Someone in Their Corner

One by one, the women stepped forward at the domestic violence conference to share stories of abuse at the hands of people who professed to love them. Through sobs and tears, they told of violent husbands and sons and a justice system slow to come to their rescue.

But they also told of being plucked from the cycle of violence and guided to safety by Ventura County’s contingent of victims’ rights advocates, who every year help hundreds of men, women and children who have become victims of violent crime.

“There is no way I would have ever made it without him,” said Donna Kraft, 35, of Port Hueneme, who first met her advocate--Eric Allison--two years ago while laid up in the hospital after her husband had cracked her ribs and collapsed her lungs.

Allison “was there to encourage me, to accompany me to every court date,” she said. “He held my hand when I cried. He was there with me every step of the way. That kind of support you can never repay.”

On Wednesday, Kraft and others who have fought to regain control of their lives will be recognized during National Victims’ Rights Week with a symbolic walk around the Ventura County Government Center.

And striding alongside them will be more than a dozen advocates who have helped victims of crimes--ranging from attempted murder, muggings, carjackings and rape--navigate the road to recovery.

“The criminal justice system is not victim-friendly,” said Debbie O’Neill, director of the Victim Services Division, an offshoot of the district attorney’s office. “We are there to support them.”

The assistance program was started in the late 1970s with a small government grant and three volunteers.

Two decades later, it boasts 15 full-time advocates and 24 volunteers, many of whom are college students majoring in sociology or criminal justice at Cal Lutheran, Ventura and Moorpark colleges.

Although advocates play many roles, their primary function is to provide a conduit among victims, victims’ families and the criminal justice system.

Advocates keep track of court dates and notify victims of developments in their cases. They help file restraining orders and provide referrals to support groups or shelters.

Although most of the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault are female, the program has two male advocates who are assigned to handle those cases involving victims who are men or boys.

Most recently, the division took over the role of contacting victims when the convicts in their cases are released from prison.

But it is the emotional help, the shoulder to cry on or the hand to grasp during a traumatic court hearing, that can be the most valuable service advocates provide.

“It is very hard to go through this if you have no one to hold your hand. You are facing absolutely the blackest horror that you can imagine,” said Francis, the mother of a crime victim who asked that her last name not be used.

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In 1986, Francis’ husband raped her 16-year-old daughter from a prior marriage. She has spent every year since then trying to shield her family from suffering and keep her ex-husband behind bars.

Without the help of victim advocate Ellie Liston and Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Hardy a decade ago, Francis said she would have lost her mind.

“There is no way I can repay them for what they have done,” she said, explaining how Liston and Hardy were instrumental in arranging four restraining orders against her ex-husband before he was sent to prison.

“Sometimes, I would talk to them almost daily,” she said. “You are under such stress, you can’t possibility think clearly and you need a clear head. And they had the best heads around.”

Francis was quick to speak before the Ventura County Board of Supervisors several years ago when the department was threatened with budget cuts and forced to scale back its operation.

But now, prosecutors say the Victim Services Division stands firmly as one of the largest and most comprehensive victim assistance programs in the state.

“We have come light years from where we were in the 1970s,” said Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury. “We still have a long way to go, but judging from the hundreds of letters we get, we are doing something right.”

At the time the program began, Bradbury said, counties in California were providing nothing in the way of victim support services. When his office launched its program, it quickly became one of the leading ones in the state.

“We were one of the pioneers in California,” he said.

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Last year, the county’s advocates aided 1,155 victims of crime. The division was recently nominated by the city of Simi Valley for the National Victims Services Award, presented by the Justice Department.

The division operates on an annual budget of about $534,000, the bulk of which is paid for by four state grants. And while the division was scaled back as a result of money woes a few years ago, Bradbury said he does not foresee similar cuts in the future.

“I think that everybody now in the justice system and those responsible for funding the justice system fully understand the value” of the program, he said.

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin J. McGee said that crime victims often are in the dark about what the court system expects from them--and what to expect from the system. Victim advocates can serve as their interpreters and guides.

“They are the connection between the outside world and the inside of the system,” adds Matthew Hardy, a deputy district attorney who worked closely with the department for seven years as a sex crimes prosecutor.

“Victims can feel very alone and isolated,” he said. “They can feel very separate from the system. They can start conjuring up all kinds of demons. And what the victim advocates can do is bring them back [to reality].”

Ellie Liston has provided a shoulder to cry on for hundreds of crime victims in her 17 years as a Ventura County victim advocate.

She has helped women beaten and raped regain a sense of security in their lives. She has helped locate shelter for children molested by parents and strangers.

And she has held the hands of fathers and mothers of homicide victims as they face the harsh realities of the criminal justice system.

“This is not a sit-back job,” said Liston, a former nurse who says the reward in her job is helping someone become whole again.

The most difficult cases are those involving children and murder cases involving law enforcement personnel, Liston said. One such case was the recent murder trial of Daniel Allan Tuffree, a former schoolteacher who was convicted of killing Simi Valley Police Officer Michael F. Clark in August 1995. Liston was there to support widow Jenifer Clark and her family through the January trial, and an earlier one that ended in a hung jury.

Liston is currently assigned to helping victims of gang crimes. And as one of the most senior members of the division, she teaches new advocates how to help those who have been affected by crime.

“I teach them the ropes. No. 1, they can’t help everyone who comes in. They have to help that victim or the victim’s family try to gain back what they have lost.”

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Hardy remembers a situation years ago in which a father accused of molesting his child killed himself on the day of his arraignment. Hardy and Liston had to tell the mother when she arrived at the courthouse.

“I can remember walking into the place with Ellie Liston and my mouth opened up and nothing came out,” Hardy recalled. “Ellie just took over.”

Advocates must have 40 hours of state training from the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, as well as 38 hours of training within the Ventura County district attorney’s office. Five victims advocates are scheduled to attend the session in Sacramento in June.

Each full-time advocate in the department has a specialty area, such as domestic violence or sexual assault. Last year, the division added three new specialists in the areas of statutory rape, gang crimes and elder abuse--crimes against the elderly, such as telemarketing scams and other forms of financial abuse, are on the increase, along with cases of physical abuse and neglect.

But the area of largest growth is domestic violence, easily measured in the hundreds of restraining orders that advocates help victims fill out each year.

“That is one area that is mushrooming,” O’Neill said.

Donna Kraft never thought she would make it this far.

Nearly eight years into a marriage that had become progressively more violent, Kraft finally made a decision to leave her husband two years ago. She was beaten and battered and afraid for her life. She said she could not have done it alone.

“It’s really hard to break that cycle and it’s really hard to step out of that life and feel like you’re a whole person,” she said. “And it’s almost impossible to do on your own.”

With her advocate by her side, she started the process of putting her life back together. When she would go to court, the advocate would shield her from her spouse. And when she thought she couldn’t go through with it, her advocate was there for comfort and support.

Today, Kraft volunteers with the city of Ventura’s Domestic Violence Response Team, providing emotional support to domestic violence victims.

And during National Victims’ Rights Week, she will be marching alongside the advocates and other victims of abuse Wednesday to add her voice to the growing outcry in Ventura County against domestic violence.

“I don’t think the advocates get enough recognition,” Kraft said. “They really do stay behind the scenes and make sure they are there for the victims. I really admire what they do, every one of them.”

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FYI

To get help if you have been the victim of a crime, or to volunteer to be a victims’ rights advocate, call 654-3919.