Guest Host Biographies Archive

OVC Web Forum Guest Host sessions offer an impressive roster of experts discussing best practices for a wide variety of victim issues. You can read about past guest hosts here by clicking on their names.

Jeannette Adkins
8/31/06 online discussion host
Topic: Rural Victimization Assistance

Jeannette Adkins is Executive Director of the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA). Prior to her appointment as NOVA's Executive Director in April 2005, she served for 23 years as Director of the Victim/Witness Division of the Greene County Prosecutor's Office in Xenia, Ohio. She has a passion for turning the grassroots victim assistance field into a professional one, which she expressed through "An Argument for National Credentialing of Victim Service Providers," an article published in the National Center for Victims of Crime's Networks magazine in 2001. She has a long history of both paid and volunteer work in the victim advocacy field, as a national training consultant for NOVA and as a Certified Crisis Responder on NOVA's National Crisis Response Team. She also has provided extensive training to professionals in the area of crime victim issues as an adjunct professor and as both a state and national trainer.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recently appointed Adkins to the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women. She is also an appointed member of the Ohio Attorney General's Victim Advisory Board. In addition, she served two terms on the Ohio Governor's Task Force on the Investigation and Prosecution of Child Sexual Abuse, and has served in an advisory capacity on many other boards and groups involving crime victimization and victim services. NOVA published her book The ABC's of Crime Victim Advocacy: Essential Attributes in 2005, and she recently completed Lily Lightning Bug and the Stolen Glow, a book designed for use with child victims and witnesses. Adkins holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's of education in counseling and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Ohio. She is a Credentialed Advocate With Advanced Standing with the National Advocate Credentialing Program, and holds a certificate of Registered Advocate With Senior Standing from the Ohio Advocate Network-both organizations that she helped found. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Tracy Bahm
1/27/06 online discussion host
Topic: Sexual Assault and Stalking

In June of 2002, Tracy Bahm joined the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) as Director of the Stalking Resource Center to help raise national awareness about stalking and to encourage the development and implementation of multidisciplinary responses to stalking in local communities across the country. Since joining NCVC, she has trained thousands of practitioners on all aspects of stalking, including the technology used to stalk and stalking and sexual assault. She serves on the advisory boards of numerous national and international organizations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriffs' Association. Ms. Bahm has written numerous articles on stalking, domestic violence, and sexual assault over the years and is a national authority on stalking who is often quoted in the media.

Ms. Bahm was a Senior Attorney in the Violence Against Women Program at the American Prosecutors Research Institute where she served as a faculty member and lecturer at numerous domestic violence and sexual assault programs. She received her bachelor's in psychology from the University of Kansas and her juris doctorate from the University of Houston.

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Dianne Barker-Harrold
7/12/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Identity Theft in Indian Country

Dianne Barker-Harrold is a Program Manager for Unified Solutions Tribal Community Development Group, Inc., which provides training and technical assistance for tribal victim programs across the nation. She also is an adjunct instructor of Native American studies at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma; Associate Tribal Judge for the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma; and advisor to the chief of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees in Oklahoma, where she formerly served as Attorney General. Previously, she was an elected district attorney for four counties that included the jurisdiction of the United Keetoowah Band mentioned above and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Recently, Unified Solutions' Training and Technical Assistance Newsletter featured her article "Fraud and Exploitation," in which she outlined the problem of identity theft and how it affects tribal members. Ms. Barker-Harrold also is an independent consultant with a focus in Indian Country in the areas of crime victims, law enforcement, needs assessment, program development, domestic violence, juvenile law, elder abuse, and methamphetamine crimes. She has worked on numerous drug-related cases that involved elder abuse and identity theft in Indian Country.

Ms. Barker-Harrold's past experience includes teaching criminal law, business law, and social work and the law for 10 years as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She also worked in private practice for 18 years, during which time she served as tribal court judge for 13 Indian tribes in Oklahoma. She has a bachelor's degree in social work and psychology with a minor in criminal justice and humanities. She obtained her juris doctor at the University of Tulsa, College of Law. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Doug Beloof
4/27/05 online discussion host
Topic: Rights of Sexual Assault Victims

Professor Doug Beloof is a prolific author, an active litigator, a learned scholar, a keen public policy consultant, and a social visionary. Recognizing the need for a national organization to protect, advance, and enforce the legal rights of crime victims in the criminal justice system, he created the National Crime Victim Law Institute (NCVLI) in 2000. NCVLI is a nonprofit agency located at Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, and provides technical assistance and training to attorneys who provide direct legal services to victims, including the annual Crime Victim Law and Litigation Conference. Regularly consulted by attorneys litigating victims' sexual assault issues, Prof. Beloof has a wide variety of experience in this area, which includes prosecuting criminals in the sexual assault unit of the county encompassing Portland; establishing child multidisciplinary teams; working on antiviolence against women legislation; litigating cases in state supreme courts concerning rape, including the definition of rape and confidentiality issues; and authoring a law review article advocating for rape victim standing to enforce rape shield laws in trial and appellate courts. He also teaches rape law in his criminal law course and procedures related to rape in his own course, Victims in Criminal Procedure. Prof. Beloof authored the accompanying text for this course, which shares the same name. Victims in Criminal Procedure continues to be the only legal textbook on crime victims' rights.

Before creating NCVLI, Prof. Beloof was a violent crime prosecutor in Portland and then later became the director of the Multnomah County Victim Assistance Program. Prof. Beloof's other work in victim law includes researching and analyzing developments, assisting victims and other members of the public by providing information on crime victim laws, and filing amicus briefs advocating for victims in court. He has received recognition from Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the National Organization for Victim Assistance. A sought-after authority, Prof. Beloof has testified before the U.S. House and Senate Judiciary Committees and has been cited by the Senate Judiciary Committee as a leading expert on victim laws. This year, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales honored Prof. Beloof with a National Crime Victims' Rights Week Award for professional innovation in victim services. His dedication to furthering the rights of crime victims leads him to cross divides, finding allies and partners in diverse movements and communities.

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Lucy Berliner
5/24/06 online discussion co-host
Topic: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Lucy Berliner is the Director of the Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress, an organization that helps people affected by sexual assault and other traumatic events. The center focuses mainly on providing education and consultation for health, mental health, and legal professionals; conducting research and evaluation; and promoting prevention. Ms. Berliner is also a Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, both at the University of Washington. Her activities include clinical practice with child and adult victims of trauma and crime; research on the impact of trauma and the effectiveness of clinical and societal interventions; and participation in local and national social policy initiatives to promote the interests of trauma and crime victims.

Ms. Berliner is on the editorial boards of leading journals concerned with interpersonal violence, has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and serves on local and national boards of organizations, programs, and professional societies. She received her master's degree in social work from the University of Washington. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Sarah M. Buel
10/27/04 online discussion host
Topic: Domestic Violence

Sarah Buel has spent the past 26 years working with battered women, abused children, and juveniles within the legal system. Currently, Ms. Buel is a Clinical Professor at the University of Texas School of Law, having started then co-directed their Domestic Violence Clinic. Ms. Buel is co-founder of the University of Texas Voices Against Violence program that has developed a system of comprehensive, coordinated services for victims of sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking. Professor Buel has served as Special Counsel for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, providing training, technical, and case assistance to prosecutors throughout Texas. For six years she was a prosecutor, most of that time with the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office in Quincy, Massachusetts, helping to establish their award-winning domestic violence and juvenile programs. Previously, Ms. Buel served as a victim advocate, state policy coordinator, and legal aid paralegal.

As a domestic violence survivor, Ms. Buel has been committed to improving the court and community response to abuse victims. She was a welfare mother for a short time before spending 7 years working full time in the day and going to school at night to obtain her undergraduate degree in 1987. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1990, where she founded the Harvard Battered Women's Advocacy Project, the Harvard Women in Prison Project, and the Harvard Children and Family Rights Project.

