REP. SHELTON OBSERVES NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMS’ RIGHTS WEEK, URGES COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
For Immediate Release
April 19, 2010
FORT WORTH, TEXAS – Rep. Mark Shelton (R-Fort Worth) today released a statement in observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the annual event sponsored by the Office of Justice Programs to promote victims’ rights and honoring crime victims and those who advocate on their behalf.
“Crime affects thousands of our friends and neighbors each year, including over 13,000 instances of family violence in Tarrant County in 2008 alone,” says Shelton. “Far too many people are victims of crime, and it is important that we raise awareness of the prevalence and consequence of crime in our state. As a community, we must come together to ensure that crime victims receive the medical, psychiatric, financial, and vocational support they – or their surviving families – need to overcome these tragic events. It is also our duty to ensure that crime victims receive justice by prosecuting perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law and supporting our local and state law enforcement and public safety personnel who work hard every day to keep us safe. It is my hope that through organized efforts such as the National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we will be able to decrease crime – and its real effect on real people — throughout Texas.”
Shelton, an advocate for crime victims, has passed legislation to help victims of human trafficking (HB 1372). He represents the 97th House District in Tarrant County, where he also works as a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases at Cook Children’s Hospital.
