Crime Victims Who Need Support Include Perpetrators' Families, Suggests Woman Burned by Husband
Speaking at an event Monday in honor of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week in Tampa, Fla., several individuals thanked Hillsborough’s Victims Assistance Program for providing counselors to help them through the lengthy legal process while those who harmed them were prosecuted.
But Audrey Mabrey, who suffered terrible burn injuries when her husband put gasoline on her and set her on fire in 2009, also had a suggestion to offer for expanding the program: Families of perpetrators, she said, could also use some help, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Mabrey’s own brother has been on death row in Texas for more than a decade after being convicted of a double murder, and their mother would have benefited from getting the same kind of support she herself received, Mabrey said. “It can be extremely devastating for both sides.”
The South Tampa-Hyde Park Patch also has a story.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Badly Burned in Domestic Incident, Woman Says Her New Life, In and Out of Court, Answered a Prayer”
ABAJournal.com: “Jury Doesn’t Buy Husband’s Testimony, Convicts Him of Murder-Attempt for Setting His Wife on Fire”
