Domestic Violence Council urges involvement

It takes a community to really confront domestic violence, but one person alone can make a tremendous difference — and Utah has seen four profound examples of that, attorney Reed Richards said Monday.

Richards was the keynote speaker at the Utah Domestic Violence Council's annual recognition for outstanding individuals and organizations during the 2008 Family Violence Prevention Awards luncheon.

Richards currently is in private practice and is chairman of the Utah Crime Victims Council. He formerly was Weber County attorney and was a key member of former Utah Attorney General Jan Graham's anti-domestic violence efforts.

"We've done some things, but there is a lot left to do," Richards said. "Each of us ought to get activated and make a change in our community."

In his speech, he cited these examples of people making changes:

• A rape victim who felt left out of the judicial process was the prime mover behind legislative change and later, a constitutional amendment, permitting judges to deny bail to some perpetrators. The man who raped her was released from jail, but she found out secondhand. Terrified, she hid out with relatives to protect herself and her young child until the case was resolved.

• The mother of an 11-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered also felt cut off from the legal system. After the man's case was concluded, the woman lobbied for another constitutional amendment that now requires crime victims to be treated with respect and to be heard, especially concerning bail and sentencing.

• A Riverdale police chief found the typical way of dealing with domestic violence calls just did not work. As a result, he adopted a policy that an arrest had to be made if there was an injury to one party or a gun was involved. "That worked in Riverdale, and now it is part of state law," Richards said.

• Richards himself noticed that a 5-year-old rape victim was terrified to be interviewed by him in a big, impersonal police station filled with officers talking to people involved in other cases, possibly as victims, witnesses or perpetrators. The room was "a picture of pandemonium," Richards said. That helped spark the idea behind the Children's Justice Centers that now exist throughout Utah. These are separate and attractive buildings where sensitive interviews can be conducted in a homey and comforting atmosphere.

"The community has taken hold of that concept and built and paid for these facilities," said Richards, who also praised businesses that made contributions.