by Diane on October 26, 2009
Only A Matter of Time?
The official “Crime Clock” is counting down the odds that you or a family member or a friend will be touched by violent crime in the coming year. Think it can’t happen to you?
The Crime Clock doesn’t recognize race or age or gender. It’s all about statistics.
The figures are compiled each year by the National Center for Victims of Crime. The numbers come from various government and private agencies like the Department of Justice, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
The Crime Clock might easily be dismissed as just a bunch of numbers but it really isn’t… [click to continue…]
by Diane on October 19, 2009
Victims Can Survive
It was an overcast October Saturday at the Joint Forces Training Base at Los Alamitos, California. The 7 am start time was daunting but I’d promised to go.
I’m glad I did.
It was the annual “Survive and Thrive” 5k run/walk event put on by a group called Crime Survivors. Note that it’s not crime victims – it’s crime survivors. And before you ask, no, I didn’t run but I did walk.
The woman who started Crime Survivors is Patricia Wenskunas, my hero.
She is a blond dynamo, a catering event planner by trade and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and attempted murder. She speaks gently but her message packs a wallop: Crime victims deserve consideration, at least as much consideration as the criminal gets. [click to continue…]
