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JCADA’s Doors are Still Open for Victims of Power-Based Violence – How You Can Support their Efforts from Your Home

Written by Shana Brouder

Over the past month, most Americans have been put under some kind of “stay at home” order to keep them ‘safe’ from COVID-19 — better known as the coronavirus. But what does safe mean? For most of us, safe means simply staying inside our homes with adequate amounts of food and toilet paper, only leaving for essential goods. And maybe for the occasional walk around the block.

But, for the 1 in 4 women, and 1 in 9 men who experience severe physical abuse at the hands of a partner, home is the least safe place they can be — and yet, that’s exactly where they’re stuck. As a recent New York Times article described, helplines across the globe are lighting up frantically with calls from women in danger. NBC News’ investigation gave some more concrete facts and figures: of the law enforcement agencies who answered their call, Houston police received a roughly 20 percent increase in calls in March from February; Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, police saw an 18 percent jump this March in comparison with March of 2019; while Phoenix police saw a nearly 6 percent in domestic violence related calls.

And that’s just the calls police are getting.

There is more to power-based violence than the severe physical violence. There is the emotional, financial, technological, sexual, and physical violence that goes unreported. And it is this relentless, yet unreported violence that eats away at a person, until they feel they are truly worth nothing. The Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Violence (JCADA) is dedicated to stopping this cycle of violence, even in these unprecedented times. JCADA remains open for business, fielding calls from their helpline, 1-877-88-JCADA(52232), during business hours throughout the closures. JCADA is counseling clients through HIPPA compliant remote telehealth and their attorneys and victim advocates can still help with Protection Orders and access to public health benefits through these hard times.

JCADA has also chosen to move its annual event, the JCADA 5K & Wellness Day, online. In a recent email to past participants, JCADA expressed how unfortunate it is that the event must be moved online, as social connection is in short supply these days. In an attempt to stay connected with their community, JCADA has come up with the following 5 ways you, or anyone you know located anywhere in the country, can support the JCADA 5K & Wellness Day.

Participants at the 2019 JCADA 5K & Wellness Day

Participants at the 2019 JCADA 5K & Wellness Day

1. Register for the JCADA 5K & Wellness Day ($50) to show your financial support for JCADA’s life-saving work.
2. Follow JCADA’s Empowerment Playlists on Spotify (for free)! Use either the JCADA Empowerment Playlist or the JCADA Empowerment Playlist — Podcasts* to listen to as you walk, run, clean, or simply take a break from your responsibilities from now until May 2, 2020.
3. Pick a physical activity to do in your home or in your neighborhood (Walk/Run a 5K, Run around the block 5 times, do 5 jumping jacks, high five your kids, etc.) and fundraise for JCADA in honor of your efforts!
4. Record all your activity here so JCADA can give you a shout out during our May 3rd Facebook Live event!
5. Join us at 10 am on May 3 on Facebook Live to hear who JCADA’s biggest fundraiser was, and hear the top 5 activities you all participated in.

It is hard to be stuck inside. Please consider joining JCADA in this new challenge to remember and empower those whose homes aren’t a safe place during this global pandemic. If you’d like more information on JCADA, please email their Executive Director, Amanda Katz, at amanda@jcada.org. Follow JCADA on Facebook and Instagram. And, most of all, join them virtually this year on May 3rd and show victims and survivors of power-based violence in this community — you are seen; you are heard.

Participants at the 2019 JCADA 5K & Wellness Day

Participants at the 2019 JCADA 5K & Wellness Day

*Trigger Warning: While the JCADA Empowerment Playlist — Podcasts has lots of motivational podcasts and guided meditations, it also has some episodes detailing sexual abuse, sexual assault, and domestic violence that may not be suitable to all listeners. Please listen to these podcasts at your discretion

Network for Victim Recovery DC Continues to Battle for Crime Victims’ Rights Amid COVID-19

Written by Diane Dauplaise, Network for Victim Recovery of DC Bilingual Staff Attorney

NVRDC Blog Image

One of the things they don’t teach you in law school is that practicing law at a nonprofit is an exercise in creativity. But nothing in my previous five years of practice prepared me for the effect of COVID-19 on a caseload filled with some DC’s most vulnerable populations. As DC Superior Court began curtailing operations down to the most essential court functions, our organization worked overtime assessing the impact these changes would have on crime victims’ rights. As an organization we also anticipated that COVID-19 would affect correctional facilities’ ability to safely house inmates thus requiring the release of some inmates. The challenge would be to find a way to give victims a voice, balanced with the very real threat facing incarcerated men and women from this disease.

