Too often, victims are forced to travel to Columbia, sometimes yearly, to testify in parole hearings. The frequent pilgrimages serve to reopen wounds that never fully healed.

Gov. Mark Sanford recently signed into law a measure that will ease the burden of crime victims by streamlining their part in the process. Criminals involved in the same violent act will have their parole hearings grouped together, allowing victims to endure just one hearing every two years for violent crimes. The law also will allow victims to testify before the hearing via closed-circuit television, saving them a trip to Columbia.

Sanford is expected to have an official signing ceremony with victims' rights advocates in Charleston in the next few weeks.

"This change is about making the process less traumatic for the victim," said Laura Hudson, public policy coordinator for the S.C. Victim Assistance Network. "They have enough to deal with, without the process adding to their pain."

The new law was inspired by the experiences of Joanna Katz, a Charleston-based victims' rights advocate and survivor of a rape.

In 1988, Katz and a girlfriend were abducted at gunpoint, sexually assaulted, beaten and tortured by five men for more than five hours. The men were captured and sentenced to prison terms.

In 1996, Katz began the process of attending parole hearings for the men who raped her, a task made more difficult by the fact that they were split into three groups: two men one month, another two a few months later and one the following year.

"I was really having a difficult time going back there and going through it every year," Katz said. "It is not something anyone would want to have to relive. On the other hand, you want to make sure the people at the hearing know what happened to you, so you go through it."

The state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services holds between 75 and 85 parole hearings a month for violent crimes. Those convicted of violent crimes come up for parole every two years, following a minimum period of incarceration, depending on the sentence.

The new law would affect only a small portion of the violent crime parole hearings, said probation department spokesman Peter O'Boyle.

"We were moving toward doing that by policy," he said. "Perhaps this will clear any hurdles we would have had with existing laws."

Katz, in the meantime, has become something of a victims' advocate. Her painful journey toward justice was chronicled in a documentary titled "Sentencing the Victim," which aired on SCETV and nationally on PBS.

The state Victim Assistance Network holds meetings every year prior to the start of the legislative session, during which victims and members of law enforcement help outline goals for the coming year.

Katz attended the meeting this year. Her story led the network to enlist the aid of Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, and state Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, in pushing the new law through the legislative process.

"Involving the victim, when they want to be involved, is very, very important," Katz said. "But you have to make it practical.

"The victim should be a key part of the decision-making process, just as they were in the conviction. But it should not lead to trauma. And this law is sensitive to the victim. It has everything to do with justice."

For more information: http://sentencingthevictim.com/

Clay Barbour covers the Statehouse. Contact him at 803-799-9051 or at cbarbour@postandcourier.com.

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