Newberg Graphic Online

Crime victim advocates: Walking alongside the sex abuse victim

A multi-part series looks at the incidents of sex crimes in the Newberg area, its causes, prosecution and treatment options

• By: Laurent Bonczijk  
• Published: 10/23/2009 12:40:13 PM

Walking into a courtroom can be a sobering experience. Dark wood panels line the walls, a dozen or more people sit in the jury box, the gallery has pew-like benches occupied by curious citizens, and presiding over all this on a raised dais is the judge.
   This is where crime victim advocate Debra Bridges, 43, and her team intervenes. “We’re basically there to shepherd victims through the judicial process,” she said. It extends from keeping them company before the time comes to take the stand, to explaining what to expect during the trial.
   “We just try to have a nice, inviting, warm environment for victims to be in,” Bridges said of her goal to help alleviate the fears victims may have regarding the judicial process. “There is a lot of fear that goes with the reporting.”
   Victims often do not want their abuser to be locked in jail, but simply want the abuse to stop. “They love this person, they just don’t want this person to keep doing this to them,” she said.
   To prepare a victim for trial, Bridges said she’ll take them to the courtroom where their abuser will be tried. She explains what to expect, who will be sitting where. “I let them sit in everybody’s seat, including the judge’s,” she said.
   She also has them practice the use of the microphone employed by Yamhill County Court. “We don’t want them to be so afraid of the courtroom,” she said.
   And while some victims can be positively terrified at the prospect of having to face their abuser and his defense team, every victim is an individual and some “can be very assertive.”
   Interestingly, she said, parents are often more fearful of the grand jury process than young victims. She attributes it to the fact that the alleged offender isn’t present during that part of the process.
   Advocates are often involved early on in the judicial process. If a person is arrested on domestic violence charges, a CVA will call the victim the next morning and inform them of the next step in the judicial process. Sometimes “(CVAs) will respond with law enforcement on the scene” at the time of the arrest, Bridges said.
   “I had no expectations for how much I would love it,” said Bridges, who has been a CVA for four and half years. Yet it’s not without its pains. “What’s troubling to me, (and) the community doesn’t really know this, (is) how prevalent child abuse is.”
   Part of the problem is the delay in reporting. “My No. 1 specific challenge is that its not always reported right away,” Yamhill County Sheriff Jack Crabtree said.
   Bridges echoed Crabtree’s assertion: “When the child makes that disclosure that’s the hardest part right there.”
   Crabtree, a former sex crime detective, said that a couple of years may elapse before a victim builds up the courage to disclose the abuse.
   “When you’re dealing with a child, think of the dynamics,” Crabtree said. Often the abuser has the role of provider in that child’s life and the victim is aware that revealing the abuse is likely to have cataclysmic consequences for them and their whole family. “Look at what you’re asking a child to report. Think about what goes through a child’s mind. They know what the ramifications are.”
   Det. Todd Steele, who investigates sex crimes for the sheriff’s office, said that part of his job is to educate the non-offending family members and get them on board with the investigation. “Most of them do support the child,” he said.
   “(The) most important thing for a child is to be believed,” Bridges said. Her work after the victim has disclosed the abuse will center on “how can we protect this child from whomever has abused them.”
   The only prevention is to educate the public, Bridges said. For the victims it’s a different question: “There is a new normal for this child. How do we work in your new normal?”
   There are four crime victims advocates and three volunteers in the county district attorney’s office. They can be reached by calling 1-503-434-7510.
   The next installment in our series on sex abuse will consider the challenges stemming from the prosecution of offenders.

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