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2004
National Crime Victims' Rights Week The honorees received special recognition during the awards ceremony hosted April 22, 2004, by the Office for Victims of Crime to honor victim advocates, organizations, and programs in the field of victim services.
In some of the photos provided, the award recipients are accompanied by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Assistant Attorney General Deborah J. Daniels from the Office of Justice Programs, and OVC Director John W. Gillis. To view more details, click on a photo for an enlarged view Awards for Professional Innovation in Victim Services
Project
Ujima Project Ujima is a multidisciplinary, hospital-based model of youth violence intervention that features a collaboration among the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, the Medical College of Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a number of community based organizations. Services begin in the Children's Hospital Emergency Department, where volunteer peer liaisons and paid community liaisons provide youth victims with crisis intervention and support. The community liaisons follow up by visiting the homes of the victims, where they assess needs and offer guidance in seeking services. Project staff continue to offer ongoing psychological support and referral to victim and community services. In addition to treating physical wounds, the project offers support groups, educational classes, and therapeutic recovery activities to youth victims. It also helps them navigate the legal system and facilitates their pursuit of crime victim compensation benefits. Ujima therapists provide inhome counseling that helps victims deal with the emotional and psychological issues attendant to victimization, including chronic anxiety and sleep disturbances. Project staff go beyond providing typical victim services, also assisting with educational testing, school placement and transition, and safety plans. They also serve as their clients' medical advocates with insurers. Project Ujima provides free services to high-risk, inner-city victims and reaches more than 1,400 victims and their families. Less than two percent of program participants sustain a repeated violent injury.
Sergeant Gregory Scott Waldron As an advocate for sexual assault victims, Sergeant Gregory Waldron has built and strengthened a unique partnership between law enforcement and the victims' community. Sergeant Waldron began working on behalf of sexual assault victims when he became head of the Arlington (Texas) Police Department's Family Violence/Sex Crimes Unit in 2001. As such, he assumed responsibility for implementing a new agreement between the department and the Women's Center's Rape Crisis and Victim Services Program that placed a rape crisis therapist in the criminal investigator's unit 1 day a week. Since assuming leadership of the unit, Sergeant Waldron has frequently called upon the therapist to help his staff approach victims and attend statements. He often has victims debrief with the therapist before leaving the station. Not only has Sergeant Waldron frequently called upon the expertise of the therapist and staff of the Women's Center, he also makes himself available at the center 1 day a month to answer questions about the criminal justice system from both victims and staff. He has also used his position to improve the system's response to sexual assault victims. In one case, he contacted a neighboring police department about progress on a case involving a 13-year-old who had given birth as the result of a sexual assault. In another, he helped find an attorney to nullify a request by an alleged rapist who, while legally representing himself, subpoenaed a therapist to appear for a deposition at his house. A winner of the Purple Heart and Medal of Honor, Sergeant Waldron is regarded by his peers as a model of compassion. In the words of one of his peers, his work is a reminder that justice "may not always come in the form of a suspect apprehended or a perfect prosecution; for some victims, it may come in the form of a sensitive interview or in a detective going the extra mile on a case." |
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