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Florrie Burke
3/16/05 online discussion host
Topic: Human Trafficking

Florrie Burke (FBurke@safehorizon.org) is the Senior Director of International Programs at Safe Horizon in New York City, where she oversees the anti-trafficking program and the Solace Program for Survivors of Torture and Refugee Trauma. Ms. Burke has been working with trafficked persons since 1997 when she created specialized social services for 60 Mexicans who were deaf and who were slaves in a peddling ring in New York. She is a sought-after authority on trauma and trafficking—providing training, consultation, and presentation services to individuals and organizations internationally. Her work includes training and mentoring the Doctors of the World, federal prosecutors, ICE and FBI investigators, and Vermont Service Center adjudicators on the dynamics of trafficking and its psychological impact on victims. Through an OVC grant, she also provides training and technical assistance to OVC grantees with such sessions as Human Trafficking and Slavery: Basic Tools for an Effective Response. Ms. Burke also helped found Freedom Network USA, a national network of service providers, attorneys, and other advocates who work with trafficked and enslaved persons and provide regional trainings throughout the country. She is an adjunct professor for Cross Cultural Counseling at New York University, former Executive Director of the Lexington Center for Mental Health in New York City, and former Clinical Director at the Center on Deafness at the University of California in San Francisco.

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Laurie V. Caldwell
5/23/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Addressing Cases With Missing or Unidentified Victims

Laurie V. Caldwell, MSW, is a Senior Agent with the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and Director of the Nathan M. Wolfe Law Enforcement Cadet Academy. She joined SLED in 1986 and was assigned to the Missing Person Information Center, then transferred to criminal investigations in the Midlands Region in 1992. When asked by law enforcement or the Department of Social Services, Agent Caldwell conducts forensic interviews of children. Since 1986, her work has been devoted to the safety and recovery of abused children, and to educating others in this field. She has provided training to law enforcement, social services, and school personnel throughout South Carolina. She also has been a guest instructor at the North Carolina Justice Academy; the Metropolitan Police Institute in Miami, Florida; and the Royal Bahamas Police Department.

Agent Caldwell has pursued advanced educational opportunities for herself as well—at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville, and the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. She has received specialized training in the areas of physical and sexual abuse and has investigated these cases statewide. Agent Caldwell holds a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies and a master's degree in social work, all from the University of South Carolina. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Olegario Cantos VII
02/21/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Serving Crime Victims With Disabilities

Blind since birth, Olegario “Ollie” Cantos VII is Associate Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Executive Office of the President. The highest placed person with a disability in the Federal Government today, one of his chief responsibilities involves coordinating the formation and implementation of national policy across federal agencies regarding people with disabilities. Working on numerous fronts to advance disability rights enforcement, Mr. Cantos has served on several committees such as the Attorney General's Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities. In this and other prominent roles, he fostered closer ties between the U.S. Department of Justice and disability rights leaders. Mr. Cantos was the first and only person ever to serve as General Counsel and Director of Programs for the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). Prior to joining AAPD in June 2002, he was a Staff Attorney and Director of Outreach and Education at the Disability Rights Legal Center (formerly the Western Law Center for Disability Rights) in Los Angeles.

Mr. Cantos has written several articles and other publications and given presentations nationwide to disability rights activists, civil rights leaders, attorneys and other legal professionals, government officials, and more. Among other publications, he wrote a California primer for crime victims with disabilities and their families and a widely circulated lead article for the National Center for Victims of Crime entitled “We Can Do Better: Serving Crime Victims With Disabilities.” He has received numerous awards for his work in the disability field, such as the Robert Stack Award from the Blind Children's Center and the Paul G. Hearne National Leadership Award from AAPD. Mr. Cantos has also worked with national leaders of disability rights organizations and high-ranking officials from the White House and various federal departments to provide a consumer's perspective on policies that affect the disability community. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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S. Daniel Carter
7/27/06 online discussion host
Topic: Campus Victimization and Assistance Services

S. Daniel Carter is the Senior Vice President of Security On Campus, Inc. (SOC), a national nonprofit organization devoted to assisting the victims of violence on college campuses and to improving campus security. The organization has been the driving force behind the Federal Clery Act and nearly 30 other state and federal laws that address reporting campus crime and victims' rights.

Mr. Carter has been working to improve victims' rights and campus safety for more than 15 years. He has worked on every amendment to the Clery Act since 1992-including the Campus Sexual Assault Victims' Bill of Rights-and currently serves as SOC's lead crime victim advocate. Mr. Carter holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Nancy Chandler
5/25/05 online discussion host
Topic: Child Victims

Since April 1994, Nancy Chandler has served as the Executive Director of the National Children's Alliance (NCA)—a nonprofit membership organization that represents more than 500 Children's Advocacy Centers throughout the United States. NCA provides training, technical assistance, and networking opportunities to communities seeking to plan, establish, and improve Children's Advocacy Centers. As Executive Director, Ms. Chandler's responsibilities include overall leadership and management of NCA's finances, resource development, training, program development, communications, membership services, and supervision of staff. Since becoming Executive Director, Ms. Chandler has spoken at more than 300 conferences and workshops throughout the country. She is on the National Advisory Committee for Darkness to Light—a primary prevention program aimed at reducing the incidence and consequence of child sexual abuse—and is a Warden of the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C.

Before moving to Washington, Ms. Chandler served as the Executive Director of the Memphis Child Advocacy Center, where she was instrumental in formulating plans for the operations of the center, coordinating the work of the multidisciplinary team, fundraising, and collaborating on the renovation of the center. She is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers and the National Association of Social Workers, which named her Tennessee Social Worker of the Year in 1994. Ms. Chandler was also a member of Leadership Memphis and a founding board member of the National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers. She received her master's degree in social work from the University of Georgia.

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Sharon D'Eusanio
02/21/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Serving Crime Victims With Disabilities

Sharon D'Eusanio is the Assistant Director of the Division of Victim Services and Criminal Justice Programs for the Office of the Florida Attorney General. She has acted as a consultant for the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office on Violence Against Women, and she serves on the Board of Directors for the Coalition for Independent Living Options, Inc., and CrimeStoppers of Broward County, Florida. She has also served in focus groups, on advisory boards, and on various steering and other committees for local, state, and national agencies and organizations.

In May of 1980, Ms. D'Eusanio became the victim of a violent crime, which nearly took her life and left her blind. She then began her transformation from crime victim to community activist, author, professional speaker, trainer, and consultant. Her message of hope, perseverance, and determination is reflected in her presentations and her autobiography, Feel the Laughter. Ms. D'Eusanio has received several local, state, and national awards for her work in the victim assistance field, including the National Crime Victim Service Award presented by President Reagan in 1985. In 2005, the March of Dimes named her one of their “Women of Distinction” in Broward County. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dana DeHart
03/28/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Victim Service Provider Standards and Certification Issues

Dana DeHart, Ph.D., is a consultant for state and federal government programs, health departments, and universities, among others. She specializes in victimology, particularly domestic abuse, trauma responses, and underserved populations. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator developing the Elder Mistreatment Prevention Training program for the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. She was the Project Director for the Office for Victims of Crime's (OVC's) National Victim Assistance Standards Consortium, as well as the Principal Investigator on related projects, including the Ethics in Victim Services CD–ROM draft curriculum developed with OVC and the Victim Assistance Legal Organization (VALOR). Dr. DeHart also served as Project Director for the National Institute of Justice's study, Victimization Experiences of Incarcerated Women, and she is extending that work in her current study, Poly-victimization of Girls Referred to the Justice System.

In addition, Dr. DeHart has served as an evaluator for OVC's Collaborative Response to Crime Victims in Urban Areas initiative, an effort to link faith-based and secular services in five U.S. cities. She has conducted research on battered women's recovery, batterer treatment, psychological abuse, intimate homicide, hate crimes, and service use among ethnic and sexual minorities. Dr. DeHart also is a reviewer for leading psychological journals and publishers, has co-authored several book chapters, and has been published in Violence & Victims and the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Journal of Family Violence, Journal of Death & Dying, and Journal of Sex Research. She received her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1995. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dan Eddy
11/14/2006 online discussion host
Topic: Crime Victim Compensation and Best Practices

Dan Eddy has been the Executive Director of the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards since 1988. In this role, he implements national training and technical assistance activities for all state victim compensation programs, operates an information and resource center on compensation issues, and represents compensation program interests with the Federal Government. Prior to this position, he was director of the Crime Victims Project for the National Association of Attorneys General. In 2001, Mr. Eddy received the Donald Santarelli Award for Outstanding Public Service from the National Organization for Victim Assistance for his contributions in the public policy arena. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Maryland School of Law.

