Every five days, a Virginian is killed by an intimate partner.
The incidence for domestic violence in Rappahannock County is equally staggering: 100 or more of its approximate 7,500 citizens most likely face abuse by a loved one each year, equating to roughly 1.33 percent of its population. Seven out of 10 abuse victims are women nationally, and of the 24,072 arrests in 2010 for abuse in Virginia, only 21.7 percent resulted in convictions.
In a September 2012 report compiled by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, Rappahannock County averaged 24 arrests related to domestic violence between 2006 and 2010.
Culpeper-based Services to Abused Families (SAFE) reports that this equates to an average of 3.8 arrests each year per 1,000 people in Rappahannock, a median when compared to other counties in SAFE’s service area: Culpeper averages 5.2 arrests; 4.7 in Madison; and 2.2 in both Fauquier and Orange. Virginia’s overall 2010 state average was 4.1 arrests.
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The University of Virginia Women's Center is launching a new challenge for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The Women's Center's Sexual and Domestic Violence Services received a grant from the Avon Foundation last spring to fund this project. Organizers say it gives students a unique opportunity to think about how to reduce gender violence on campus.
The UVA Women's Center will formally launch the gender violence prevention social media and PSA challenge on Wednesday.
Interested students can work in teams of up to six to make a two-prong project, consisting of a 30-second video PSA and a social media campaign plan.
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VIRGINIA BEACH -- Students at Regent University pitched in to help victims of sexual assault Friday.
Regent hosted the non-profit group, Fear 2 Freedom, to help make 300 comfort kits for those suffering from sexual abuse. 100 students packed boxes full of sweat pants, toiletries, and teddy bears.
They may seem like everyday items, but Rosemary Trible, founder of Fear 2 Freedom, says these comfort kits have special meaning to those hospitalized after sexual abuse.
"Individuals don't understand, when someone goes to the hospital after sexual assault, domestic violence, or even child abuse, that all of their clothes have to be kept for evidence. and it broke my heart realizing that they've been leaving in paper scrubs," said Trible.
Trible, a victim of sexual assault herself, was joined Friday by Brook Bello, a survivor of human trafficking and advocate against sexual abuse. "What she does is extraordinary,” said Bello. “Not just kids who are victims of human trafficking, but kids who have been raped, molested, or violated in some way."
200 kits were delivered by ambulance to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital to help forensic nurses there begin the healing process for patients. Another 100 kits were donated to the YWCA in Norfolk.
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Domestic violence and rape crisis service providers across the country have received notice from federal officials that if the government shutdown carries on past Friday, they will no longer have access to the federal funds that keep them open and running, leaving countless victims stranded.
As Bryce Covert at ThinkProgress notes, some of these facilities may be able to weather the funding freeze while others, specifically rural programs that rely heavily on federal money, are looking at the possibility of laying off staff or shutting down entirely. A domestic violence and rape crisis service provider in California shared her (or his) experiencein the face of the funding crisis, along with the letter alerting centers to the freeze, with Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish:
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The level of uncertainty for domestic violence victims and the programs that serve them increased today, this first day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, as the federal government shut down due to an unfinished funding bill.
Domestic violence victims often rely on government supports to maintain their safety and economic stability in times of crisis. For instance, many victims of domestic violence depend on safety net benefits, like the federally-funded Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) program. This and other federally-supported benefits are threatened by a government shutdown that lasts more than a few days.
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ROANOKE -- Nicole Harold works at the Western Laboratory which is one of the four state labs across Virginia. The labs work with local law enforcement to process evidences for crimes like rape.
"Any PERK that is submitted to our laboratory we will work," says Nicole Harold, DFS Western Lab.
A PERK is also known as a rape kit that consists of swabs and smears of evidence taken from the victim. A problem that's happened nationwide is some of these kits were used but never tested and put away because of budget cuts.
Here in the Commonwealth Forensic Labs are seeing a backlog as well. We checked with Virginia's Department of Forensic Science and they tell us that the Commonwealth has seen a thousand untested cases including rape in 2010. But so far this year, there's only a backlog of 111 sexual assault cases.
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A community forum is planned to discuss ways to prevent it. Roanoke Councilman Sherman Lea is hosting Strengthening Families: A Community Conversation about Family and Intimate Partner Violence on Sept. 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibit Hall. The program, sponsored by the city of Roanoke and Total Action for Progress, is free and open to all to attend.
“We’re hoping to have a good crowd and a good strong, frank conversation about domestic violence and do whatever we can to strengthen our families,” Lea said.
Lea became a crusader against domestic violence after a series of tragic events in 2005. Early efforts were city-centric, but Lea is seeking to reach out to the broader community because domestic violence is not confined to the city’s borders.
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Virginia Military Institute says procedures weren’t followed in the reporting of a female cadet’s sexual assault claim.
VMI spokesman Stewart MacInnis said the 2010 claim was supposed to be reported to the school’s inspector general, who didn’t learn about it until eight months later.
The Roanoke Times reports the cadet told a school official in November 2010 that a senior staff member assaulted her that evening while she was a guest in his off-campus home during the Thanksgiving holiday break.
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Plans are underway for a movie about Kemba Smith Pradia’s life as a young woman whose tumultuous four-year relationship with a major drug dealer landed her in prison under a 24-year mandatory sentence.
The Virginia native hasn’t given much thought to whom she would like to see in the title role of the movie that is being scripted from her self-published book “Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story.”
“I’m a very humble type individual. I just want God to do what needs to be done so it can be impactful,” Pradia said in telephone interview.
The movie will show that Pradia was doomed until President Bill Clinton granted clemency to her and others who faced extreme sentences because of mandatory sentencing guidelines. She served almost seven years of her sentence.
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When a woman reports a rape, she is given a forensic evidence exam--known informally, as a rape kit. But the rape kits used by hospitals all over the country are using a technique that puts women with dark skin at a disadvantage.
The first thing that happens when a woman goes to the University of Virginia hospital and reports a rape--she’s offered choices. "So when a victim comes in, we find out what the victim wants to do. At a minimum, we’ll make sure that the victim is physically okay," says UVA nurse and researcher Kathryn Laughon.
The victim is offered medication to prevent STDs and pregnancy. An advocate is called to offer support for her. Then, if the victim is interested in pursuing criminal charges, the hospital performs a sexual assault forensic evidence exam, also known as a rape kit. "And that is a physical exam looking for any kind of injury, not just injury that is medically useful, but small scrapes, and bruises. We document using photography any evidence we see, we collect samples if there’s any debris attached to the body so that it can be preserved for later forensic evaluation."
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