Community leaders participating in a conversation about at ways to assist the victims of criminal violence highlighted the need for support services, advocacy programs, and an examination of the root causes of crime.
“We represent the victims in cases every single day in court, but unfortunately they don’t often have a voice. I mean, we are the voice for those individuals,” said Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos at Wednesday’s discussion at the Peoria Public Library’s downtown branch.
Hoos was joined on the panel by retiring Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria and Sokonie Reed, an assistant professor of nursing at Bradley University.
Reed said she views victims’ advocacy and the broader violent crime topic through a public health lens, requiring a need to take a closer look at the social determinants that lead to criminal behavior.
“When we are talking about community public health, we do know violence has an impact on health,” said Reed. “It’s always about looking at the root cause of the problem: What is really going on? Why are people committing violence?
“Then, it’s also looking at how we get care programs and more for those impacted by it. So it’s really looking at the whole picture.”
The event in conjunction with National Crime Victims’ Rights Week was organized by Yolanda Wallace, founder of the Mother’s War Against Violence Ministry, whose son Jon Buckley was murdered in 2006.
Wallace said certain types of crimes can leave victims facing prolonged grief, particularly for children witnessing violence.
“Being a kid, if you see something that happens, that type of trauma is going to take a lot of work to get you to work through that,” said Wallace. “So then you think about our community and where these people go after this crime has happened.
“Where do the victims go? Where are the survivors? It’s not always that can they re-enter back in the community and be part of the solution. So we must have a little space, a little time for them to heal.”
Echevarria said the police department has made a conscious effort to be more supportive of violent crime victims officers encounter. One step the department is in the process of completing is turning one of the interview rooms into an environment more likely to put victims at ease.
“It’s being converted to a full living room, like you’re walking into somebody’s house. We have a designer that’s working on the colors and the lighting and the furniture and all of that,” said Echevarria. “When we bring in a victim that we need to talk to, we don’t want to take them into the stale room that usually look like a jail cell with a table. We want to get away from that.”
Echevarria anticipates when Assistant Chief Brad Dixon takes over after he leaves, the Peoria Police will put more attention into solving cold homicide cases and bringing a measure of closure to victims’ relatives.
“He’s always been trying to do this, and I think this is a perfect opportunity, as our staffing level has come up, to really put a big emphasis on working cold cases,” said Echevarria.
Hoos said it’s important to raise community awareness around the needs of those impacted by violence.
“There are real victims in these shootings that they read in the news, or these murders that they hear on the news or read in a newspaper,” she said. “The reality is, there’s a survivor there somewhere, or many survivors, and we’re there to help them through the court process.”
Reed said it’s important to let crime victims know the community supports them, but the broader dilemma of violent crime remains complicated.
“We know some drivers of violence include economic issues such as poverty, substance abuse issues, mental health issues, family dynamics issues, environmental issues,” she said. “So if we are seeing some of those drivers within our community, we need to ask ourselves, ‘What can we do to act on those drivers?’
“Paying attention to the motivations and drivers of violence is another way that we can support victims because that is going to hopefully reduce victims.”