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Carroll Ann Ellis
11/8/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Working with Survivors of Traumatic Events

Carroll Ann Ellis is Director of the Victim Services Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. She has supported the needs of victims for more than 30 years, providing training and technical assistance to national, state, and local agencies; monitoring victim legislation; and working on public policy issues of concern to victims of crime. Ms. Ellis has received countless awards and citations including a 2004 National Crime Victims' Rights Week Service Award and the American Society of Victimology Ed Stout Award. She facilitated the first police-based homicide support group, and was recently appointed to serve on Governor Tim Kaine's Virginia Tech Independent Review Panel.

Ms. Ellis has a master's degree in Psychology and is a graduate of Leadership Fairfax, Inc. She serves on Governor Kaine's Commission on Sexual Assault and is a member of the U.S. Department of Justice's Review Panel on Prison Rape. Ms. Ellis has authored numerous articles, manuals, and textbooks, including the first and second editions of Emergency Forensic Medicine. She also developed the first police shelter designed to immediately house domestic violence victims in need of emergency support. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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John M. Evans
12/15/06 online discussion co-host
Topic: Serving Victims of Impaired Driving

12/22/05 online discussion co-host
Topic: Drunk Driving

John Evans currently serves as the National Victim Services Training Manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Through MADD, Mr. Evans directly supports victims of crime and the advocates who serve them. He provides oversight for all of MADD's Beginning and Advanced Victim Assistance Training Institutes; Death Notification Seminars for first responders and allied professionals; Victim Impact Panels/Classes Training; and Speaking with Impact Seminars for victim survivors. He also oversees development for MADD's annual national conference workshops and online tributes for drunk driving crash victims, in addition to facilitating "Monday Night Chat," the weekly Web-based victims/survivors support group.

Mr. Evans was trained and certified as a MADD Victim Advocate shortly after his personal victimization by a drunk driver in 1992. He is well known for his expertise in the areas of bereavement and injury survivorship following crime victimization, and he has instructed a wide variety of service providers including law enforcement officers, clergy, chaplains, criminal justice personnel, funeral directors, and mental health and victim services professionals. Mr. Evans has also served as consultant to the Office for Victims of Crime on crime victim services for people with disabilities and is a presenter for OVC's Training and Technical Assistance Center. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dr. David Finkelhor
10/25/2006 online discussion co-host
Topic: Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

David Finkelhor, Ph.D., is Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, Co-Director of the Family Research Laboratory, and a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire. He has been studying the problems of child victimization, child maltreatment, and family violence since 1977. In his recent work, Dr. Finkelhor has tried to unify and integrate knowledge about all the diverse forms of child victimization in a field he has termed "developmental victimology." He is well known for his conceptual and empirical work on the problem of child sexual abuse, reflected in publications such as Sourcebook on Child Sexual Abuse (Sage Publications, 1986) and Nursery Crimes (Sage Publications, 1988). He has also written about child homicide, missing and abducted children, children exposed to domestic and peer violence, and family violence.

Dr. Finkelhor is editor and author of 11 books and more than150 journal articles and book chapters. He has received grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, and the U.S. Department of Justice, among others. He received the Distinguished Child Abuse Professional Award from the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children in 1994, and the Significant Achievement Award from the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers in 2004. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Jay Foley
2/23/05 online discussion co-host
Topic: Identity Theft

Mr. Jay Foley is cofounder and director of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). Serving as ITRC's primary criminal justice contact, he assists law enforcement officials and victims throughout the country. Mr. Foley is a member of several law enforcement, government, and legislative task forces and has testified at legislative hearings in Congress and in California and Texas. His experience in the U.S. Navy and study to become both a Microsoft-certified systems engineer and a Microsoft-certified database administrator have proved to be invaluable in understanding technology, identifying solutions, and anticipating future trends. A popular presenter and trainer, Mr. Foley has served as a knowledgeable source for CNN, The Today Show, Right on the Money, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Sun, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, PC Magazine, and the Associated Press.

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Stephanie Frogge
5/29/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Providing Peer Support to Disaster Survivors

Stephanie Frogge is the Director of Survivor Services for Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), a peer support organization for those whose loved ones die while serving in the military. She gives lectures on juvenile delinquency, victimology, victim services delivery, domestic violence, and criminology for the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where she also mentors undergraduate students in the university's Victim Studies program. She has more than 25 years of experience in the areas of victim services administration, victim assistance, and victim activism, having written and lectured extensively on victim assistance issues. She has presented hundreds of workshops, lectures, and keynote presentations around the United States. Ms. Frogge has been involved for a number of years with State and National Victim Assistance Academies funded by OVC. Her roles have included faculty, site coordinator, and curriculum developer.

Ms. Frogge assisted with the development of the National Institute for Victim Studies—which represented the first-ever collaboration between a national victims' rights organization and academia—to study and promote victim-related issues and scholarship. Prior to joining TAPS, she was the National Director of Victim Services at Mothers Against Drunk Driving's (MADD's) national office, overseeing the organization's internationally recognized victim services programs. While with MADD, she helped develop their death notification curricular and the first training program for clergy and funeral directors who work with homicide survivors. She was also editor and primary author for MADDvocate magazine. Ms. Frogge is a Certified Trauma Specialist and holds a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Texas Christian University and a master's degree in Theological Studies from Brite Divinity School. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Mario Gaboury
03/28/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Victim Service Provider Standards and Certification Issues

Mario T. Gaboury, J.D., Ph.D., is Professor and Chair for the Department of Criminal Justice, University of New Haven (UNH), where he also directs the Crime Victim Study Center. In 2007, he was named to a 3-year appointment as the university's first Oskar Schindler Humanities Endowed Professor. In these capacities, he is involved in field research and evaluation, professional training, program development and strategic planning, and legal-policy development initiatives. Dr. Gaboury is currently researching human trafficking issues in South Africa, mental health issues in Vietnam, and victim impact education programs for offenders in California, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia. Prior to joining UNH, he served as Deputy Director of the Office for Victims of Crime, where he helped design victim and witness assistance programs. He has also served as a legislative specialist for the National Organization for Victim Assistance and has practiced private law with an emphasis on representing crime victims' interests and children's legal rights.

Dr. Gaboury is currently chairing the Working Group that is revising the curriculum for the National Victim Assistance Academy (NVAA), where he served previously as a senior faculty member and Academic Coordinator. He is also the Academic Director of the Connecticut Victim Assistance Academy and Institute for Advanced Victim Advocacy. Dr. Gaboury is President of the American Society of Victimology, is an active member of the World Society of Victimology, and serves on the International Victimology/Victim Assistance Course Committee. He served a 5-year term on the Advisory Board to the Connecticut Office of the Victim Advocate, which he chaired for 1 year. He is a former Chair of the Connecticut Bar Association's Victims Committee and Vice Chair of the American Bar Association's Crime Victim Committee. Dr. Gaboury received his Ph.D. in human development and family studies from Pennsylvania State University and his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Jerry Gardner
6/08/05 online discussion host
Topic: Serving Victims of Crime in Indian Country

An attorney with more than 25 years of experience working with Indian tribes, tribal courts, and victims of crime in Indian Country, Jerry Gardner (Cherokee) is the Executive Director of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute. An Indian-owned and operated nonprofit corporation, the institute designs and delivers education, research, training, and technical assistance programs that promote the improvement of justice in Indian Country and the health, well-being, and culture of native peoples.

