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Representing Child Victims who are in State Custody
Length: 1 Hour
Arizona Voice for Crime Victims (AVCV) and the Arizona Department of Child safety (DCS) have formed a ground-breaking partnership to ensure that children in DCS custody who are also victims in criminal proceedings, have their own attorney to assert and enforce rights under Arizona’s Victims Bill of Rights. This workshop will provide: an overview of the partnership that is set up; discuss the referral/intake process; provide practice tips for advocating and representing child-victims in trial and appellate courts; and discuss a case study of one child’s case that traveled through Arizona’s appellate courts resulting in a favorable outcome for the child-victim.
Objectives: At the conclusion of this training, attendees will be able to:
- Overview of a model partnership and intake procedures.
- Helpful practice tips when advocating/representing child-victims who are in state custody in trial and appellate courts handling conflicts that may arise.
- Review a case study demonstrating the success of the partnership
Originally recorded at IVAT’s 19th Hawai’i International Summit on Preventing, Assessing, and Treating Trauma Across the Lifespan
Colleen Clase, JD, LLM, Chief Counsel, Arizona Voice for Crime Victims
Colleen Clase, JD, LLM, is Chief Counsel with Arizona Voice for Crime Victims in Phoenix, Arizona. Ms. Clase has been counsel of record for victims of crime in both state and federal prosecutions, many of which are homicide and sexual assault cases that involve child victims and has successfully litigated issues related to protecting the constitutional and statutory rights in victims in Arizona's trial and appellate courts. Ms. Clase's most recent Arizona Supreme Court case resulted in the Court overruling its precedent predating Arizona's Victims' Bill of Rights based on victims' rights. Additionally, Ms. Clase has spoken in front of legislative committees on various victims' rights issues, has been a panelist on numerous webinars hosted by the National Crime Victim Law Institute in Portland, Oregon, presented on victims' rights issues to attendees at the 2017, 2020, & 2021 National Crime Victims' Rights Law Conference, the 2017 Courthouse Dogs Conference, the 2018, 2019, & 2021 Parents of Murdered Children Conferences, the 2018 & 2021 NOVA conferences, the 2019 San Diego Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment, and the 2021 National Center for Victims of Crime National Training Institute. Ms. Clase has also served on various task forces and committees including the Arizona Attorney General's Victims' Rights Advisory Committee, and the Victims Advisory Group to the United Stated Sentencing Commission.
