Attorney General’s Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series: Confronting Domestic Violence
Every year in Virginia, thousands of individuals and families are touched by violence in their own homes. In 2007 alone, 38,798 calls were made to the statewide domestic and sexual violence hotline, and more than 6,500 adults and children received emergency and temporary shelter services from local domestic violence shelter programs. (Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, 2007.) In addition, roughly one in three homicides are related to family and intimate partner violence. (Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, 2008.)
In an effort to promote public awareness of domestic violence and the issues faced by victims, families, and communities, the Office of the Attorney General has launched a brown bag lunch lecture series. Lectures throughout 2009 will focus on a number of domestic violence related topics including the impact on children and animals, the threat posed by technology, and the response to domestic violence in the workplace. The series is open to local prosecutors, law enforcement officers, attorneys, court personnel, state agency representatives, advocates, and others interested in learning more about these important topics.
October 15, 2009
Lecture #4: Technology: A Threat and Safety Net for Victims of Domestic Violence and Stalking
Technology can both help and harm victims of domestic violence and stalking. This session will provide an overview of Virginia’s technology laws and how these laws can afford protection to victims. Presenters will also discuss how technology can be used as an instrument of harm and how victims can take affirmative steps to protect themselves in this technology-driven society.
With Featured Speakers:
George McLaughlin, Investigator, Computer Crimes Section, Office of the Attorney General
Stacy Ruble, Domestic Violence Advocacy Coordinator/Grants Manager, Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance
Detective Bernard “Mac” Adams, Richmond Police Department
Thursday, October 15, 2009
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
Office of the Attorney General Auditorium
900 E. Main Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Click here to view flyer for more information
Virginia’s 5th Indigenous Women’s Conference and Retreat - “Healing the Hurts”
November 19-20 , 2009
Great Wolf Lodge
Williamsburg, VirginiaPlease see attached flyer for more information, or contact Melissa Roberson at mdickert@oag.state.va.us, or (804) 692-0592.
Policy, Practice, Partnership: Building Safer Communities Through a Coordinated Response to Domestic Violence
September 30-October 2, 2009
Holiday Inn Koger Center South
Richmond, VirginiaThe Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Criminal Justice Services, the Virginia State Police, the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, are sponsoring a statewide domestic violence conference, “Policy, Practice, Partnership: Building Safer Communities Through a Coordinated Response to Domestic Violence.”
This statewide, multi-disciplinary conference will focus on the importance of collaboration in improving the community response to domestic violence. This conference is geared toward law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, magistrates, clerks, victim advocates, victim-witness personnel, fatality review team members, and allied professionals who work in their communities to ensure the safety of victims of domestic violence and hold offenders accountable. Local teams are strongly encouraged to attend.
The conference will feature national speakers including:
Ellen Pence, noted author and nationally known expert on coordinated community response teams (CCRs)
Neil Websdale, author and co-founder of the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative
Workshops on current law, best practices, and promising approaches will provide participants with tools to improve the local response to domestic violence. Some of the topics include:
- Overcoming obstacles to effective community collaboration
- Promising practices for the court’s response to domestic violence
- Evidence-based prosecution
- Cross-warrants, bond motions, and sentencing options in domestic violence cases
- Prosecuting marital sexual assault cases
- Identifying the predominant aggressor
- Building a fatality review team
- Effective use and monitoring of Batterer Intervention Programs
- Service and enforcement issues for protective orders
- Effective advocacy for victims
To view the Save the Date! Announcement, please visit: www.vsdvalliance.org/secProjects/GEAP%20Save%20the%20date
%20postcardFINAL.pdf.Registration for this conference will begin in July, 2009. Please visit the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance’s training calendar for registration information: www.vsdvalliance.org/secProjects/trainingcalendar.html.
For more information, please contact Corie Tillman Wolf, Office of the Attorney General, at (804) 786-9593, or cwolf@oag.state.va.us.