The issues that Indian crime victims face, especially those of victims of child abuse and violence against Indian women, have been a focus of Mr. Gardner's training and technical assistance expertise. He has designed, developed, and delivered training sessions and technical materials that relate to child abuse and domestic violence to national tribal courts. Mr. Gardner also designed and developed model child abuse and violence against Indian women tribal codes and codes designed to meet the needs of specific tribes. Mr. Gardner also created the Tribal Court Clearinghouse (www.tribal-institute.org), a comprehensive Web site that serves as a resource for tribal courts, victim service providers, and others involved in improving justice in Indian Country. The Tribal Court Clearinghouse provides extensive links to information that facilitate using technological innovations and the vast information available on the Internet in administering tribal justice.

In addition to his role as Executive Director of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute, Mr. Gardner serves as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Law and an appellate court judge for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota.

Previously, Mr. Gardner was an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law and administrator for the National American Indian Court Judges Association. He was the senior staff attorney for the National Indian Justice Center (NIJC) from its establishment in 1983 until December 1996. In this position, he had primary responsibility for NIJC's training and technical assistance grants with OVC, including the Native American Children's Justice Act, Victims Assistance in Indian Country, and Indian Nations Conference grants. Mr. Gardner also worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the national office of the Legal Services Corporation, and the American Indian Lawyer Training Program.

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Linda Goldman-Foley
2/23/05 online discussion co-host
Topic: Identity Theft

Ms. Linda Goldman-Foley is cofounder and director of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), a nationwide nonprofit identity theft program based in San Diego, California. ITRC supports identity theft victims in self-advocacy, and broadens consumer, corporate, governmental, and legislative awareness of identity theft issues. Attorney General John Ashcroft honored the ITRC in 2004 with a National Crime Victims' Rights Week Award for its work as an information repository and direct services program for victims, consumers, businesses, governmental agencies, law enforcement, legislators, and the media.

A popular authority on identity theft, Ms. Goldman-Foley has provided testimony and information at both the national and state levels. She has also appeared in informational videos for the American Bar Association and Traveler's Insurance and has contributed her expertise to the Montel Show, CNN, The Today Show, Right on the Money, Eye on America, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Sun, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Washington Post. In September 2000, she received the Foundation for Improvement of Justice Award and in 2001 she was named Individual Leader of the Year by a San Diego ABC affiliate. Goldman-Foley has published more than 250 articles and books. She has a bachelor of arts degree in English from California State University in Northridge and two lifetime teaching credentials. A former victim of identity theft, Goldman-Foley has worked through ITRC to create a workplace ID theft self-assessment inventory for businesses and forge partnerships with companies to create better document handling procedures.

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Daniel Gregory
09/26/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

Dan Gregory is the Community Relations Coordinator at Casa de los Niños in Tucson, Arizona, a crisis shelter for abused and neglected children ages 8 and younger. His department recruits, screens, places, and trains more than 300 volunteers who help care for the children in residence. As an active member of the Southern Arizona Volunteer Management Association in Tucson, he has held several leadership positions. He has presented trainings both locally and nationally on topics such as volunteer management and crisis intervention.

Mr. Gregory is a member of the National Organization for Victim Assistance and serves on the National Crisis Response Team. As such, he reported to Oklahoma City following the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building and to New York City following the terrorist attacks of September 11. Mr. Gregory also is a member of the Arizona Governor's Commission on Service and Volunteerism. For 15 years, he also has been a volunteer advocate with the Pima County Attorney's Victim Witness Program, where he responds with law enforcement to help meet the needs of crime victims in southern Arizona. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dan Hally
7/12/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Identity Theft in Indian Country

Dan Hally is the Chief Criminal Deputy for the Asotin County Sheriff's Office in Washington State. He has 11 years of experience in law enforcement, which includes serving as captain and chief criminal deputy for both tribal and non-tribal agencies. Prior to his current position, he was the Tribal Victim Assistance Project Director for Unified Solutions Tribal Community Development Group, Inc. Deputy Hally has developed and presented training on fraud and identity theft with an emphasis on elders as targets. He also has had an article on fraud and identity theft published in the Lewiston Morning Tribune of Lewiston, Idaho.

Deputy Hally has worked with victim service programs throughout the country since 1995, focusing on training and the development of working relationships with law enforcement. He holds a bachelor's degree in justice studies from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Jo Hally
11/16/05 online discussion host
Topic: Indian Country

Jo Hally is the founder and Executive Director of Native American Circle, Ltd. (NAC)-a nonprofit corporation established to provide victim advocacy and training to urban and Tribal Nation programs providing services to American Indian/Alaska Native victims of violent crime, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. NAC provides training to organizations to assist in the implementation of programs for batterer re-education and those specifically benefiting Native victims of violent crimes. Mrs. Hally brings more than twenty years of organizational, administrative, and managerial experience to the field. She wrote the first edition of NAC's handbook concerning domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking crimes in Native communities, and she is an outspoken activist for the rights of battered women and speaks at national, regional, and local conferences and seminars.

Mrs. Hally is of Choctaw (Chahta)/Cherokee (Tsaligi) descent and is adopted to the Ware family, Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. She is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Texas, Chickamaugua Cherokee and a member of the Blue Holly Clan, Onega Village. She serves as an advisory board member of the Stalking Resource Center, National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) and as an NCVC advisory board member of the OVC-funded "Victim Advocacy Training On-Line" project and "Victim Law Project." Mrs. Hally has also served on the national Board of Directors for the Black Church and Domestic Violence Institute and, as a consultant for the Office on Violence Against Women, has worked on committees addressing victim assistance services for underserved communities and populations and the formation of nonprofit tribal coalitions. As a Steering Committee Member, Mrs. Hally helped shape conference themes and topics for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Second and Third National Women's Conferences.

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Susan Smith Howley
09/12/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Public Policy in Victim Services

Susan Smith Howley has worked with the National Center for Victims of Crime since 1991, serving as its Director of Public Policy since 1999. From 2002 through 2005, she was also Director of Victim Services. As one of the nation's leading authorities on legislation relating to crime victims, she analyzes victims' rights laws, provides technical assistance to federal and state lawmakers and advocates, and drafts model legislation. She has testified before state legislatures for bills designed to strengthen the rights of crime victims, and conducted numerous trainings at the national and local levels. Ms. Howley currently serves on the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women. She is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dr. Dean Kilpatrick
5/24/06 online discussion co-host
Topic: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Dean G. Kilpatrick, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is also President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. His primary research interests include measuring the prevalence of rape, other violent crime, and other types of potentially traumatic events as well as assessing the mental health impact of such events.

In 1990, Dr. Kilpatrick was presented with the President's Award for Outstanding Service for Victims of Crime, the Nation's highest award in the crime victim field. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Georgia. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Marc Klaas
5/03/06 online discussion host (Session Canceled)
Topic: Missing and Exploited Children's Issues

When Marc Klaas's 12-year-old daughter was kidnaped and murdered in 1993, he became determined to give meaning to her death. In 1994 he founded the nonprofit KlaasKids Foundation, and in 2001 he cofounded BeyondMissing, Inc. BeyondMissing is a nonprofit organization that provides America's law enforcement community with a free and secure Web site for the easy creation and distribution of fliers about missing children via broadcast fax, e-mail, and short message service (SMS) technology. Through federal and state legislative efforts, Mr. Klaas also promotes prevention programs for at-risk youth and advocates for stronger sentencing for violent criminals.

Mr. Klaas regularly appears on local and national television broadcasts advocating child safety issues. He travels extensively throughout the United States to promote innovative solutions and proven programs that have a positive impact on crime, abuse, and neglect. Mr. Klaas sits on the advisory boards of the Center for the Community Interest; Fight Crime: Invest in Kids; and the National Children's Advocacy Center. He also counsels and advises kidnaping victims and their families.

