PreventConnect.org

Olivia Klaus and Brenda Clubine

(13 min) From behind prison walls, SIN BY SILENCE reveals the lives of extraordinary women who advocate for a future free from domestic violence. Inside California’s oldest women’s prison, the first inmate-initiated and led group in the U.S. prison system was created by inmate Brenda Clubine to help abused women speak out and realize they are not alone. Over the past two decades, the women of Convicted Women Against Abuse have changed laws for battered women and raised awareness for those on the outside. SIN BY SILENCE is an emotionally packed documentary that tells the personal and shocking stories of these courageous women who have learned from their past, are changing their future and, most importantly, teach how domestic violence affects each and every person.

In this interview, Director/Producer Olivia Klaus, Co-Producer/Editor Ann-Caryn Cleveland, and Brenda Clubine talk about the making of the documentary, the achievements of Convicted Women Against Abuse, and the uses of documentary film and survivors voices for awareness-raising and prevention work.

I had a recent opportunity to join a web conference, hosted by the Family Justice Center Alliance,  related to California’s Victim Compensation Program (CalVCP). The web conference was facilitated by JoAnn Goodwin, the Assistant Deputy Executive Officer, and Christy Munson, Manager County Liaison and Support Section of CalVCP.

The Victim Compensation Program (CalVCP) provides financial assistance to victims of crime who have been injured, or threatend with injury, as well as the family members of a victim who has died as a result of a crime.  The CalVCP can pay up to $70,000 per claim for un-reimbursed expenses resulting from a crime such as, but not limited to, domestic violence, sexual assault, homicide, molestation, drunk driving, robbery, and child abuse.  The CalVCP can help victims with expenses such as:

• Relocation expenses: Including first and last month’s rent and deposit,
• Income and support loss: Time lost at a job as a result of the crime,
• Home or vehicle modifications: In cases where a person is disabled as a result of a crime,
• Burial expenses: Help families cover funeral costs for a family member who has died as a result of a crime,
• Medical expenses: Including Mental Health services, ambulance services, chiropractor, glasses, hearing aides, physical therapy, dentist, etc.

To be eligible for the Victim Compensation program, you must be:

• Resident of California (including a Member of the Military in CA),
• Victim of a Crime in California (includes someone who is not from CA, but experienced a crime in CA),
• Experienced physical injury, or threat of physical injury (some emotional injury cases, such as domestic violence, may also apply)

Also, as of January 1, 2009, a minor who witnesses a crime can qualify for up to $5,000 for counseling services.

To learn more about the program, you can access the resources below.  You can also contact CalVCP at 1-800-777-9229 or you can visit the California Victim Compensation Program website, or the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards, for more information and materials.

Who is eligible for compensation?

What types of expenses are covered?

CalVCP Quick Reference Guide

The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) and National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) hosted a teleconference and web conference on April 7, 2010 and April 8, 2010 focusing on the effects of the new health care reform on women. Both organizations did a really great job outlining both the positive and not-so-positive provisions in the bill in regards to it’s effects on women.

Some of the positives include:

• Exchanges. People may be eligible for federal subsidies to help them purchase insurance in a “virtual marketplace,” called Exchanges. The idea is that as the number of people purchasing insurance from this “virtual marketplace” grows, the price for policies will decrease and become much more affordable for everyone.
• “Guaranteed Issue” which explicitly states that health care companies cannot deny coverage to women with pre-existing conditions. A survivor suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to issues of domestic violence and sexual assault cannot be denied coverage because of their “pre-existing” condition, as health care companies have been doing already.
• Health insurance premiums cannot vary based on gender or health status. Women can no longer be charged more than men based on the fact that they are women. Premiums can, however, be based upon age, smoking status, and geography.
• Community Health Centers will receive $11 billion in new funding. For women who visit community health centers often, this will expand the services they may receive from the centers.
• No co-pays for preventative services. Insurers will not be able to charge co-pays to women seeking preventative services such as pap smears and mammograms.
• Funding for Community Health Workers. Funds will be available to expand and continue the work of Community Health Workers (Promotoras) for medically underserved communities, as well as model those services in areas where they do not currently exist.

