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2005
National Crime Victims' Rights Week The honorees received special recognition during the awards ceremony hosted April 8, 2005, by the Office for Victims of Crime to honor victim advocates, organizations, and programs in the field of victim services.
To view more details, click on a photo for an enlarged view Federal Service Award
Bruce Smith Bruce Smith is a Case Management Coordinator for the Federal Correction Institution (FCI) in Dublin, California. Specifically, Bruce serves as the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program (IFRP) Coordinator and its Victim Witness Notification Program (VWNP) Coordinator. As the institution's IFRP Coordinator, he has demonstrated a genuine commitment to assisting individuals affected by criminal activities recoup their financial losses. Bruce speaks to all FCI Dublin's newly committed inmates about the importance of meeting their court-ordered financial obligations and the role of the Crime Victims Fund. Through IFRP, he has been instrumental in collecting more than $835,000 from inmates confined to FCI Dublin in the past 7 years. In his capacity as the VWNP Coordinator, he ensures victims are provided timely notification of significant events regarding the release or release-related activities of offenders. Bruce's efforts have altered the perception of FCI Dublin as a place that not only serves as one of incarceration, but also as an institution partnering in the victims' rights movement. Bruce is an example of FCI Dublin's commitment to treating victims and witnesses with compassion and respect, keeping them informed, and keeping them involved in the federal correctional process. Bruce was nominated by Harley G. Lappin, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Kathryn McKay Turman For more than 18 years, Kathryn McKay Turman has worked tirelessly on behalf of crime victims. Kathryn began her distinguished and groundbreaking federal service career in 1987 as Special Assistant to the late U.S. Senator John Heinz. From 1991 to 1993, she served as Director of the Justice Department's Missing and Exploited Children's Program. From 1994 to 1998, she was Chief of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. As head of that unit, she oversaw services to approximately 10,000 victims a year, ranging from victims of misdemeanor crimes to international terrorism. Kathryn pioneered the development of services and support to victims of terrorism while serving as Director of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) from 1998 to 2001. She played an active role in the response to the bombings of the U.S.S. Cole and the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania . In April 1998, the Attorney General charged Kathryn with developing and managing a project to provide victim assistance to families of Pan Am 103 victims during the trial of two Libyan intelligence agents involved in the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Lessons learned from these cases led to the creation of a Terrorism and International Victims Unit in OVC. Before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Kathryn established a contract with a crisis management organization that had the capacity to activate a call center within a few hours of notification. The call center was activated on September 11, 2001, with more than 600 telephone counselors available to take information on missing persons. A few months later, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller assigned Kathryn to head the new Terrorism Victim Assistance Unit in the FBI's Office for Victim Assistance and create a terrorism victim assistance program. For the first time in FBI history, victim assistance was incorporated into the FBI's critical incident response plans and the command center structure. In 2000, Kathryn received the Edmund J. Randolph Award from the Attorney General for her leadership on behalf of victims and in 2001, the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service and the CIA's National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation in 2001 for her work with the Pan Am 103 victims. Kathryn Turman was nominated by OVC.
Mary Jo Speaker Mary Jo Speaker is the Victim Witness Specialist for the Office of the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Mary Jo has provided victim services for more than 21 years. She has served as the victim witness specialist in highly demanding trials and prosecutions covering the spectrum of criminal jurisdiction–from capital murder cases, violent crime in Indian Country, bank robberies and terrorism to family violence, child abuse, sexual violence and white collar crime. Since becoming a Federal Victim Witness Specialist just over eight years ago, Mary Jo has served in the Victim Witness Center for the Oklahoma City bombing trials of McVeigh and Nichols and the execution of McVeigh; responded at the request of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys to establish a victim service center and provide services in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks; attended to the traumatized and frightened victims in the trial of a serial sexual predator in a storied trial, appeal and post-conviction complaint and appeal; and provided comprehensive services to the families in five murder cases including two capital murder cases. Some of her accomplishments include the establishment of a model prosecutor-based program in Oklahoma, creating a coloring book for child victims and directing a court orientation video for victim witnesses. Not including the Oklahoma City bombing, Mary Jo has assisted the family members of more than 300 murdered victims. Mary Jo skillfully goes the extra mile to attend to the needs of victims in volatile, highly emotional, and professionally demanding settings. Mary Jo was nominated by Sheldon J. Sperling, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. |
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