Remembers Dead; Resolves To Stop Violence
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced that his office observed National Crime Victims’ Rights Week by hosting a community awareness program at the Queens Criminal Courthouse in Kew Gardens.
Among the attendees was Queens County Borough President Helen Marshall.
National Crime Victims Rights’ Week, which annually honors and supports victims of crime and pays tribute to those who provide services and support to such victims, ran from Apr. 21-27. The theme of this year’s observance was “New Challenges, New Solutions.”
“[A]s we commemorate National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we honor the memory of those who have lost their lives to violence and recognize the courage and resilience of those who have survived,” Brown said. “And we remember, especially, the two recent acts of senseless violence that sent shock waves across our entire country-the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which so many young children lost their lives to gun violence and, of course, last week’s Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath.”
“This year’s theme, ‘New Challenges, New Solutions,’ recognizes that the perpetrators of crime continually create new challenges for law enforcement and that we-government, survivors, victim assistance providers and the community-must come together to find key innovative ways to aid and protect crime victims in every way that we can,” the district attorney added. “So let us rededicate ourselves to safeguarding our communities, to raising public awareness about the rights and services available to crime victims and redoubling our efforts to offer respect, compassion and assistance to those who are recovering from the impact of violence.”
Speakers at this year’s event included Brown, Crime Victim Specialist Claudette Christian-Bullock of the New York State Office of Victim Services, Jyoti Hardat-whose sister was fatally shot by her fiancee in May 2007-and Carlos Aleman, a gay man who was assaulted and stabbed during a hate crime attack in
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