Some not-so-positive provisions include:

• Ban on abortion continues. States will still have the right to ban insurance policies that cover abortion services from participating in the Exchanges (Nelson Provision). It also upholds the Hyde Amendment, which states that federal funding that the Community Health Centers will receive cannot be used to provide abortion as an option for women.
• No coverage for undocumented persons, including survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Undocumented persons will not be eligible for federal subsidies to purchase policies.  Even if they are able to purchase insurance, they will not be able to access the Exchange options.
• The five-year ban for legal permanent residents continues.  Even if a survivor is a legal permanent resident, they will still be unable to access the programs until five years after obtaining their legal status.

Although the Health Care Reform bill has been signed, there are still many loose ends to the bill.  The implementation of many of these provisions still need to take place and will do so between 2010 and 2014.  You can access the resources below for more information about the Health Care Reform and how it affects you.  You can also visit the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and National Women’s Law Center website for more information about their efforts to ensure that every woman has access to affordable and fair health care insurance.

NLIRH: What you can expect from Health Care Reform

NLIRH: Que puede esperar del la Reforma del Sistema de Salud

NLIRH: Timeline for Health Care Reform Implemenation

NLIRH: Cuando sera implementada la reforma de salud?

NWLC: Women and Health Care reform At-A-Glance

NWLC: What does Health Care Reform means for Women

As the newly signed Health Care Reform begins to settle into people’s minds, many are asking, “How will this affect me?”  For many survivors of sexual assault, many women have experienced barriers to accessing health care because, for many health care agencies, suffering from PTSD after an assault has been considered a “pre-existing condition” (see post entitled “Rape: A Pre-Existing Condition“).

To help understand how the Health Care Reform will impact women, the National Women’s Law Center will be hosting a webinar on April 8, 2010 entitled, “How Women Will Benefit from Health Care Reform.” For more information about this webinar and to register, you can visit their website here.

The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Heath will also be hosting a “virtual cafecito” (a discussion over coffee) for both bilingual and monolingual, Spanish speaking Latinas on April 7, 2010. There will be a call in English from 12:00pm to 1:00pm (EST) and another in Spanish from 1:00pm to 2:00pm (EST). These calls will provide participants with information on the Health Care Reform and how it impacts Latina women.  For more information about these calls or to register, click here.

The Police Foundation released their December 2009 issue of Ideas in American Policing, a series of papers focused on issues pertaining to law enforcement, policy makers, scholars and practitioners. In this issue, entitled “Customer Satisfaction: Crime Victims’ Willingness to Call the Police” the Police Foundation published a national survey completed by the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. This national survey focused on crime victimization and  the “situational aspects of crime reporting.”

The survey consisted of 206 women incarcerated at the Hennepin County Adult Detention Facility in Minneapolis. From the women’s responses, one of the commonalities they found was that:

Women who had experienced the most violence were the least likely to report their violence to the police; among those who did not report being violently victimized, those with the most violent histories reported being very dissatisfied with the police response.

Other reasons the women gave for not reporting included that they didn’t feel they needed the help, fear of the perpetrator(s), didn’t want to be a “snitch”, they didn’t want anyone to know and they didn’t believe the police would do anything. The survey goes on to discuss other reasons why women do not report crimes against them as well as satisfaction and dissatisfaction with police response if they did report to law enforcement.

To read the full report, click here.

Ted Bunch

On May 21st and 22nd, 2009, CALCASA’s PreventConnect program staff were pleased to record several podcasts at A CALL TO MEN‘s 4th National Conference in New York City, NY.

This is a presentation by Ted Bunch, Co-Founder of A CALL TO MEN. He discusses the belief systems and behaviors of men who are violent and abusive, as well as the importance of accountability in appropriate program development for domestic violence offenders.

(33 min) Presentation by Ted Bunch

Domestic violence is heavily under-reported across the United States.  In an effort to illustrate the urgency in combating domestic violence, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) released its report on domestic violence within lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) communities in the United States during 2008.

