Local advocacy group budget slashed by $120,000

By: 
Philip A. Janquart
Editor/Reporter

    ROSE Advocates, a local organization dedicated to helping victims of violence and sexual assault, has had its 2022 budget cut by $120,000.
 “For the first time in 23 years, I had to lay someone off, and it breaks my heart,” Executive Director Dolores Larsen said as tears welled up in her eyes. “It doesn’t just hurt me, it hurts our victims because I can’t replace our employees and that means less people will get help.”
 Founded in 1988 by a local victim of domestic violence, ROSE Advocates has served as a critical resource in Weiser and at locations in the Treasure Valley for people that need help escaping violent relationships, counseling, and other services to help them move on with their lives.
 ROSE Advocates does not charge for its services and relies on federal grants, donations and fundraising.
 Primary funding for the program comes from the Victims of Crime Fund under the 1984 Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). The fund is a national pot of money stemming from penalties paid in federal criminal court cases.
 It provides funding for thousands of victim service providers around the country, including programs serving victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, trafficking, and drunk driving, according to a government website.
 The Act is administered within the Office of Justice Programs of the U.S. Department of Justice.
 Money from plea bargains, however, does not go into the fund, which is the root of the problem, according to Larsen who said plea bargains have steadily risen while penalties have dropped.
 Pleading guilty and paying a fine carries less risk of conviction, is quicker, and cheaper.

“They are making too many deals and we are losing that money,” Larsen said.
 The total for organizations across the country has dropped from a high of roughly $17 million for the 2018 funding cycle (currently being spent through FY2021) and is expected to decline to about $6 million by 2024.
 Other funding sources include the federal CARES (Corona Virus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) and Family Violence Prevention and Services Program CARES funds, as well as Idaho’s Domestic Violence fund, but those monies are nominal in light of VOCA funds.
 “Literally 99 percent of the programs in Idaho are funded with [VOCA] money, so as that money declines, there is no choice but for those programs to cut services unless they can provide alternative fundraising, and that is very, very hard to do in some small communities because they just don’t have access to fundraising opportunities,” said Idaho Council on Domestic Violence and Victim Assistance (ICDVVA) Administrator Heather Cunningham.
 The ICDVVA is the state body that allocates federal funds to 46 individual organizations across the state.
 Cunningham added that if the fund level stays the same or declines further, the ICDVVA would have no choice but to cut funding to some of them.
Rise in violent crimes?
 The drop in funding comes at a critical time when instances of domestic violence and sexual assault are rising, according to Larsen.
 “And, what law enforcement can do is less than what they could two years ago,” said Larsen who cited the northern Idaho case State v. Clarke, which changed how police officers make arrests.
 Weiser City Police Chief Carl Smith couldn’t confirm a rise in domestic violence in Weiser, but said his department commonly responds to those incidents.
 “I don’t have any numbers, but we are pretty busy with domestic violence,” he said.
 He added that the 2019 court case has had a serious effect.
 “It affected not only our domestic violence calls, it affected all of our misdemeanor arrests,” he said. “We have felony domestics, as well, where State v. Clarke doesn’t apply, but on misdemeanor domestics it does apply. What that means for us is that we cannot make a probable cause arrest if that violence doesn’t take place in our presence.”
 Smith said his officers can’t make an arrest even if there are marks.
 “Unless it rises to the level of a felony, we cannot make an arrest,” he said. “They call it traumatic injury to the individual.”
The fix
 There is, however, a potential funding solution: the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act, which was passed in the House in March. The bill, H.R. 1652, was co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID). It passed by a vote of 384-38.
 The bill, introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), would add fines from plea agreements to the VOCA fund.
 “This critical piece of legislation will shore up the Crime Victims Fund, ensuring that programs and services assisting victims of crime are more effective, more reliably funded and more accessible to those who may depend upon them,” he said in a statement. “I implore the Senate to take action on this bill, and I look forward to seeing it signed into law.”
 The Senate, however, has yet to consider the legislation.
 “It’s been sitting in the Senate,” Cunningham said. “I don’t know why they are not taking up the bill. I’m very happy that Sen. Crapo is interested in this issue.”
 For information on ROSE Advocates in Weiser, call (208) 414-1231, or visit www.roseadvocates.org.
 

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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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