Is there any politician who does not claim to be deeply concerned about women, children and the elderly? Yet, in a capitalist society where worth is supposedly indicated by salary levels, we grossly underfund sexual assault and child crisis services, and grossly underpay child advocates, teachers, and, as shown in the linked story in the New York Times, home health aides. http://tinyurl.com/lzxwk9m

In Victim Rights Center’s practice, we find too often that the criminal justice system is ill-prepared to recognize or to remedy our sexual assault and child abuse crises. Some police agencies are victim-centered, trained in victimology, and aggressively investigate reports of sexual assault or child abuse.  Two in CT that quickly come to mind are Watertown and Yale University. Others endorse rape myths, presuming that victims of these crimes are lying, while looking for reason NOT to pursue those investigations, because they are time intensive and difficult. This is not necessarily because the individual officers don’t care — mostly it is because they are not trained properly. Yet who has a training budget anymore?

The article from the New York Times shows starkly how we have created a system of elderly care that routinely mistreats the patient and optimizes the profits of the corporate health care juggernaut. http://tinyurl.com/lzxwk9m 

When will we get our priorities straight?