“The total number of cases reported to NCAVP members was 3,419.  Los Angeles, with increased monitoring capacity, reported close to 1,500 incidents. Major findings of the report reflected that the number of reported DV-related fatalities increased and the number of cases with reported police misconduct in 2008 increased by 93%. In 2008, incidents of police misconduct, reported by 2.3% of all callers to NCAVP organizations, nearly doubled compared to those reported in 2007.”

The increase in reports does not necessarily reflect an increase in violence.  Instead, when communities are informed of existing culturally-sensitive resources, individuals and communities are much more likely to report incidents and crimes to authorities.

In addition, the NCAVP also notes:

Other major findings of the 2008 report included increases in reports along many race and ethnicity categories, notably people identifying as Latina/o (100%), Multi-racial (91%), and African Descent (50%). Striking increases were seen in a relatively new category of immigration, especially people with recent visas (1700%), refugees and asylees (900%), and people who are undocumented (250%). Additionally, reports of domestic violence against people living with disabilities increased by almost 50%.

To read the full NCAVP 2008 report, click here.

In an article in the recent issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, researchers are examining patterns of intimate partner violence victimization from adolescence to young adulthood. While this research appears to be preliminary, better understanding of these patterns may assist the development of appropriate prevention programs.

The full citation and abstract from SafetyLit follow the jump.

Patterns of intimate partner violence victimization from adolescence to young adulthood in a nationally representative sample.

Halpern CT, Spriggs AL, Martin SL, Kupper LL. Journal of Adolescent Health 2009; 45(5): 508-16.

Click here for a link the article in the journal or the DOI.

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of patterns of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization from adolescence to young adulthood, and document associations with selected sociodemographic and experiential factors.

METHODS: We used prospective data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to group 4134 respondents reporting only opposite-sex romantic or sexual relationships in adolescence and young adulthood into four victimization patterns: no IPV victimization, adolescent-limited IPV victimization, young adult onset IPV victimization, and adolescent-young adult persistent IPV victimization.

RESULTS: Forty percent of respondents reported physical or sexual victimization by young adulthood. Eight percent experienced IPV only in adolescence, 25% only in young adulthood, and 7% showed persistent victimization. Female sex, Hispanic and non-Hispanic black race/ethnicity, an atypical family structure (something other than two biologic parents, step-family, single parent), more romantic partners, experiencing childhood abuse, and early sexual debut (before age 16) were each associated with one or more patterns of victimization versus none. Number of romantic partners and early sexual debut were the most consistent predictors of violence, its timing of onset, and whether victimization persisted across developmental periods. These associations did not vary by biological sex.

CONCLUSIONS: Substantial numbers of young adults have experienced physical or sexual IPV victimization. More research is needed to understand the developmental and experiential mechanisms underlying timing of onset of victimization, whether victimization persists across time and relationships, and whether etiology and temporal patterns vary by type of violence. These additional distinctions would inform the timing, content, and targeting of violence prevention efforts.

Often violence against women prevention efforts in schools focus on educating children. Yet, there may be more impact by training teachers to address the issues in their daily interactions with students.

In the recent Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, among the several articles about violence prevention programs, one article describes a program in Dallas, TX to train teachers and school about the impact on domestic violence on children.

The full citation and abstract from SafetyLit follows the jump.

“Children at risk”: development, implementation, and effectiveness of a school-based violence intervention and prevention program.

Walker SL, Smith DJ Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community 2009; 37(4): 316-25.

Click here for the link or for the DOI:

(Copyright © 2009, Taylor and Francis Group)

Violence impacts the lives of children on a daily basis. In their communities, they witness drive-by shootings, drug deals, and violence in their schools while many endure abuse, neglect, and violent behavior in their homes. Because the traumatizing impact of such exposure disrupts a child’s ability to concentrate and learn, the Dallas Independent School District (ISD) sought content expertise to develop a training vehicle for school district professionals. The program aimed to raise the awareness of educators to problems related to domestic violence and the myriad of circumstances at home and in the community that lead to exposure to violence. Approximately 15,000 faculty and staff of Dallas ISD were educated in the identification, intervention, and prevention of exposure to violence. Referrals and inquiries related to abuse have increased (approximately 70%) while the city of Dallas has witnessed a drop in the number of domestic violence and child abuse offenses.

Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation to Restore Funding to State’s Domestic Violence Shelters

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed SBX3 13 by Senator Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose) to restore $16.3 million of state funding to support California domestic violence shelters.

“I want to congratulate the many groups that put victims first and came together to find this creative solution that will keep domestic violence shelters throughout the state open,” said Governor Schwarzenegger.

CDCR Asks Crime Victims to Register for New Automated Database to Keep them Better Informed about their Offenders

SACRAMENTO – In its effort to keep crime victims informed, the Office of Victim and Survivor Rights with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is asking crime victims to register for a new automated system that will soon provide real-time information about the custody status of their offenders. The new system was made possible by a federal grant.

Rape Victim’s Choice: Risk AIDS or Health Insurance?

By Danielle Ivory

Christina Turner feared that she might have been sexually assaulted after two men slipped her a knockout drug. She thought she was taking proper precautions when her doctor prescribed a month’s worth of anti-AIDS medicine.

Only later did she learn that she had made herself all but uninsurable.

Court rejects governor’s plan to solve prison overcrowding

Schwarzenegger’s plan to solve California’s prison overcrowding crisis, giving the state three weeks to devise an alternative or risk an order that seizes control of how more than 40,000 inmates are released from the prison system over the next two years.

After 20 years, Minnesota still wonders, Where’s Jacob?

On Oct. 22, 1989, Jacob Wetterling vanished – kidnapped in rural St. Joseph, Minn. Twenty years later, his disappearance endures as one of the state’s greatest criminal mysteries. But his family has never given up hope that, one day, he will come home.

U.S. formally asks for Polanski extradition

(CNN) — The United States has formally asked Switzerland to extradite film director Roman Polanski, Swiss authorities said Friday.

The Academy Award-winning director was arrested in Switzerland last month on a U.S. arrest warrant stemming from a 1977 sex case involving a 13-year-old girl. He is fighting extradition.

Opinion

Vetoing Justice for Rape Victims

by Sarah Tofte

Over the weekend, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California vetoed legislation that would have made California the first state in the nation to collect comprehensive data on the physical evidence collected from rape victims that is sitting in police storage facilities.

The bill, AB 1017, which sailed through both houses of the state legislature, had been hailed by advocates as model legislation and an important first step in reckoning with the huge backlog in the United States. But Governor Schwarzenegger, citing the time and money it would take law enforcement agencies to collect the data, decided to oppose a law that would help bring justice to rape victims.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed SBX3 13 by Senator Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose) to restore $16.3 million of state funding to support California domestic violence shelters.

“I want to congratulate the many groups that put victims first and came together to find this creative solution that will keep domestic violence shelters throughout the state open,” said Governor Schwarzenegger.

“I am proud to sign this bipartisan legislation that is good news for every Californian whose life is devastated by violence in the home and will help ensure domestic violence victims have a safe place to go. And, I encourage the legislature to continue looking for a permanent funding solution for this important program so domestic violence shelters aren’t faced with the same uncertainty next year.”

By failing to pass a balanced budget that fell $1 billion short of what legislative leaders had agreed to, the legislature forced the Governor to cut funding for programs he never had proposed cutting, including funding for domestic violence shelters. Since the budget was signed the Governor’s Administration has been working to restore funding to this important program and will continue to work for a permanent funding solution.

SBX3 13 provides for a one-time $16.3 million loan from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund to fund domestic violence shelters statewide for the 2009-10 fiscal year. The loan will be repaid with interest at the rate earned by the Pooled Money Investment Account by June 30, 2013.

Please click here to read the full press release.

I got a phone call from an angry woman this morning saying that I should be beaten. This is unusual for Saturday mornings and I didn’t quite understand her anger until I read the San Francisco Chronicle story with this punchline:

So when Coombs asks, “How many cases are enough to justify” the database, I have a simple answer.
One.

