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legal system. Nationwide, more than 450 victim advocacy programs give support to the by-standers of crime. Laws benefiting victims have been passed in most areas of the country; Virginia is one of 39 states that has enacted compensation programs. In addition, the Commonwealth permits a victim impact statement to be considered in the sentencing process.
We should follow this trend. We support the expenditure of tax dollars to organize a Victim-Witness Program to serve Rappahannock and Fauquier. The two counties are on the same judicial circuit. They share the same judges. It makes sense to share a director for Victim-Witness.
Loudoun’s Victim-Witness Program, the model in the state, runs on approximately $20,000 of the taxpayers’ dollars. That’s the salary paid its director, Irene Wodell, who is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As Wodell has done in Loudoun, the director here will be responsible for soliciting and organizing the host of volunteers who provide services to the innocent bystanders of crime.
Those services would be offered to anyone who has suffered as a result of crime. The rape victim. The victim of domestic violence. The child who has been abused. The family who has lost a loved one to a drunken driver. The family whose loved one has been injured by a reckless driver. The family of a murder victim. Those who have had the sanctity of their homes -violated by a fofcfoer. ' - :-'J )h ov
Last year, Rappahannock’s supervisors included $4,000 in this county’s budget for organization of a Victim-Witness Program. The money was cut when Fauquier County failed to appropriate its $12,000 share. This year, of course, our supervisors will again have that option if our neighbors do not demonstrate their concern for the rights of crime’s victims.
The money for a local VictimWitness Program is a small price to pay for creating renewed confidence in our criminal justice system. It’s an even smaller price when measured against the alleviation of suffering.
A 63-year old victim of rape who was helped by Irene Wodell and her corps of Victim Witness volunteers gave the best reason for organizing a program here: “I couldn’t have lived through this without her help.”
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