Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 20, 1993 TAG: 9301200113
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
SEX ABUSE VICTIMS URGE TOUGHER LAWS
Victims of sexual abuse asked legislative committees Tuesday for tougher laws and more funding to help victims and to treat juvenile sexual offenders.Dulaney Nickerson of Richmond said four years of incest caused her to be labeled schizophrenic. She spent 75 days in a mental hospital.
"I was one of the walking wounded," Nickerson told a joint meeting of the Senate and House Courts of Justice committees.
Nickerson said the $86,000 a year it costs to treat a patient at a state mental hospital would be better spent implementing recommendations of Lt. Gov. Don Beyer's Commission on the Reduction of the Incidence of Sexual Assault.
A spokeswoman for Beyer said a top priority of the commission is treating sexual abusers who are charged as children.
Russell Petrella, director of mental health services for the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, said many sexual offenders were abused as children and many began abusing others while they were still under 18. Treating juvenile offenders is much more successful than treating adults, Petrella said.
In other action at the assembly Tuesday:
The director of a pilot program in which family courts handled all child- and family-related matters told the two courts committees that surveys of lawyers, judges and litigants have shown the family court concept is user-friendly and efficient.
A House subcommittee voted 5-2 to endorse the concept of a referendum on riverboat gambling in Virginia.
Virginians for Waterway Gaming contends that five floating casinos in Virginia would create 4,000 to 5,000 jobs, generate $45 million to $68 million annually in state taxes and an additional $15 million in local taxes.
Del. Clifton A. Woodrum, D-Roanoke, who voted against the proposal, cautioned that if the decision on riverboat gambling is put to voters, as other gambling proposals have been, it will be on a crowded ballot this fall. All 100 seats in the House of Delegates, as well as the top three statewide offices, are up for grabs.
Republican legislators said at a news conference that they will submit an ethics reform package that will encompass many of the proposals favored by Democratic Gov. Douglas Wilder.
Staff writer Bonnie V. Winston contributed to this story.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1993