I have to admit, I was sad to see this (mis)quote at the end of the story. I felt like I was set up. I do hundreds of interviews and I’ve never contacted a writer about being misquoted or having a controversial quote included in a story. In fact, I’ve had much more controversial lines written about me but the difference here is that in most cases a writer will make it clear (intentionally or not) when they are looking for a fall-guy.

So why did this case bother me so much? Because it proved the counter-point to a truism I have repeated time and time again when doing media training: “The media doesn’t seek to misquote you, but they get their context from you.” This story proved that sometimes, no matter how much context you give, journalists (columnists in particular) will remain rooted in their chosen understanding of the schemes which you are trying to clarify.

In this particular case, the C.W. Nevius told me up front that he had a close acquaintance who had just gotten out of a violent relationship and that it was a “particularly raw subject” for he and his colleagues. I spent a good part of the morning working with this writer to explain the legislative history of that particular bill (in fact, he didn’t even know of the bill until I told him about it) as well as the various reasons that people supported and opposed the bill. I gave him the contact information for the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (CPEDV) who had been vocally opposed to the bill and had some very important concerns, not the least of which was that it would be easy for DV victims to end up on the registry for self-defense and would therefore have to publicly register their address for life, rendering them a target to previous abusers (bill analysis with the formal support / opposition at the bottom). Nevius chose not to include a quote from them or many of the other complexities behind why this piece of legislation might have unintended consequences that must be considered.

I share Nevius’s belief that one victim is one too many. That’s precisely why expressed the concern that our decisions must weigh the likelihood of exacerbating the problem. In fact, we have lessons to be learned from the sex offender registry that sometimes unintended consequences include false sense of security when an individual does not show up on the registry, a reduction in reporting/convictions of perpetrators known to the victim and other complex outcomes that we cannot account for. So when I said “How many cases are enough to justify…” the rest of the statement that Nevius failed to print was “…the potential for creating new victims as a result of the database.”

The point that is all-too-often missed was that half-baked solutions to complex problems often end up shifting the problem. Can we justify policy that would prevent one person’s victimization but be a contributing factor in someone else’s? These are the difficult questions that victim advocates wrestle with in policy work. Unfortunately, it is the combination of partisan posturing in the legislature coupled with our fear of this type of misrepresentation in the media that make it difficult to have an honest debate about these issues.

Luckily, the overwhelming majority of my experiences with the media are straightforward, honest and fair. For now, I’m choosing to believe that C.W. Nevius did not seek to misquote me, but rather my influence on the story was underwhelming in contrast to his personal connection to domestic violence. If that is true, then it is incumbent upon us to continue working with the media (and policy-makers) to help provide context that promotes comprehensive approaches to prevention, not quick fixes with bad outcomes.

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s (NSVRC) Newsletter, The Resource (Spring/Summer 2009) had an article titled, “Coping with Vicarious Trauma: Strategies for Advocates Working with Communities of Color” by Tatiana Diaz, M.A. The article highlighted the complexities that Advocates of Color face when working with Communities of Color as well as the additional issues of Vicarious Trauma associated with the multi-dimensional work they do.

To gain insight on this issue, Tatiana held various focus groups where a total of 18 advocates from Rape Crisis Centers in Pennsylvania participated.  From these focus groups, Tatiana states:

They [advocates] shared difficult experiences, particularly related to situations where oppressions like racism, classism and immigration status intersected with victimization.

From these shared experiences, Tatiana was able to categorize the experiences into the following areas: Lack of Diverse Staff, Lack of Cultural Competency Among Current Staff, Tokenism, Other Marginalized Populations, and Other Agencies and Partners. Tatiana explains that the combination of any of these:

Placed great burden on advocates by adding extra responsibilities such as translation, transportation, and issues relating to immigration.

To learn more about this article, including some recommendations, you can download the entire article here.