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Alan Lai
09/20/2006 online discussion host
Topic: International Victims

Alan Lai has served as Crime Victim Service Director for the Chinese Information and Service Center in Seattle, Washington, for the past 6 years. In this capacity, he implements crime victim service projects with an emphasis on the underserved international population. He provides training in several areas of victim services, including victims' rights, cultural sensitivity, and social service. Mr. Lai acts as a liaison between the international community and the law enforcement and criminal justice agencies that serve them. He has played an important role in helping international victims overcome cultural barriers that often prevent them from seeking the help they need, and his service has been instrumental in helping law enforcement officials gain access to this closed community. Prior to this position, Mr. Lai worked for 29 years as both a probation officer and victim advocate in Hong Kong and Seattle.

Mr. Lai is fluent in Chinese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, and he has acted as interpreter and crime victim advocate in many human trafficking cases. He received awards from the U.S. Department of Justice in 1996, 2003, and 2006 for breaking international cultural barriers, and was awarded the National Crime Victim Service Award during the 2004 National Crime Victims' Rights Week. Since 2004, Mr. Lai has been helping the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program to network with government officials worldwide. Mr. Lai holds a bachelor's degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a certificate in human services management from the University of Washington School of Social Work. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Sally Laskey
4/07/06 online discussion co-host
Topic: Assisting Victims of Sexual Assault Through a Multidisciplinary Response

Sally J. Laskey is the Associate Director of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, a comprehensive collection and distribution center for information, research, and emerging policy on sexual violence intervention and prevention. Ms. Laskey manages several national technical assistance projects that focus on developing and enhancing victim-centered multidisciplinary responses to sexual violence. She has worked as an advocate, prevention educator, trainer, researcher, consultant, and as the direct services coordinator for the Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program at the University of New Hampshire.

With more than 15 years of experience in the anti-sexual violence field at local, state, and national levels, Ms. Laskey has served on expert panels regarding sexual assault, the multidisciplinary response to sexual violence, and the development of training standards for professionals working to end sexual violence for organizations such as the Office on Violence Against Women and the Department of Defense Joint Task Force for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. Ms. Laskey received her bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of New Hampshire and is currently pursuing her master's degree in community psychology and social change from Pennsylvania State University.

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Dr. Linda Ledray
04/26/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Sexual Assault Response Teams

Dr. Linda E. Ledray is the Founder and Director of the Minneapolis-based Sexual Assault Resource Service (SARS) in Minnesota, one of the first Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programs in the country, which she developed in 1977. Today, SARS provides forensic-medical services to sexual assault survivors at seven hospital sites in Hennepin County. Dr. Ledray also has helped develop and implement SANE programs across the United States and in numerous other countries. She convened the first SANE meeting in Minneapolis in 1992, which resulted in the founding of the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN). She is a member of IAFN's certification board and its editorial board for the Journal of Forensic Nursing.

Dr. Ledray also has acted as editor for the SANE section of the Journal of Emergency Nursing, has served for 12 years on the editorial review board of Health Care for Women International, and has authored many articles and books, including Recovering from Rape and the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Development and Operation Guide. Her articles have appeared in the American Journal of Nursing, the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, and the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, among other professional texts. She has appeared on CNN, Arthur Frommer's Almanac, and CBS This Morning.

Dr. Ledray received a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in community and mental health nursing, both from the University of Washington. She also earned a master's degree in psychology and a doctorate in clinical psychology and personality research from the University of Minnesota. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dr. David Lisak
1/27/06 online discussion host
Topic: Sexual Assault and Stalking

Dr. David Lisak is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where he conducts and supervises research on the causes and consequences of interpersonal violence. His research has been published in leading psychology, trauma, and violence journals, and he was the founding editor of Psychology of Men and Masculinity.

In addition to his research and professorship, Dr. Lisak serves as faculty for the National Judicial Education Program and the American Prosecutors Research Institute. He has served as a consultant to judicial, prosecutor, and law enforcement education programs, and he has conducted workshops in more than 30 states across the country. Dr. Lisak also consults with universities, the military, and institutions on sexual assault prevention and policies, and he serves as an expert witness and consultant in sexual violence and homicide cases.

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Bob Lowery, Jr.
5/23/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Addressing Cases With Missing or Unidentified Victims

Bob Lowery, Jr. City Administrator for O'Fallon, Missouri, is a 25-year law enforcement veteran. Previously, he served as the Assistant Chief for the City of Florissant Police Department, an internationally accredited agency located in the northern suburbs of St. Louis. He is on the Child Abduction Analysis Team for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime and the Team Adam Board of Advisors for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Mr. Lowery also is an adjunct professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Lindenwood University and frequently lectures at other universities and training schools regarding basic and advanced homicide, crime scene, and cold case investigation; interview and interrogation; and multijurisdictional case management.

For most of his career, Mr. Lowery was a detective in the Crimes Against Persons Unit, where he supervised officers and investigated homicides, serious assaults, and sex crimes. Mr. Lowery also was Commander of the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad. One of the oldest and the largest multijurisdictional homicide task forces in the United States, it comprises more than 500 detectives and supervisors who represent 105 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. As Commander, he oversaw homicide investigations in the 10-county St. Louis metropolitan region, including some of its most high-profile investigations of murder-for-hire, sexually motivated homicides (including those of children), narcotics and gang related cases, and armed robbery/murder.

Mr. Lowery holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in business and human resource management from Lindenwood University. He is also a graduate of many advanced training schools on police management, including the FBI National Academy. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Betsy McAlister Groves
10/25/2006 online discussion co-host
Topic: Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

Betsy McAlister Groves is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in the State of Massachusetts, is the Founding Director of the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center, and is an associate professor of pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine. She has served as a consultant with the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence and the Safe Start Initiative. Ms. Groves currently is on the Massachusetts Governor's Commission on Domestic Violence and is a consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, the Massachusetts Judicial Institute, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

Ms. Groves has published a book on children exposed to violence, Children Who See Too Much: Lessons from the Child Witness to Violence Project, and a number of articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Pediatrics, Harvard Mental Health Letter, and Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. She holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from the College of William and Mary, and a master's degree in social work from Boston University. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Angela McCown
11/30/05 online discussion host
Topic: Mass Violence

For more than 15 years, Angela McCown has worked to reduce the impact of trauma on crime victims and emergency personnel—and their families—by providing crisis intervention and victim services. She is the founding Victim Services Director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, where she developed a statewide program available to crime victims served by the Texas State Police and Texas Rangers, as well as rural police and sheriff departments that do not have access to victim services. Ms. McCown also serves on the Texas Division of Emergency Management Crisis Consortium, which provides immediate crisis response during state declared disasters. Her experience includes response to the Jarrel tornado, Texas floods, Fort Worth church shooting, Texas A&M bonfire, 9/11, Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, law enforcement line of duty deaths, and many other incidents that require state assistance.

Ms. McCown serves on the Board of the American Society of Victimology and is the President for the Texas Association of Victim Services. She is also a volunteer and consultant for Concerns of Police Survivors, assisting with National Police Week in Washington, D.C., and providing counseling at the COPS Kid's Camp, Sibling's Retreat, Parent's Retreat, and Spouse's Retreat. She has been a core faculty member and faculty lead of the Texas Victim Assistance Academy and served on the Board of the Texas Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. Ms. McCown received her bachelor's in marketing from the University of Texas and her master's in psychology from the University of Houston, Clear Lake, and she is a licensed marriage and family therapist.

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Rev. Theresa Mercer
06/27/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Collaborations on Faith-Based Initiatives

Rev. Theresa Mercer has 19 years of experience in program and community development working with faith-based, grassroots, and professional organizations throughout the country. She recently worked on the Maryland Faith Partnership Initiative as a project specialist for the Cabinet Council on Criminal and Juvenile Justice through the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention. In this capacity, she partnered with faith-based organizations and state agencies to facilitate training and technical assistance to more than 500 community leaders throughout Maryland. Prior to this position, Rev. Mercer was the visiting fellow to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office in Washington, D.C. There she developed the Value-Based Initiative, a project that partners law enforcement agencies with faith-based organizations and other community groups.

