The county district attorney’s office held an event yesterday morning on Victim’s Rights Awareness Month.
The full meeting can still be viewed on the DA’s office YouTube page. In the meeting, district attorney Dan Dow first called on attendees to ‘change the language’ used for the criminal justice system–to call it the criminal and victim justice system. “Every decision, every reform, and every sentence has a profound and lasting impact on a real human being who was harmed,” Dow said. He said that despite laws being passed in California regarding victims’ rights, “there is still a great deal of hard work ahead. Victims continue to tell us they feel overlooked by a system that seems more focused on offenders than those who were harmed.”
Dow said the 2024 passing of proposition 36 was a step forward for accountability and victim-centered justice. He concluded his statement by inviting anyone to attend the 50th anniversary celebration of the Christopher G. Money victim witness assistance center next year.