As many of you may already know, we just completed a series of Regional Legal Advocacy Trainings, in collaboration with the Legal Aide Society~Employment Rights Center of San Francisco, focused on Employment Rights for Sexual Assault Survivors.  Many Rape Crisis Center advocates had an opportunity to attend, as well as folks from other agencies such as the Inter-Tribal Council of CA, various County District Attorney-Victim Service Agencies, Lideres Campesinas and other community agencies.

Unfortunately, we understand that not all agencies were able to participate so I wanted to share some information from those trainings with you about Workplace Safety and Protected Time Off for Survivors.  For Employees, here are some Employee Protections if you are a survivor of Sexual Violence:

• CA Labor Code § 230 (c): Any employer may not discharge, discriminate, or retaliate against an employee who is a domestic violence/sexual assault survivor for taking time off to obtain/maintain any relief, including a TRO/RO/injunctive relief, to help ensure the health, safety, or welfare of a survivor or the survivor’s child.
• CA Labor Code § 230.1: An employer with 25 or more employees may not fire, discriminate or retaliate against an employee who is a domestic violence or sexual assault survivor for taking time off to: receive counseling, safety plan, obtain a TRO/RO/injunctive relief, seek medical attention, or obtain services from a domestic violence program or rape crisis center.

For Employers, here are some Workplace Safety requirements to consider:

• Federal OSHA: General Duty Clause: Requires employers to provide a safe and healthful working environment. Employers can be cited if there are recognized hazards of workplace violence and nothing is done to prevent or abate them.
• CA Labor Code  § 6402: “No employee shall require, or permit, any employee to go to, or be in a place of employment which is not safe and healthful.”
• CA Labor Code § 6403: “No employer shall fail or neglect… (t)o do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, safety and health of employees.”
• CA Labor Code § 6401.7: “Every employer shall establish, implement and maintain an effective injury prevention program.”

Below are additional resources and information regarding Employement Rights for Survivors:

• 7 Important Facts About Your Workplace Rights
• Paid Family Leave Benefits
• Unemployment Insurance If You Must Quit
• Disabilities in the Workplace
• Job-Guaranteed time off to go to court and to obtain service
• Taking Leave for a Health Condition

For more information, or legal advice, you can visit the Legal Aide Society~Employment Law Center of San Francisco website.

You can also visit the OSHA website or the California Law website for more information on the Labor Codes listed above.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) and across the country, advocates are joining health care providers, business leaders, policy makers, faith-based groups, college students and others at events and activities designed to educate the public about domestic and sexual violence.

NYTs: California Struggles with Paroled Sex Offenders

Solomon Moore, a journalist with the New York Times, wrote an article about monitoring paroled sex offenders in California. The piece also discussed the number of sex offenders on parole, the amount of resources spent monitoring sex offenders and legislation that will reduce caseloads for parole agents.

Homeless Ga. sex offenders seek new place to live
By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer

Georgia probation officers tried to line up temporary housing on Tuesday for nine homeless sex offenders who were kicked out of a makeshift tent city behind a suburban Atlanta office park where state officials had directed them to live.

from the Family Violence Prevention Fund

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) and across the country, advocates are joining health care providers, business leaders, policy makers, faith-based groups, college students and others at events and activities designed to educate the public about domestic and sexual violence.

Activities include national campaigns, events like the Family Violence Prevention Fund’s National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence on October 8 to 10 in New Orleans, and state and local activities of all kinds.

Across the nation, experts and those who work with victims of domestic, dating and sexual violence are planning Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) events that educate the public, inspire action, and tell victims about the help and services that are available. While the activities come in all shapes and sizes, the goals are often the same: to raise awareness about the prevalence and cost of domestic and sexual violence, the need for prevention, and the services that are available to victims and their families.

The Legislature passed many of CALCASA’s priority support bills before the end-of-session deadline.

The following is a summary of CALCASA supported bills that have been chaptered. California Statutes are the Chaptered Bills. A bill is “chaptered” by the Secretary of State after it has passed through both houses of the Legislature and has been signed by the Governor.