People who have experienced crime often struggle with a sense of powerlessness. Many people don’t realize the burden crime victims’ shoulders in the weeks, months and even years after their victimization. Consequences such as medical bills, hours missed from work, moving expenses can pile up on someone who is still trying to process the trauma of what has been done to them. This impact can be felt even more so when you are the victim of crime at the hands of a loved one. Suddenly child custody, housing, and public benefits are all called into question. Being a victim of any crime is a process full of uncertainties – and that was before COVID-19 changed the entire landscape of crime victims’ rights.

Cases in Washington, DC are covered by both the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA), 18 U.S.C. 3771, and the DC Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights, DC Code Section 23-1901. These two pieces of legislation essentially guarantee crime victims’ rights such as being treated with “fairness and respect,” being notified of court proceedings, and receiving information about the conviction, sentencing, imprisonment, detention, and release of the offender. While these rights do not allow a victim to “direct a prosecution,” they do ensure that victims are given reasonable notice about crucial decisions, such as charging, plea offers, or a defendant’s decision to elect a trial. These rights not only keep victims informed; they are also crucial in keeping victims safe. For instance, if a prosecutor alerts a victim that the defense will be seeking pre-trial release for a defendant that victim can then safety plan with an advocate and take additional precautions to keep themselves safe if the offender is eventually released. Courts and prosecutors work to strike a delicate balance between these rights and the rights of defendants facing a criminal prosecution.

This delicate balance became all the more challenging in light of COVID-19. Many defense attorneys expressed rightful concern that their clients who are elderly, immunocompromised, or had a variety of underlying health issues would not fare well in a correctional facility where many inmates live in close quarters. In response to these concerns the criminal division of the DC Superior Court issued an order creating a “Motion for Release from Detention Based on the COVID-19 Pandemic.” This pleading would allow defense attorneys to argue why an inmate’s condition made them vulnerable to the pandemic allowing the court to weigh that against the charges facing the defendant and the amount of time served. The motion further directed that defense attorneys shall notify the government when filing such a motion.

The team at Network for Victim Recovery DC (NVRDC) advocated to have this order amended to require that “the Government shall certify that is has made efforts consistent with its obligations pursuant to DC Code 23-1902 Notice to crime victims and 18 U.S.C. 3771,” essentially ensuring that prosecutors had to make efforts to alert crime victims if a defendant is even seeking release via a COVID-19 motion. NVRDC made similar arguments in a letter to DC leaders. Notice is crucial for crime victims especially in a time where quarantines have limited the safe places a victim can go and stay. Many victims rely on the homes of elderly relatives as a safer alternative of where to stay if they know their abusers are at liberty; however, in light of risks to older populations this isn’t a viable option for many of our clients. Advocates have been helping connect our clients to Crime Victims Compensation for housing alternatives when victims have expressed a concern for their safety. In additional to all of these reasons, the notice is important because it is a step in returning power to a victim who may have been left feeling powerless after an assault.

In addition to the DC Superior Court’s order the DC Department of Corrections also expanded the “good time credit” for inmates, which is a calculation that allows inmates to earn time off of their sentences for completing months of “good behavior,” i.e. no disciplinary violations. This change in calculations led to several of our attorneys finding out that defendants were to be released within a day. This presents an extra challenge because, unlike a COVID-19 Release Motion, good time credit is decided wholly within the Department of Corrections and many times prosecutors are not alerted when a defendant is released, meaning our crime victims’ rights attorneys are not formally alerted either. Our attorneys have been signing themselves up for automatic notifications available through Department of Corrections to at least be notified when a release occurs. This allows us to give our clients the most up to date information and take any precautions necessary.