In 2003, Rev. codirected the Baltimore chapter of the Spirituality and Victim Services Initiative with Elaine Witman, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime. She has also worked with other professionals to design conference agendas and curricula that address the nuances of the faith-based, nonprofit community. In addition, Rev. Mercer has served as the Director of Chaplaincy for the Baltimore City Police Department, the Maryland Police Corps, and the Liberty Medical Center for Baltimore. She holds a master's degree in counseling from the Family Bible College and Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio, and a certification in clinical pastoral education through Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Baltimore. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Lori Moriarty
11/28/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Working with Drug Endangered Children

Commander Lori Moriarty is Director of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children Resource Center; Executive Director of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children; and President of the Colorado Alliance for Drug Endangered Children. As Director of the resource center, Commander Moriarty is establishing a national network of experts and professionals to assist in developing and providing training and technical assistance. One current priority of the resource center is to assist states in creating alliances regarding drug endangered children. The use of teams or alliances encourages law enforcement and social service providers to provide a multidisciplinary, coordinated response when working with drug endangered children. Commander Moriarty has taught thousands of professionals about home-based methamphetamine labs and the dangers they pose for children living in or visiting them.

In 2001, Commander Moriarty was recognized by the Office of National Drug Control Policy as the Drug Commander of the Year. In 2002, the Adams County Bar Association ( Colorado ) named her Peace Officer of the Year, and in 2004, she received the Friend of Children award from Colorado Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children. Commander Moriarty has appeared on ABC News, 20/20, Fox National News, MSNBC, national and Colorado Public Radio, and Public Broadcasting Stations to teach citizens about the hazards present at methamphetamine labs and their effects on children. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Anne Munch
10/18/05 online discussion host
Topic: Domestic Violence

For more than 18 years, Anne Munch has been dedicated to working with victims of violent crimes with an emphasis on domestic violence and sexual assault. She is currently the supervisor of the "Fast Track" domestic violence unit in the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office in Golden, Colorado. Ms. Munch is an acknowledged national expert in providing training and consultation to local, state, national, and military law enforcement officials, prosecutors, victim advocates, and policymakers and is on the teaching faculty for the American Prosecutors Research Institute, the National Judicial Education Program, and the National College of District Attorneys. She collaborated in creating a multidisciplinary domestic violence and sexual assault training team that received national acknowledgment by the Violence Against Women Act Training and Technical Assistance Program and has presented to audiences internationally.

Ms. Munch received both her bachelor of arts in psychology and sociology and her law degree from the University of Denver. Following law school, Ms. Munch spent 7 years as a prosecutor for the Denver District Attorney's Office and 2 years as the Chief Deputy District Attorney for the 7th Judicial District in Telluride. In addition to her work as a prosecutor, Ms. Munch was the Executive Director of the San Miguel Resource Center, a domestic violence and sexual assault program in Telluride, Colorado. She also directed the Ending Violence Against Women Project—a statewide multidisciplinary training and technical assistance project in Colorado.

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Lisa Nerenberg
3/22/06 online discussion host
Topic: Elder Abuse

Lisa Nerenberg, MSW, MPH, has been involved in elder abuse prevention for more than 20 years. She has delivered keynote addresses, moderated panels, and given presentations at hundreds of professional forums both nationally and internationally; testified before congressional committees; served on governmental advisory committees and panels; and provided training and technical assistance to local and regional programs throughout the United States and Canada. Before starting her own business as a consultant to local, state, and national organizations, Ms. Nerenberg directed the San Francisco Consortium for Elder Abuse Prevention at the Institute on Aging. During her 16-year tenure, the consortium piloted the Nation’s first elder abuse multidisciplinary team and other innovative programs, including a support group for elderly victims and a culturally specific outreach campaign.

Ms. Nerenberg has authored dozens of articles, chapters, and publications on such far-ranging topics as coalition building, gender issues in elder abuse, the special needs of elderly crime victims, advocacy, daily money management programs, and the role of the civil and criminal justice systems in elder abuse prevention. Her special areas of interest include promoting cross-disciplinary exchange among professionals in the fields of aging, criminal justice, victim/witness assistance, mental health, domestic violence, and adult protective services. Recently, she coauthored a report and recommendations for addressing elder abuse in Indian Country for the National Indian Council on Aging. She is also coauthoring a book on best practices in elder abuse prevention.

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Dr. Brian Ogawa
1/26/05 online discussion host
Topic: Cultural Sensitivity in Victim Services

Dr. Brian Ogawa is an Assistant Professor in the School of Applied Studies at Washburn University and Director of the Health Center Pacific, which provides professional training and certification in Eastern psychotherapies. He was previously Director of the Crime Victims' Institute in the Office of the Texas Attorney General. He is also the author of Walking on Eggshells, which describes Morita therapy for abused women; To Tell the Truth, which assists children in the criminal justice system; and The Color of Justice, 2d Edition, which describes the landmark study on minority victimization. The Color of Justice was perhaps the first book to describe the significant challenges facing the American criminal justice system as it seeks to serve culturally diverse victims of crime. Dr. Ogawa has also been involved in many national research and curriculum projects, including the National Institute of Justice/Urban Institute Evaluation of VOCA Victim Assistance and Compensation Programs. In 1995, Dr. Ogawa received the National Crime Victim Service Award presented by the President and the U.S. Attorney General for going beyond the call of duty to counsel, support, and assist crime victims.

Dr. Ogawa received his doctorate in advanced pastoral studies and counseling from San Francisco Theological Seminary. He holds a master's degree in divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary and a bachelor's degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. He has served on the National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women for the U.S. Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, Executive Committee of the National Organization for Victim Assistance, National Victim Assistance Standards Consortium, and Victim Issues Committee of the American Probation and Parole Association. Dr. Ogawa has also been a core faculty member of the National Victim Assistance Academy for 5 years and was project director for the OVC-sponsored Texas Victim Assistance Academy.

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Donald Priddy
08/01/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Community Partnerships for Victim Assistance

Lt. Donald Priddy, Night Watch Patrol Commander with the City of Carbondale, Illinois, Police Department (CPD), has extensive experience in community policing. He has coordinated a number of community events, including National Night Out and Project KidCare, and has been involved in local school programs such as Adopt-a-School and Police and Children Together (PACT) Camp. Prior to his current position, Lieutenant Priddy served as a patrol officer, community resource officer, drug task force investigator, patrol supervisor, and supervisor of CPD's Community Services Unit.

Lieutenant Priddy authored and served as project coordinator for CPD's grant program, Promising Practices in Serving Crime Victims With Disabilities, through SafePlace, a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Survival Center in Austin, Texas. Through the program, CPD developed initiatives designed to increase the level of service provided to persons with disabilities, including training for all patrol officers. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith
3/29/2006 online discussion host
Topic: Youth Violence Prevention

Deborah Prothrow-Stith, M.D., is Associate Dean and Professor of public health practice at the Harvard School of Public Health, a nationally recognized public health leader. She works with community-based programs locally, nationally, and internationally, including the critically acclaimed Partnerships for Preventing Violence satellite broadcast training series. Early in her career, she was a physician in inner-city Boston, where she broke new ground with her efforts to have youth violence defined as a public health problem and not just a criminal justice issue. In 1987, she became the first female commissioner of public health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

As a chief spokesperson for a national movement to prevent violence and a frequent speaker in national media and public forums, Dr. Prothrow-Stith supports the application of rigorous scientific methods to strengthen violence prevention programs. She has authored and coauthored more than 80 publications on medical and public health issues. A Spelman College and Harvard Medical School graduate, Dr. Prothrow-Stith has received 10 honorary doctorates, the 1993 World Health Day Award, the 1989 Secretary of Health and Human Service Award, and a Presidential appointment to the National Commission on Crime Control and Prevention.

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Barbara Rubel
03/14/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Best Practices for Coping With Vicarious Trauma

Barbara Rubel, Executive Director of the Griefwork Center, Inc., in Kendall Park, New Jersey, is a nationally known bereavement specialist. She is a board certified expert in traumatic stress and a diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. As a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office for Victims of Crime, she offers keynote speeches and training programs for professionals on issues related to sudden loss and compassion fatigue. As a consultant in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Ms. Rubel helped the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and University Behavioral Health Care of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to support individuals suffering from the impact of that day's events. She has taught several death and dying courses at Brooklyn College and was a bereavement coordinator for Hospice of New Jersey.