• SB 432 (Runner) Crime victims: restitution
• SB 583 (Hollingsworth) Sex offenders
• SB 447 (Yee) Criminal records: custodian
• SB 668 (Hollingsworth) Sex offenders
• SB 669 (Hollingsworth) Sexually violent predators

In light of the tremendous budget deficit, this is a great show for CALCASA and we hope to see continued successes at the Capitol. CALCASA Public Policy is advocating for the Governor to sign a number of bills that have been passed by the legislature and are awaiting his signature. Those bills include:

• SB 588 (Committee on Public Safety) Sex Offender Management Board.
• AB 1017 (Portantino) Sexual assault crimes.
• SB 325 (Alquist) Sex offenders: assessments.
• SB 314 (Calderon) Crime victims.
• AB 382 (Ammiano) Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: inmates and wards: classification.
• AB 988 (Brownley) Human trafficking: training content.

A big thanks to all of the CALCASA members who have sent letters or subscribed to the Grassroots Online Advocacy Center. Many of these bills would not have been as successful without the hundreds of letters we have seen from you.

For a complete list of legislation tracked by CALCASA this year, you can review the 2009 Bill Tracking page.

Arte Sana's Existe Ayuda National Project

CALCASA had the privilege to host the second phase of Arte Sana’s Existe Ayuda (Help Exists) National Outreach Project this year during our Leadership Pre-Conference day on August 17, 2009 in Sacramento.  About 23 Bilingual, Spanish-Speaking advocates from California and neighboring states such as Oregon and Nevada participated in the National Outreach Project this year.  Arte Sana’s National Outreach Project is a outreach and training product demonstration of Spanish language materials. Laura Zarate, Executive Director for Arte-Sana, facilitated the day long project and provided participants with the existing outreach materials to review. Participants had the opportunity to review and provide feedback on grammar, content and language pertaining to these outreach materials.

Participants discussed the complexities that come with the development of culturally appropriate Spanish-language materials due to the diversity of the language as well as the generational differences in Spanish-Speaking communities. The Outreach Project participants, who were from communities from different areas of Mexico and Central America, shared their individual experiences working in communities were services for Spanish-speaking survivors are not offered in culturally appropriate ways. Arte Sana thanks all the participants who devoted their day to attend this training and for being a part of this project. Your feedback and dedication towards providing the best and most culturally appropriate information and services to your communities is greatly appreciated.

For more information on Arte Sana’ and their Existe Ayuda National Outreach Project, please go to www.arte-sana.com

CALCASA ED Joins Council of State Governments Justice Center

A group of state and local leaders from across the nation?including respected state lawmakers and gubernatorial appointees who direct large state agencies, state supreme court chief justices and other court officials, and law enforcement executives and prosecutors met in Burlington, Vt., this week to discuss critical criminal justice policies.

Huffington Post: “Despite Promises, Some Rape Victims Stuck Paying Exam Bills”

Earlier this week, the Huffington Post, posted a story about rape victims who have been required to pay for evidence collection.

Editorial: Faces behind the numbers

Earlier this week, the Ventura Country Star posted an editorial about the recent domestic violence program funding cuts.

CA Prisons Must Cut Inmate Population

Earlier today, “a panel of federal judges ordered the California prison system on Tuesday to reduce its inmate population of 150,000 by 40,000 — roughly 27 percent — within two years. The judges said that reducing prison crowding in California was the only way to change what they called an unconstitutional prison health care system that causes one unnecessary death a week.”

Week of October 6th

Senator Barack Obama on Domestic Violence Awareness Month

On October 1st Senator Obama made the following statement acknowledging October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“On Capitol Hill”

The Non-Profit Times recently published an article, called “On Capitol Hill.” The article focuses on a new Senate caucus that will “help educate those on The Hill about the nonprofit sector.”

Deputy DA Held On Sexual Assault Charges Gets Court Date

A senior Contra Costa County Deputy District Attorney who was arrested Thursday on suspicion of raping a colleague is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 21, according to the California attorney general’s office.

State prosecutors would have had to file charges against the attorney, Michael Gressett, Monday, but because he was able to post bail Friday, they now have until his arraignment date to decide whether to charge him, said Dana Simas, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.

