Our mission is to engage and empower victims and citizens in the effort to reduce violent crime.

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Why We’re Here

Personal Advocacy

In 2017 – we addressed 19 calls to our office from across Tennessee for our assistance with an issue involving crime/justice. These calls represented callers from 11 different judicial districts in Tennessee. The reason for the calls were all unique, but included problems regarding child sexual abuse, domestic violence, homicide, bullying, and burglary. We helped victims connect to direct service providers in their area and provided them a sounding board for their frustrations with the justice system.

Legislative Advocacy

Tennessee Voices for Victims encourages people to use their voice on issues that matter to them. The District Attorneys General Conference and other victim centered agencies often call on our agency to inform our contacts about pending legislation they feel is important for our communities. We convey information to the general public about proposed legislation to apprise them of potential laws that may impact their lives. The information we send out includes the contact information for the specific legislators working on the bill, to make it easier for anyone who may want to weigh in on the issue. This activity holds no more than 1% of agency time, and we simply pass on the information in detail so people can be informed, and make their own decision about the proposed legislation. Knowledge is power.

Public Advocacy

One of the significant functions of our agency is to be a voice for the victims. We often speak out regarding victims’ issues via newspaper and television. When reporters are producing a story about crime or justice, we believe it is important for them to include the perspective of the victim. Because of our reputation in the State for advocating for victims, we are often called upon by television and print media to be interviewed regarding pending stories that are associated with crime and justice, or to suggest survivors who can share their “side of the story”. These opportunities give the victim a chance to share their personal wisdom and at the same time gives an honest look at the impact of whatever crime is being reported. We also write articles for Newspapers across the State and are available to share input in articles that are being written about crime and justice. The following is a listing of our media conducted during 2017.

Education & Prevention Presentations

In 2017, Tennessee Voices for Victims made presentations to 1,737 Sumner County middle and high school students on sexting and cyberbullying. The students were given a pre/post evaluation to complete regarding our presentation. The questions were posed “before the presentation – and after the presentation” to gauge how their knowledge about sexting and cyberbullying changed, or didn’t change, after our presentation. We also left an area on the evaluations for a short written response to this question: How I Plan To Use This Information. Not all students completed this question, but the majority of the responses that were written were pretty similar – to “not send nudes.” Some of the other notable comments were: “Be wise and warn others, and don’t do anything dumb myself.” And – “I know to tell someone about it.” And – “If anything like this happens I’ll know what to do.” During 2017, we also presented 94 victim impact classes to incarcerated men and women. For 13 years we have taught a weekly victim impact class inside the Men of Valor prison program at CCA Harding Place. Men of Valor has an incredible recidivism rate for the men who complete their program. Only 13% of the men who complete their program return back to prison, as compared with the State’s recidivism rate of about 65%! We are proud of this success and because we have been part of their program every week for 12 years, we share in this great accomplishment with them. Each week, we have about 30-40 incarcerated men attend our class each week. Tennessee Voices For Victims was also invited by the Warden at Harding Place CCA to conduct a victim impact class with females. We have been conducting these classes for four years now, and are witness to the personal growth in the women who complete our program. Participants volunteer for this class, and the class size ranges each week from 15 – 30. During 2017, we had the opportunity to present community programs, having a total of 975 attendees. These programs were  topics about child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and homicide. The audiences included teachers, police, government workers, church employees and the general public.

Collaborative Efforts

• June 2017 – Verna Wyatt was appointed by Governor Haslam to the Tennessee Council for Interstate Adult Offender Supervision. Most citizens have no idea that felons on parole or probation from other states move into Tennessee to live and work. There is a process that keeps track of offenders when they come into Tennessee from another State, as well as to insure the process is followed when Tennessee parolees/probationers move to another state to live. Tennessee is part of the Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision which exists to ensure public safety. In doing so, all 50 States and 3 territories follow the same rules for transferring adult offenders from one state to another. The Tennessee Council for Interstate Adult Offender Supervision exercises oversight and advocacy concerning Tennessee’s participation in Interstate Commission activities. Members provide a network within the state to assist with the Compact process. Activities of members include advocating on Compact issues at State conferences and other gatherings, recommend legislative changes, and recommend changes to the Compact rules.
• Serves on the City of Nashville’s Domestic Violence Training Committee, comprised of domestic violence/victim advocates and domestic violence service providers in Nashville.
• Serves on the Nashville Family Justice Center Steering Committee.
• Member of Nashville’s Domestic Violence Coalition.
• Invited by the Office of Criminal Justice Programs to participate in 2017’s strategic planning meeting in September 2017, comprised of advocates, law enforcement, District Attorneys and judges across the state. The goal is to identify gaps in services for victims of crime in Tennessee to get a better understanding of how to distribute additional VOCA (Victim of Crime Act) funds coming to Tennessee.
• Collaborating with the Knoxville Police Department to organize a two day Sexual Assault Roundtable event, to be conducted with sexual assault victims from each judicial district in Tennessee. The roundtable event will be held in April 2018 in Nashville. This Roundtable information will be used to train law enforcement and prosecutors in Tennessee on how to better serve victims of rape.
• May 2017 – Collaborated with the Tennessee District Attorney’s General Conference to produce educational materials for an elder abuse awareness campaign. TVFV helped the Conference find appropriate survivors of elder abuse who would agree to talk about their situation on video. TVFV Valerie Craig was also featured in a video to be used in the Educational awareness outreach about this under reported crime in Tennessee. The campaign has recently been introduced. For a look at the media campaign and videos go to this link: http://www.tndagc.org/ElderAbuse/
• Serves on the Tennessee Children’s Justice Task Force (Chaired Education Committee for 5 years). The Task Force has a Federal and State mandate to advise and assist the state departments including DCS, Education, Health, Mental Health and Human Services; child advocates, service providers, law enforcement and the judiciary in carrying out their duties related to child protection and responding to child abuse and neglect. Members of the Task Force are comprised of different disciplines related to child welfare and from all across Tennessee. For more information on the Task Force and the members: https://www.sworps.tennessee.edu/children/jtf/jtf.html
• Serves on the Committee for the State Season to Remember, which is a special remembrance ceremony for homicide victims across the state during the holiday season. The Committee is comprised of State Agency representatives and one other community non profit.
• Serves on the Committee for Davidson County Season to Remember that holds a special ceremony for victims of homicide in Davidson County. Held each year the 2 nd Thursday in December in Centennial Park at the Children’s Garden.
• Chairs Davidson County’s Crime Victims’ Rights Week Event that is conducted every April. The committee consists of Nashville advocacy agencies, DA’s office, and Police Department personnel who work with victims of crime in Davidson County.
• Collaborated with News Channel 5 to find survivors who would share their crime story of survival. Channel five has created a “crime” website with information for viewers on crime, prevention, and the stories of people who have courageously survived crime. The link to this site and the videos is: http://www.newschannel5.com/crime
• Invited and participated on the Crime Victim/Advocate Roundtable for the Joint Ad-hoc Tennessee Blue Ribbon Task Force on Juvenile Justice conducted by the Pew Charitable Trust on September 13, 2017.