Governor Asks More Aid to Crime Victims

Gov. George Deukmejian called Monday for more money and better organization to further crime victims’ rights in California--already considered a leader in the field.

“New steps are needed to ensure that victims are made fully aware of their rights,” he told participants in a two-day victims’ rights conference in Costa Mesa. About 700 service providers from throughout the state attended the conference, sponsored by the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, the Department of the Youth Authority, the Department of Corrections and the state Board of Control.

Last week, a state task force headed by former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Robert H. Philibosian cited “great strides” following the implementation of Proposition 8, the 1982 “victims’ bill of rights.” But it also criticized two provisions of that bill--the right of victims to speak at sentencing and parole hearings and the right to court-ordered reimbursement.

More Money for Local Centers

In his speech, Deukmejian agreed that victims should be adequately notified of their right to take part in parole hearings involving their assailants. Also, he said that state agencies should be given the power to impose restitution as a condition of parole, and that court-ordered restitution programs need sharper teeth.

He said he will seek more money for local centers that counsel victims, explain their rights and guide witnesses through the criminal justice system, he said.

Deukmejian acknowledged that bureaucratic delays and mismanagement have “prolonged the suffering and postponed the recovery” of crime victims who have filed claims for compensation. “We are taking aggressive steps to correct this situation. We are determined to meet the law that requires us to process claims in an average of no more than 90 days,” he said.

In the last five years, funds to reimburse crime victims have risen 300%, he said, but not enough to match the jump in the number of claims. In 1987, the state received more than 14,000 claims and paid nearly $34 million for the benefit of victims, he said.

Last year, Orange County victims were reimbursed $4.5 million through the Victim/Witness Assistance Program, said Barbara Phillips, director of the victim/witness program, one of six programs in the state to be honored at the conference Monday. The program has helped 9,000 victims so far this year, Phillips said.

Philibosian, who also spoke Monday, said he was gratified by Deukmejian’s swift and positive response to findings of the task force. Also receiving favorable response were the panel’s proposals that a statewide audit and computer program be used by courts to uniformly impose fines and restitution conditions, and that a portion of prisoners’ wages and drug dealers’ assets be tapped directly for the crime victims fund.

Another speaker Monday was Janice Rench, 47, who explained how a child abuse victim felt four decades ago when “it was felt families could do what they wanted with family members.” Rench said she showed her bruises from her mother’s beatings to teachers and ministers, but they told her to go home and try to behave better. Eventually, she was placed in a foster home, but there, she said, her foster father raped her. When she complained that time, authorities placed her in a mental institution.

Eventually, through counseling and seeking her own role models, Rench was able to start life over.

Now 47 and an Ohio-based author and lecturer on victims’ rights, Rench urged continued support for victims. “California is a leader in the nation,” she said. “But clearly we need more funds, more education, more conferences so that people understand that the victimization of one in our community is the victimization of all.”