As the avenues for a defendant’s release were expanding the DC Public Defender Service filed an emergency motion seeking the release of all inmates serving misdemeanor sentences. NVRDC responded with an amicus brief, not opposing the motion, but asking that the court treat cases of domestic and sexual violence. as well as stalking. on a case-by-case basis affording the victims notice and an opportunity to be heard. NVRDC specifically noted that domestic offenders who reoffend are most likely to do so quickly after their release. Giving victims the opportunity to be heard on these cases allows for case specific requests, such as GPS monitoring or stay away orders, which could directly impact the victim’s safety when there is an articulable basis for concern.

Throughout all of these challenges, NVRDC has recognized the potential safety risk to incarcerated defendants and has never sought to oppose the wide release of incarcerated defendants. The recurrent theme through our motions and briefings has been to give victims a voice in a confusing and uncertain time. It really all goes back to the powerlessness of being a crime victim. NVRDC truly feels that every time we can at least give victims notice, information, and an opportunity to be heard we are helping to replace the loss of power felt by victims of crime. By restoring power, dignity, and self esteem crime victims can thrive and provide thoughtful insight to help the criminal justice system function better, and help judges and prosecutors make the best decisions possible about defendants’ fate. I am proud to work for an organization using creativity, ingenuity, and teamwork to empower crime victims even through an uncertain and confusing time.

This blog post was originally published on April 14, 2020 on the NVRDC website.

Building Community through Virtual Peace Circles

Written by by MJ Park, Executive Director at Little Friends For Peace

Little Friends for Peace (LFFP) has been Circling Up with people of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities and stages for years. Despite the pandemic impacting the entire world, we made the shift to virtual circles in order to continue on with our “check-ins.” We feel now more than ever LFFP needs to help bring people together in order to connect and find tools to help navigate peacefully throughout this new journey.

Since the world has been put to a STOP, this has put added stress on our wellness wheels – impacting our mind, body, and feelings. From the teachings of Pema Chodron, I have learned and believe that when things fall apart we have choices to either fall apart or embrace the experience as an opportunity and time to reset, renew, and rewire ourselves.

During these past three weeks of adjustment to our new normal, LFFP has been doing virtual peace circles for different age groups. It has been amazing and full of connection, inspiration, and practices to help us. Not only to get through these times, but also to see this period as an opportunity to make changes in the way we live and care for ourselves and others.

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LFFP Virtual Peace Circle in Session

As said by one of our virtual peace circle participants: “I think that when the dust settles, we will realize how little we need, how very much we actually have, and the true value of human connection.”

People have been coming to the circle with anxiety, fear, concern, loss of center, feeling less grounded, and loss of connections within the community.

However, after the circles people are leaving the circle feeling more calm, grounded, hopeful, joyful, creative, energized, connected, and motivated to embrace the now. People are given time to reflect on the silver lining and enjoy what they can do and not what they can’t do.

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A Peace Circle Participant at The Father McKenna Center

With compassion and respect as the key ingredients in the virtual peace circles, the Zoom sessions turn into safe and welcoming spaces where everyone can share from the heart when talking about what they are thinking and feeling. To finish off our time together, LFFP leaves the attendees with a peaceful tool with ideas on how to use it in daily life. If put into practice, these tools will help bring yourself as well as others to a more peaceful state.

As another virtual peace circle attendee states: “What I take from this beautiful peace circle is the peace circle per se, like how necessary it is to have more peace circles in the world, and how that can bring more peace culture & education to my country. I learned how necessary it is to do inner work. We need to seize this crisis as an opportunity to redefine what is really important for us and take more joy in the moments we live, in our own realities.”

LFFP will be Circling Up Monday through Friday at 3:00 PM EST with different groups. Check our website for more details and information to sign up. Hope to see you in the circle!

At-Home April: A Community Challenge for Daily Good

During this challenging and uncertain time, we know community is more important than ever. But for most us, that community has to be virtual right now. However, we know that the needs of the community don’t stop during a crisis – and we know many of you are wondering what you can do to help.

That’s why we are announcing a daily challenge for good during the month of April. Throughout the month, we have listed at least one “good thing” you can do each day. From supporting local nonprofits and businesses to helping those in need – there’s a way for all to get involved. Click on the calendar below to check out our daily challenges that you can accomplish from home.

Community is what will get us through this – even though right now it has to be a virtual one. We encourage you to participate in these small actions and more to continue making a difference, close to home. And like always, community is more fun with others so be sure to share!