Ending Terror...in Our Homes

By Candace M. Mosley, Directory of Programs

I am pleased to report that the 12th Annual National Conference on Domestic Violence held October 27-31 in Chicago was an overwhelming success. The goal of these conferences has always been to educate and expand awareness on the important issues that impact victims, their families and our communities regarding domestic violence. This year’s conference theme “Ending Terror … in Our Homes” captured the spirit of the over 1000 attendees and 95 presenters at this multi-disciplinary conference.

Topics were designed for the novice as well as those veterans in the field of this very important work. The conference opened with a video performance by Pink of “Family Portrait.” I then began the conference by explaining to the participants that most of this year’s course materials were on CD-ROM—an important innovation for the National College.

Welcoming the attendees were such notable individuals as: Diane Stuart, director of the Violence Against Women Office of the Department of Justice; Deborah Daniels, assistant attorney general, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice; Richard Devine, Cook County state’s attorney; and Richard Daley, mayor, City of Chicago and former state’s attorney. Both Tom Charron, director of education, National District Attorneys Association at the National Advocacy Center and Dean Bob Fertitta of the National College commented in their welcoming remarks that no one dreamed back in 1991 that the conference would have grown to what it has become today.

Some of the members of the faculty who have dedicated their careers to ending domestic violence included: Sarah Buel, professor, survivor, former prosecutor and consultant; Rev. Marie Fortune, founder and senior analyst, Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence; Barbara Hart, legal director, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Battered Women’s Justice Project, and Full Faith and Credit Project; and Debra Thompson, survivor, advocate and national spokesperson for the Body Shop phone drop program for domestic violence victims.

Faculty members, Deborah D. Tucker and J. Thomas Kirkman, were recipients of the National College’s Stephen L. Von Riesen Lecturer of Merit Award.