Ms. Rubel authored the book But I Didn't Say Goodbye: For Parents and Professionals Helping Child Suicide Survivors and the 30-hour course book for nurses entitled Death, Dying, and Bereavement: Providing Compassion During a Time of Need. She also created The Palette of Grief ® Program and is writing a DOJ training manual entitled Compassion Fatigue: Secondary Trauma. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology and her master's degree in community health, both from Brooklyn College, part of the City University of New York. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Nancy Ruhe
9/07/05 online discussion host
Topic: Assisting Parents of Murdered Children

Nancy Ruhe has spent more than 27 years helping victims of crime. She is currently the Executive Director of the National Organization of Parents Of Murdered Children, Inc. (POMC). Through POMC, Ms. Ruhe has accomplished numerous achievements, including the establishment of POMC's Parole Block Program, the national Murder Wall—Honoring Their Memories, specialized grief retreat weekends, and Effective Leadership and Murder Response Team training. Ms. Ruhe also initiated POMC's Second Opinion Services and guided the launch of POMC's Murder Is Not Entertainment awareness program. She is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer and has made numerous guest appearances on radio and television and provided interviews to a variety of newspapers and magazines.

Ms. Ruhe also served as an advisor to the International Association of Chiefs of Police for their summit on Victim Oriented Policing and numerous other state and national committees. She is certified by the National Organization for Victim Assistance and is a consultant for the Office for Victims of Crime. Prior to her involvement with POMC, she specialized in domestic abuse and female, male, and child rape/sexual assault victims. She initiated the formation of the Hamilton County Rape Task Force and was appointed to the Ohio Governor's Sexual Offender Registration Notification Task Force in 2002.

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Delilah Rumburg
10/17/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Serving Sexual Assault Victims in the Military

Delilah Rumburg is Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. As a national advocate against sexual violence, she has helped shape national policy on violence against women for more than 26 years. In September 2007, she was sworn in as a member of the Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services. Previously, she served as co-chair on the Department of Defense Task Force on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies to which she was appointed by former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. In this capacity, Ms. Rumburg assessed the U.S. military academies regarding sexual violence and made recommendations for their response to it.

Ms. Rumburg is a gubernatorial appointee to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and Chair of the Victim Services Advisory Council. She has been Executive Director of PCAR for 12 years—a time during which the coalition has seen tremendous growth, with funding for Pennsylvania's 52 rape crisis centers increasing from $3.5 million to more than $13 million. She has also served on the Governor's Partnership for Safe Children and is a 2006 National Crime Victim Service Award recipient. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Anne Seymour
2/08/06 online discussion host
Topic: NCVRW Awareness Campaign

Anne Seymour is cofounder and senior advisor of Justice Solutions, a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC, that specializes in criminal and juvenile justice, crime victims' rights and services, and community safety. In this position she performs many duties, including program evaluation, strategic planning, and research in victim assistance. She has co-authored resource guides for National Crime Victims' Rights Week for the last 20 years and is a contributing editor of the Crime Victims Report. Ms. Seymour is also the project director for OVC's Oral History Project and National Public Awareness Campaign Project. She has developed and implemented training and technical assistance programs to strengthen victims' rights and the services provided to them in law enforcement, prosecution, the judiciary, juvenile justice, and community and institutional corrections. She has over 21 years of experience as a national and international advocate for crime victims' rights.

Ms. Seymour has appeared on Nightline, Larry King Live, Crossfire, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Frontline as an expert on crime victims' rights. She has authored or contributed to over 30 manuals and texts published by OVC since 1989. Ms. Seymour is a member of several committees, including the Board of the National Victims' Constitutional Amendment Network. She is the founding and core faculty member of the National Victim Assistance Academy and provides consultation to organizations such as the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center. Ms. Seymour's efforts have been recognized with many honors, including the 1992 Outstanding Service to Crime Victims award from President Bush. She holds a bachelor's degree in social work and corrections and a master's degree in public administration from California State University, Chico.

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Viki Sharp
7/06/05 online discussion host
Topic: Compassion Fatigue

Viki Sharp has more than 28 years of experience as a crime victim advocate. As the Employee Assistance Program Administrator for the Arizona Department of Corrections, she is responsible for creating and overseeing prevention and crisis response programs for more than 10,000 employees. As a consultant for the Office for Victims of Crime and the National District Attorney's Association, Ms. Sharp has helped establish and expand victim services throughout the country and has provided extensive training in crisis intervention, communication, and victimology to law enforcement and victim service providers. She also has served several terms on the executive boards of the Arizona Coalition for Victim Services and the National Organization for Victim Assistance.

Ms. Sharp received her bachelor of science degree in education and master's degree of education in counseling and guidance from the University of Arizona. She began her career as a crisis intervention volunteer at the Pima County Attorney's Victim Witness Program, where she later became Director and led the program to international acclaim. Throughout her years of service, Ms. Sharp has addressed, lectured, and trained victim service providers in locations such as New Zealand, Japan, Bosnia, and the United States. Her numerous accolades include a Presidential Award for victim advocacy, 1997 University of Arizona Alumni of the Year, the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award, the Rudolph Dreikurs Community Service Award, the FBI Community Service Award, and the Optimist Club Respect for Law Award.

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Joselle Shea
6/22/06 online discussion host
Topic: Internet Safety and Identity Theft

Joselle Shea is manager of children and youth initiatives at the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), where she oversees several youth programs, including the Youth Outreach for Victim Assistance (YOVA) project and McGruff Club. Working with the National Center for Victims of Crime, Ms. Shea has provided training and support to 40 YOVA sites throughout the country. She is also working with several schools and Boys & Girls Clubs to pilot the new McGruff Club program. The club educates elementary-age children about personal safety and engages them in service projects to make their communities safer. Ms. Shea also conducts training sessions and workshops for law enforcement officers, educators, counselors, and youth on NCPC's Community Works and Youth Safety Corps programs, and on issues including bullying and community safety.

She has written several publications, including Designing Safe Spaces, How To Help McGruff!, and Get the Message!, which give educators activities for teaching children about negative peer pressure, bullying, respecting diversity, home-alone safety, violence in the media, and other safety issues. Ms. Shea has been interviewed by national and local media groups, including Nick Jr. Magazine and "I" On Washington, D.C. She has helped develop research studies and public service advertising campaigns on bullying and cyberbullying. Ms. Shea also cochaired a working group for the Health Resources and Services Administration's Stop Bullying Now! campaign, and continues to provide the agency with technical assistance regarding bullying. Ms. Shea holds a master's degree in international peace and conflict resolution from American University. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Steve Siegel
11/30/04 online discussion host
Topic: Faith-Based Programs

Steve Siegel has been developing and directing innovative programs in Colorado District Attorney's Offices since 1976 and has served as the Denver District Attorney's Office Director of Program Development and the Administrator of the Denver Victim Assistance Law and Enforcement Board since 1983. Mr. Siegel has been an integral component to the development and operation of such programs as the DA's Victim/Witness Assistance, Adult and Juvenile Diversion, Domestic Violence Fast Track, and Community Prosecution Programs. Throughout his 28-year career, he has been a catalyst for the development of interagency protocols that have been replicated nationwide on issues including domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and the victimization of elderly and disabled individuals.

Mr. Siegel supervises the Denver Victim Services 2000 Project, which OVC designated as the first urban site in the United States to serve as a model for victim service networks. Through OVC, jurisdictions have accessed technical assistance regarding replication of this model. As part of the project, Mr. Siegel also supervised the development of a curriculum for the Denver Seminary, which OVC subsequently funded for customized replication in diverse theology schools throughout the United States.

