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Victim in deadly motorcycle crash in Manchester remembered as 'fierce and dedicated advocate'6/22/2021
WMUR June 21, 2021 “The victim advocacy community is pretty shattered. We’re heartbroken and we send our hearts out to her family, her friends, her colleagues and most importantly, to those victims that she served,” said Lyn Schollett from the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
Feeney worked as a victim advocate in the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. Those from the coalition said she brought passion and conviction to helping victims and witnesses of crimes. “She stood with victims during the most trying and often the most foreign experience of their lives as they navigated the criminal justice process and she made sure that they felt empowered to raise their voices,” Schollett said. Union Leader June 21, 2021 “Brigit was a pillar of strength and defender of dignity for so many families who lost loved ones under the worst circumstances in our state,” said Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs for the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, who described Feeney as a dear friend to her and her family. “Losing her leaves a true void both in our hearts and in the victim advocacy community.
Union Leader June 17, 2021 All seven state laws governing child pornography, illegal sexual contact and similar crimes upon conviction are at least criminal misdemeanors that mean up to a year in jail, and most of them are felonies carrying even longer prison terms. If House and Senate negotiators had gone forward with that change, the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence would have urged Gov. Chris Sununu to veto it, according to Amanda Grady Sexton, the group’s director of public affairs.
“If it were to pass, a 65-year-old man who sends a nude picture of himself to an 11-year-old child could be charged with a violation level offense which, of course, is not a crime in New Hampshire,” Sexton said. NH Primary Source: Lawmakers to work further on bill banning electronic transmission of lewd images6/17/2021
WMUR June 17, 2021 A House-Senate committee of conference decided Wednesday that more work is needed if there is to be a new state law addressing instances in which someone electronically sends unsolicited lewd images to another person.
The conference committee could not agree on a proposed amendment to House Bill 296. The bill, as it emerged from the state Senate in mid-May, was the subject of concern voiced by a leading advocate of victims of domestic violence. That version of the bill created an unintended consequence of decriminalizing the sending of unsolicited lewd photos to another person, including minors, and required prosecutors to meet the high bar of establishing that the intent of the person sending the image was to harass the recipient, said Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs of the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. New Hampshire Bulletin June 16, 2021 A central issue that advocates and legal experts homed in on was that House Bill 296 would have unintentionally reduced penalties associated with the crimes in question down to violations. Sending an unwanted intimate image is already a crime, per current law. But the bill would have had the unintended consequence of decriminalizing it and making it a violation instead.
For example, it would have decriminalized the act of a grown adult sending a sexually illicit picture to a child, which currently is a felony level offenses, said Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. Senate passes amended bill making it a crime to send a lewd image to another person unsolicited5/17/2021
WMUR May 14, 2021 But as it now stands, the amendment “created a higher burden for prosecutors by removing ‘alarm’ and ‘annoy,'’’ said Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs of the Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. “The underlying bill was also problematic as it could be applied to conduct against children.
“Under the bill that passed today, a 50-year-old man could send a sexual image to a 12-year-old child and only be subject to a violation -- if a prosecutor could also prove that the intent of the actor was to harass the child,” Grady Sexton said. “However under current law,” she said, “this conduct would be charged as a felony without having to prove that the conduct was intended to harass the victim. We urge the House to request a committee of conference to review this amended bill and any unintended consequences it has on child sexual abuse cases.” US News and World Report April 28, 2021 Joining him in opposing the bill was Pamela Keilig of the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. She said it would put victims of domestic violence and stalking at heightened risk of harm.
“Domestic violence offenders are the most likely to murder someone in this state, and this system is crucial to protect the lives of victims,” she said. Union Leader April 28, 2021 Pamela Keilig, with the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said federal checks contain gaps that are picked up in the New Hampshire Gun Line.
This would allow on average “50 to 70 people” at any one time to have a gun who shouldn’t because they fell through the cracks, she said. “We are gambling with the lives of victims.” Foster's Daily Democrat April 7, 2021 It’s more common than not for victims and survivors of abuse to wait years or decades to report allegations, particularly cases involving the sexual abuse of a child, according to Velardi and Amanda Grady Sexton, the director of public affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
Known as delayed disclosure, victims and survivors often don’t report these crimes until years later when they’re adults and working to understand how the abuse has impacted them, Grady Sexton and Velardi said. Sentinel Source March 5, 2021 “It’s unconscionable to think that dozens of boys and girls experienced horrific sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of those whose sole duty was to protect and care for them,” said Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. “Children ordered to a secure institution by the juvenile legal system are among the most vulnerable in New Hampshire, and it’s horrifying to think that staff viewed them as easy targets for victimization.”
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