emergency in Taunton, the Head Start beautification project and cell phone collection was changed to the following Saturday, October 29, 2005. Cell phones may also be dropped off at the Post Office, Mass Info Tech or at Associates for Human Services.

·    Mentors in Violence Prevention – Eleven students expressed interest in the awareness project. Ten are experienced participants from last year. Suggestions for this year include an MVP web page, a hotline on the website, and a cable show or tape for February, Valentine’s month.

December: The Holidays are No Excuse for Violence – Violence spikes during the holidays. The “No Excuse” topic would be a good topic for schools during December.

Loss of Key Members – Dan LeBrun, New Hope and co-chairperson, and Donalda Silva, DPH liaison, have changed careers.

Grants and Funding – Lorraine will use more time to seek and screen funding opportunities. Grant Review will be a regular part of the agenda.

 Professional Training Conference On Abuse & Disabilities – “Basics on Abuse and Disability: The Law, Victim’s Rights and Service Delivery” examined the unique challenges faced by persons with disabilities and the people who serve them. A summary of the information is available below the October minutes at www.oocities.org/gathercoalition/DVOctober2005.htm

 Next Steps:

Contact the CCIT about the “Breaking Peace” video. (Millie)

Contact CCIT about "Basics on Abuse and Disability: The Law, Victim's Rights and Service Delivery"

Put video on the November agenda (Annemarie)

Put “Grant Review” on monthly agendas as a regular item (Annemarie)

Contact DPH about a new liaison for GATHER (Lorraine)

 Next Meetings:

GATHER DV/VP: 11/17/05 (3^rd Thursday of the Month), 3:30, New Hope, 39 Taunton Green

 Contact Person:

Annemarie Matulis, 508-824-3227 or 508-922-7278 cell

Oly Cantos, Attorney

People with disabilities, have the right to be successful like everyone else and compete on terms of equality with everyone else. Unfortunately

·        Those with more severe disabilities are seen by those who seek to perpetrate crimes as more vulnerable and, in many cases, rightfully so.

·        They know persons with disabilities may not be believed 

·        People with disabilities must be vigilant, but it must also be done with partnership with victims' rights advocates and others in the community.

Statistics

·        There are 54 million people with disabilities today, excluding the 2 million currently living in institutions.

·        1 in 5 Americans have disabilities, some more significant than others.

Victimization of children as well as victimization of adults.

·        Children are more likely to be abused than people without disabilities.

·        Abuse rates among children with disabilities are higher than children within the broader population.

·        Increased rates of abuse by both men and women with disabilities from 31-83%

·        For women with mental retardation & other intellectual impairments rates from 40-90%

·        Approximately 5 million vulnerable adults annually become crime victims.

·        2 million elders per year have substantiated abuse cases.

Who should focus on these issues?

·        Parents

·        Social workers don't have to be 99 percent sure if there's a situation of abuse that's taking place – reasonable suspicion.

·        Victims’ rights advocates protect the rights of victims and make sure they receive the redress that they need

·        Law enforcement may not necessarily understand fully how it is they need to deal with a person with a severe disability, particularly within the case of first responders who interview people with intellectual disabilities. (If the police officer asks the individual directly, did he touch you, and imagine that, in her particular situation, when she's nervous, she smiles and says, yes, what goes through the mind of many law enforcement personnel?)

·        Legal professionals need to look at cases in which there is strong evidence of abuse of people with disabilities. They may feel that the case isn't strong enough and therefore there ends up ultimately not being any legal redress.

·        Elected and appointed officials have access to the media and reach large numbers of people in very short periods of time. They institute policy changes that will affect the rights of victims with disabilities by enabling them to have broader redress, and can talk about victimization of people with disabilities along with the victimization of other groups.

·        People with disabilities have to be taught exactly how it is to resist victimization be empowered to tap into existing programs that serve people in the community and also programs that expand their services to the field of work with victims with disabilities or potential victims with disabilities.

Types of Crimes: Felonies have punishments in excess of a year and misdemeanors have lighter punishments as the greatest possible sentence

·        Crimes Against Children:  Physical abuse, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, emotional abuse, neglect (severe and general), and abandonment.

·        Crimes Against Adults:  Physical abuse, sexual abuse/assault, and emotional abuse.

·        Crimes Against Property.

·        When Crimes Against Person or Property Become Hate Crimes

Existing pitfalls within the criminal justice system.

·        Recognition of Victimization – tendency to deny something potentially has happened

·        Reporting of Actual or Suspected Crime - law protects individuals who make a goodd faith effort to report suspected abuse.

·        First Responders may not feel that people with disabilities are victimized very significantly.Can lead to victims and their families not reporting the abuse at all.

·        Response of Prosecutors - prosecutors may end up feeling like therre isn't a significant amount of evidence so they don't move forward on cases.

·        Burden of Proof and Perceptions of the Jury - educate the community about how it is that people with disabilities need to stand up for their rights and are victims

·        Judicial Discretion and Sentencing - impose a lighter sentence than is possibble under the authority given to them by statute.

·        The Appeal Process - if appellate attorneys can understand thhe various issues surrounding victimization, then they will be able to move ahead in working with others who are in that particular subfield in finding ways to make sure at least through the best possible to have people with disabilities have their ultimate day of justice.

Options for making a difference

·        Do nothing - People with disabilities continue not too have their needs met, continue to feel disempowered and continue to be victimized, sending a message to the perpetrators: what the heck are you going to do about it? What can you do? Who will believe you?

·        Serve as an informational resource – educate yourself and network and educate others

·        Become a victims’ rights advocate - work to influence public policy

·        Form a support group.

·        Educate others about issues surrounding victimization

·        Spread the word about this online professional conference

·        Attend meetings and get involved with organized efforts

The methodology for ongoing learning:

·        Person-to-person networking techniques

·        Utilizing the internet

·        Forming your own “brain trust” – bringing the right people together