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THE VICTIM?” is the message flashed in Leesburg by bumper stickers that announce the program’s telephone number. Loudoun’s VWP has become a model for similar efforts around the state, inspiring Wodell to offer seminars and workshops on organizing Victim Witness Programs.
She’s also focusing on a lobbying effort planned for this year’s session of the General Assembly. “We’d like to see our victim’s impact statement made a requirement for courts everywhere. Before passing sentence, a judge needs to know what the impact of the crime was on the victim,” Wodell maintained.
After spending four days in Rappahannock for the Gregory trial, the VWP director is convinced that the county needs more than a requirement for a victim’s impact statement. “You really need this program. You need it badly,” she stressed, suggesting a joint effort with Fauquier and volunteering to work with both commonwealth's attorneys in setting it up. Wodell pointed out that a Rappahannock defendant in a domestic violence case was spending his seventh day in jail while she was here for the murder trial. “That would never happen in Loudoun. We would have arranged for him to be released on bond. We’d have started to work on uncovering the underlying cause for the violence so it would not be repeated. It’s not just Rappahannock— every rural county needs a Victim Witness Program."
The cards that Irene Wodell leaves in police arid magistrates’ offices, in medical facilities and with emergency service personnel capture what the Victim
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