N.C. Department of
Correction--Correction News--January 1998
Advocates Aid Crime Victims
A dental assistant working at Triangle Correctional Center was
strangled to death in the prison May 19, 1975. It was a moment
that will live with Mel Chilton forever. The dental assistant was
her mother.
Her experiences led Chilton to work in the criminal justice
system and to find ways to better serve crime victims. She is an
eight-year veteran of the Division of Adult Probation and Parole,
where she has served as a parole officer, a pre-parole
investigator and an administrative officer.
Today she works as DAPP’s Judicial District 10 Victim
Advocate, one of two such DOC positions funded by grant.
Anita Culbreth represents the other, Judicial District 3B, and
both women work with targeted victims whose offenders are under
DAPP supervision.
| "We owe crime victims basic information and the
courtesy of giving them answers to questions about their
case," Chilton said. "We can’t give them
their money. We can’t make the probationer pay. We
can’t justify or fix the tragedy that may have
happened in their lives. But we can provide them
information and facts that are within the realm of the
law." Chilton and department employees working
with victims have led several workshops helping
correction employees better understand the needs of crime
victims.
Victims have difficulty understanding the criminal
justice system and getting information from criminal
justice agencies.
"It may be a very simple crime, but to that
victim it is a traumatic event in their life and it is
overwhelming to them at that point," Chilton said.
"When speaking to correction staff, victims may
speak very negatively. They may be very attacking in
their method of speaking, but that comes out of their
frustration and is not a personal attack of the employee.
They are upset with the circumstance, not the person
they’re talking to."
|
 Mel Chilton,
Judicial District 10
Victim Advocate
|
Chilton advises to treat persons with compassion and respect
and listen to what they are saying. "If you don’t have
the answer, courteously tell them you will try to find the
information," she said. "If its confidential, tell them
you can’t provide it."
Chilton has also worked with other crime victims and criminal
justice professionals to form HALOS, Helping All Loved Ones
Survive. The first meeting of the support group drew 40 people.
"Its an ultimate dream to see something like that happen
for other victims because I know how traumatic my situation was
20 years ago and there was nowhere to turn," Chilton said.
"People have called from across the state. It was an
incredible response. We’re hoping to branch out and have
other HALOS groups across North Carolina."
Chilton says she’s looking forward to the state’s
implementation of the victims rights amendment and to her
continuing work in the department encouraging employees to work
with crime victims.
NC DOC Correction News-
January 1998
NC Department of Correction News
NC
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