Sex offenders file civil rights lawsuit

LONG BEACH – Attorneys representing 35 registered sex offenders filed a civil rights lawsuit this week aimed at a strict sex offender ordinance that the City Council passed in March.

The Press-Telegram also noted that, “the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Long Beach, says the city’s sex offender ordinance violates Constitutional rights and is too vague. The measure builds on existing state law to restrict where sex offenders may live or loiter, but city officials suspended enforcement of the ordinance in April.”

On October 1st Senator Obama made the following statement acknowledging October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“Today, I join all Americans in observing Domestic Violence Awareness Month. At a time when one in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, it’s more important than ever that we dedicate ourselves to working on behalf of the thousands of women who suffer in silence.

“Too often, victims of domestic violence don’t know where to turn, or have no one to turn to. And too often, a victim could be someone you love. That’s why, as a State Senator, I led the fight in Illinois to pass one of the strongest employment protection laws in the nation, ensuring that victims of domestic violence could seek shelter or treatment without losing their jobs.That’s why I introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate to provide $25 million a year to domestic violence prevention and victim support efforts. That’s why I co-sponsored and helped reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. And today, I am so proud to have Senator Joe Biden, the man who wrote that groundbreaking legislation that gave so many women a second chance at life, as my running mate in this campaign.

“As President, I’ll make these efforts a national priority. This month, and every month, we must fight to bring domestic violence out of the darkness of isolation and into the light of justice, especially for minority and immigrant women, and women in every community where it goes unreported far too often. We’ll stop treating this as just a woman’s issue, and start recognizing that when a woman is attacked, that abuse scars not only the victim, but her loved ones, sending currents of violence that ripple across our society. We need all hands on deck to address this – neighbors willing to report suspected crimes, families willing to help loved ones seek treatment, and community leaders willing to candidly discuss this issue in public and break the stigma that stops so many women from coming forward. Together, we’ll make it clear that no woman ever struggles alone.”

For more information, please contact Senator Obama’s Press Office at: 312-819-2423

Note: We contacted Senator McCain’s campaign to find out if he released a statement about Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but they have not returned our phone call.

There is no shortage of bills in the California Legislature that affect CALCASA’s members. Tuesday in both Assembly and Senate Public Safety Committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee, CALCASA testified on a variety of legislation related to sexual violence.

Two of those bills include: SB 1356 Contempt: victim of domestic violence (Yee) and SB 1339 Government tort claims: childhood sexual abuse (Simitian).

SB 1339 (Simitian), supported by CALCASA, would expand sexual assault survivors’ rights to access civil remedies and causes of action to address the impacts of sexual violence.

SB 1356 (Yee) seeks to prevent the incarceration of domestic violence victims who refuse to testify in court on the grounds of protecting their safety. Under current law, a domestic violence victim can be held in contempt of court and be incarcerated by a judge for refusing to testify against her batterer.

The bill was supported by the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, California Protective Parents Association, California Public Defenders Association, Crime Victims United, Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Lucinda Marshall, from AlterNet, reviewed nine magazine publications this month and compared the amount coverage devoted to breast cancer and domestic violence.

“Although October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), we’d much rather be aware of breasts, even sick ones, than talk about black eyes and things that aren’t supposed to go on behind closed doors. That point is reflected in women’s magazines, which devote much more space in their October issues to breast cancer than they do to domestic violence.”

All of the magazines Marshall reviewed advertised breast cancer articles on their covers but only two contained information on Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Marshall also pointed out, “that we shrink away from black eyes. Breasts, on the other hand, are highly marketable commodities…Such irresponsible coverage of breast cancer and blindness to domestic violence suggest that many publications are less concerned with women’s health than with making a buck.”

This story highlights how difficult it is to get effective coverage of both domestic violence and sexual assault in today’s media. Although the media is perfectly happy covering “public health issues” to varying degrees of accuracy, they rarely if ever address the broad societal costs associated with violence against women. Sexual assault in particular is often relegated to stories focusing on sex offenders and “stranger-danger” coverage made common for their ability to “scare up” ratings.

To read the full article, click here.