On the recordApril 1, 2011
For over 14 years, I have worked at Vera House as a pro bono legal volunteer. The Women's Bar Association in Syracuse, New York, put together a program where all attorneys, male and female, go through training to begin to address the needs of the victims of domestic violence. Through those 14 years, I began to get an up-close, clear understanding of the issue of domestic violence. The fact is that domestic violence transcends socioeconomics; it transcends race. Domestic violence is an issue that everyone faces. It crosses racial lines; it crosses economic lines; it crosses social lines. I recall one of my meetings with a woman whose husband was well-known in the media in our town. You would never suspect. You would never think that she would be a victim of domestic violence--educated, with financial means. Yet she was a victim. This is the pervasiveness of sexual assault and domestic violence. At this time, I yield to my esteemed colleague, Judge Poe.