The Denver District Attorney's Office is thoroughly committed to its partnerships with Denver's faith-based institutions. For example, the OVC-funded CASE project (Clergy Against Senior Exploitation) is a successful partnership that targets various types of fraud and places particular focus on underserved populations. The program provides community-based services for elder financial crime prevention, crime detection and reporting, and victim support. The program features a train-the-trainer program to reach older people in Denver with weekly financial crime prevention messages and urgent alerts. It also trains staff, volunteers in faith institutions, and provides fraud information to older people through faith partners.

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Dr. Patricia Speck
4/07/06 online discussion co-host
Topic: Assisting Victims of Sexual Assault Through a Multidisciplinary Response

Patricia M. Speck, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized family nurse practitioner and an expert in sexual assault forensic nursing. She is certified as a family nurse practitioner, pediatric nurse, and sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) in the care of adults, adolescents, and children. For more than 20 years, Dr. Speck has practiced as a forensic nurse and family nurse practitioner. She also has been a consultant on the practice and policy of these specialties and on the education of forensic nurses. She has served as a consultant for victim service organizations worldwide, including the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women and Office for Victims of Crime, on how to prevent, identify, and treat sexual and domestic violence between individuals, in families, and in communities.

Dr. Speck is the Chief Executive Officer of Shelby International and the Executive Director of Forensic Nursing Services. She lectures internationally and has received more than 20 local, national, and international awards. She earned her doctorate in public health nursing with a forensic nursing emphasis from the University of Tennessee in Memphis, where her research focused on developing a validated tool for SANE programs to use to continuously evaluate their growth and progress.

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Elise Turner
04/26/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Sexual Assault Response Teams

Elise Turner is both a certified Nurse-Midwife and a certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE), and she provides SANE training in Mississippi. With more than 25 years of experience in nursing and women's health, she is the Education Coordinator for the Mississippi Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and she works with law enforcement, prosecutors, advocates, and others who serve victims of sexual assault. She is a faculty member of the Emory University Regional Training Center, and she conducts sexual assault training workshops for the Jackson Police Academy, Jackson State University School of Public Health, and Navy, Air Force, and Army bases. Working with the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Turner recently taught courses to judges, prosecutors, physicians, and advocates on the forensic and medical aspects of sex crimes in Kosovo and Macedonia.

Active in the International Association of Forensic Nurses, Ms. Turner chairs its Ethics Committee and serves on its SANE–A Education Standards Committee. She also is on the SANE Coordinators' National Conference Steering Committee. Ms. Turner is experienced in grant writing and administration and continues to contribute to health systems development in areas of women's health, perinatal care, and forensic nursing. She has participated in distance-learning products such as video Web casts and has helped communities form sexual assault response teams. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Steve Twist
10/10/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Crime Victims' Rights Act

8/31/05 online discussion host 
Topic: Victims' Rights

Steve Twist has worked to promote victims' rights for more than 30 years, providing assistance to Congress, state legislatures, tribal governments, and local organizations in drafting, passing, and implementing victims' rights statutes and amendments. He currently serves as Vice President and General Counsel for Services Group of America, Inc. in Scottsdale, Arizona; Counsel to National Victims Constitutional Amendment Project; President (and founder) of Arizona Voice for Crime Victims; Vice President for Public Policy for the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA), and a 2003 recipient of the National Crime Victims Service Award. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University College of Law, where he is a founder of the school's Crime Victims Legal Assistance Project—a project providing free legal representation to crime victims seeking to protect their legal rights.

Mr. Twist serves on the national boards of NOVA and the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children. He has extensive experience litigating cases to enforce victims' rights, has testified before Congress on the need for a federal crime victims' rights amendment, and has spoken extensively on drafting, lobbying, and enforcing victims' rights laws. Mr. Twist is a principal author of the Scott Campbell, Stephanie Roper, Wendy Preston, Louarna Gillis, Nila Lynn Crime Victims Rights Act (HR 5107, Title 1) and author of the Arizona constitutional amendment for victims' rights and the Arizona Victims' Rights Implementation Act. His testimony and other selected writings are available at www.nvcap.org. Mr. Twist earned both his bachelor of arts in political science and his juris doctor from Arizona State University. Along with Federal District Court Judge Paul Cassell and Prof. Douglas Beloof, he is the co-author of Victims in Criminal Procedure (Carolina Academic Press, 2006), a textbook in crime victim's rights law. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Debbie Weir
12/15/06 online discussion co-host
Topic: Serving Victims of Impaired Driving

12/15/04 online discussion host
Topic: Serving Victims of Drunk and Drugged Driving

In June 2002, Debbie Weir joined Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) as the National Director of Victim Services. In this position, she directs the daily operation of the Victim Services Department of MADD's national office, which provides support and guidance to the field and those victimized by impaired-driving crashes in areas that are not served by individual MADD chapters. Ms. Weir recently developed and wrote a standardized training curriculum for MADD's Beginning Victim Assistance Training Institutes. She is currently working on the Strategic Plan for Victim Services, which focuses on high-quality, standardized training for all MADD victim advocates and developed plans to reach more victims of drunk driving crashes.

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Helga West
5/29/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Providing Peer Support to Disaster Survivors

Helga West is Co-founder and President of Witness Justice, a national grassroots organization that provides assistance and advocacy for victims of violence in healing from trauma and in navigating the criminal justice process. The organization was founded by survivors for survivors, with peer support at the core of the organizational culture. After falling victim to a brutal, random attempted murder in 1993, Ms. West became an impassioned activist and has told her story on Larry King Live, Prime Time Live, and Good Morning America. She serves on the Peer Support/Response Committee for the After the Crisis initiative, a coalition funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Mental Health Services, focused on healing from trauma after disasters.

Ms. West has authored a number of white papers and Witness Justice assembled a research-based paper called "Trauma—The Common Denominator" that outlines the nature and impact of trauma. She has presented on topics related to gaps in and barriers to victim service, where peer support has often come up as a means to overcome boundaries to foster healing. With more than 15 years of communications and marketing experience, garnering numerous awards for her work, she continues to serve as a consultant and trainer to victim service providers throughout the country. Ms. West is a certified private investigator and has earned certification in women's self-defense. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Elaine Witman
06/27/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Collaborations on Faith-Based Initiatives

Elaine R. Witman is Director of Partnership and Program Development at the Sidran Institute, a nonprofit organization that educates people about traumatic stress and advocates for those who suffer from it. She joined the institute in 2003 to codirect the Baltimore chapter of the Spirituality and Victim Services Initiative with Rev. Theresa Mercer, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime. Before joining the Sidran staff, Ms. Witman served on the staff of the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention, where she secured federal OVC funding to design and develop a Maryland State Victim Assistance Academy. Ms. Witman has more than 20 years of experience in organizational development and capacity building; program design and implementation; community organizing; training, technical assistance, and community education; and systems integration.

Ms. Witman is currently serving as the Director of the Shofar Coalition, under the auspices of the Sidran Institute, a collaborative response to childhood trauma in the Baltimore Jewish Community. Her past accomplishments include cofounding the Maryland Alliance Against Family Violence and helping to build and manage several nonprofit organizations, including Communities In Schools of Maryland, Parents Anonymous of Maryland, and Head Start of Central Virginia. She has received the Public Citizen of the Year Award from the Maryland State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and the Commissioner's Award for Outstanding Contributions in Maryland in the Prevention of Child Abuse from the Administration for Children, Youth and Families. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Jim Wright
02/07/07 online discussion host
Topic: Identity Theft Prevention and Best Practices

Jim Wright is the Managing Director of Programs at the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC). He oversees NCPC's Identity Theft Prevention initiative, educating consumers on the importance of protecting sensitive information and preventing identity theft. He also conducts workshops on the subject for audiences around the country. Wright joined NCPC in 2005 as Director of the Seniors and Crime Prevention Initiative, a post he was well prepared for after 35 years in law enforcement, 25 of which he spent with the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C.

After retiring with the rank of captain in 1994, Mr. Wright provided oversight to various federal grant programs at the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriffs' Association. He has also provided training and technical assistance on issues such as methamphetamine labs and traffic safety, and on preparing for incidents involving weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Wright holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from American University.

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