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ASIANS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT, TEEN DATING VIOLENCE
(From left to
right): Assistant District Attorney James Hsiao (Public Service Fellow);
Assistant District Attorney Shannon Hanson (Public Service Fellow);
Assistant District Attorney Chow Xie; Kin Ng, Director of Training;
District Attorney Hynes; Lt. Tommy Ng, President of Asian Jade Society;
Mrs. Patricia Hynes; Assistant District Attorney Jane Kim; Kathy Wu,
Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Alum; Assistant District Attorney
Maria Park and Assistant District Attorney Grace Jean
On February 12, it was my honor to receive Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Asian Jade Society at their 30th
Annual Dr. Robert Lin Scholarship Dinner. In addition, the Asian Jade
Society honored all of their past Presidents with “Person of the Year”
awards. I was humbled to receive the award from this prestigious
association of Asians in law enforcement. As the Kings County District
Attorney, my goal is to keep the people of Brooklyn safe by keeping
criminals off the street, whether it means incarcerating criminal
offenders or putting them in treatment programs where they can overcome
their problems and end their lives of crime. I have implemented many
programs over the years geared towards that goal. It is nice to be
recognized for my efforts by the Asian community and I want to give a
special thanks to the Asian Jade Society’s President, Lt. Tommy Ng, who
does an outstanding job.
Since I became the District Attorney in 1990, I
have seen an influx of more and more Asians in Brooklyn, not only as
residents, but as colleagues in law enforcement. We have many Asian
police officers, prosecutors, judges and investigators. In fact, one of
the highest ranking executives in my office is Kin Ng, who does a
remarkable job. Mr. Ng, our Director of Training, became the first
Asian American Executive Assistant District Attorney in New York State
when he was promoted in 2007. Assistant District Attorney Phyllis Chu
was the first female Asian American prosecutor in my Homicide Bureau.
Alex Jeong, who is now a judge, was the first male Asian American
prosecutor in my Homicide Bureau.
When I became District Attorney in 1990, we had
only five Asian assistant district attorneys in my office. Now, we have
40, an increase of almost 700%. In addition, last summer, we had over
30 Asian American law school, college and high school summer interns.
My office continues to outreach to local law schools to encourage
students to apply for internships and assistant district attorney
positions.
My office currently has five Asian ADA’s in
management or supervisory level positions, compared to none in 1990. And
happily, these ADA’s are staying in our office for longer periods of
time. We currently have nine Asian ADA’s that have been with our office
between five and nine years, and another six Asian ADA’s that have been
in our office between ten and 18 years.
We do a lot of outreach in the Asian community. I
regularly appear on Chinese and Korean radio stations to educate
listeners on the criminal justice system and to make them aware of all
the services that are available to them. We also send some of our Asian
staff to Asian churches and senior centers to educate and develop
programs. My office has neighborhood offices throughout Brooklyn
including some in highly populated Asian communities, staffed by
interpreters. The Asian Prosecutors’ Association of Brooklyn originated
in my office to develop mentoring and support for young ADA’s. We
collaborate and co-sponsor numerous events with the Asian American Bar
Association of NY. Every May, we recognize and honor outstanding Asian
American individuals and organizations in celebration of Asian Heritage
Month. In addition, we get frequent visits from international Asian
judges and law enforcement officials.
I want to commend the Asian Jade Society for their
role in furthering the progress and success of Asians in law
enforcement. The Asian Jade Society was created in 1980, creating a
strong bond between law enforcement and the Asian Community. They teach
cultural diversity and understanding of different ethnicities, and they
recruit educated Asians to increase the number of Asian Police Officers
in the NYPD, so they may represent and assist in their communities. The
mission of the Asian Jade Society, which is comprised of approximately
1000 members of the NYPD from 30 countries, is to promote tolerance,
awareness and understanding within their department and with the outside
community.
TEEN DATING VIOLENCE
On February 10, I gave the opening remarks at a
symposium on teen dating violence, hosted by Brooklyn Borough President
Marty Markowitz and sponsored by the Brooklyn Borough President’s Task
Force on Teen Violence and Women Against Violence. I want to commend
another speaker at this conference, Farahnaz Rodriguez, the Teen Dating
Violence Coordinator from my Victim Services Unit.
We discussed the issue of teen dating violence and
what can be done to prevent this serious problem. According to a
Columbia Center for Youth Violence NYC Report among students with a
dating history, more than half (56%) reported experiencing physical
dating violence. With the numbers of reports to the city’s domestic
violence hotline rising, these is a strong need to raise awareness and
provide information and prevention training, and to continue to educate
teens on the services that are available to them if they are a victim.
During the panel discussion, we identified the different types of abuse
and how we can reach out to victims to protect them.
Congress declared February Teen Date Violence
Awareness & Prevention Month to give Americans the tools to prevent
relationship abuse by building healthy relationships. All teens,
regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic background are vulnerable to
relationship violence. According to a study of over 600 high school
students conducted by the Center Against Domestic Violence, nearly
one-third of the respondents interpreted violent acts as acts of love.
This is one of the areas where we need to educate our youth so they
realize that any act of violence is wrong and illegal. Often, a victim
is hit or threatened or verbally abused by their partner, yet they don’t
perceive themselves as being in an abusive relationship. So, it is our
goal to make victims aware of abusive behavior, and if they can’t
identify it, we need people in the community to be able to identify the
signs of abuse so it can be reported.
There are workshops around the city, some of which
are organized by Women Against Violence, designed to help you recognize
signs of abuse. The most telling sign of abuse is fear of your
partner. If you feel that you have to constantly be careful of what you
say or do around your partner, that should be a clear sign of an abusive
relationship. If you are unsure if you are in an abusive relationship,
ask yourself the following questions:
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Does your partner act excessively jealous or possessive?
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Does your partner hurt you or threaten to hurt you or kill you?
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Do you feel afraid of your partner most of the time?
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Does your partner humiliate or yell at you?
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Do you go along with everything your partner says or does out of
fear?
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Do you receive frequent, harassing phone calls from your partner?
If you are in an abusive relationship or you know
of someone who is being abused, please call my office’s District
Attorney’s Action Center at (718) 250-2340.
The news articles below may be of interest to you
or members of your community.
Detroit Free Press
Study Shows Significant Drop In Child Abuse
A massive new federal study documents an
unprecedented and dramatic decrease in incidents of serious child abuse,
especially sexual abuse.
Experts hailed
the findings
as proof that crackdowns and public awareness campaigns had made
headway.
An estimated 553,000 children suffered physical,
sexual or emotional abuse in 2005-06, down 26% from the estimated
743,200 abuse victims in 1993, the study found.
“It’s the first time since we started collecting
data about these things that we’ve seen substantial declines over a long
period, and that’s tremendously encouraging,” said professor David
Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire, a leading researcher in
the field of child abuse.
“It does suggest that the mobilization around this
issue is helping and it’s a problem that is amenable to solutions,” he
said.
The findings were contained in the fourth
installment of the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect,
a congressionally mandated study that has been conducted periodically by
the Department of Health and Human Services. The previous version was
issued in 1996, based on 1993 data.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100203/NEWS07/100203017/1322/Study-shows-significant-drop-in-child-abuse
Times Union (Albany)
Changes In Statewide Child Abuse List
Up to 25,000 placed on a statewide child abuse
registry without adequate hearings
Thousands of people listed on a statewide database
of reported child abusers will regain the right to hearings in which
they can try to clear their names, according to a preliminary federal
court settlement last week.
“They never had a hearing,” Thomas Hoffman, the
lawyer representing approximately 25,000 New Yorkers in the statewide
Abuse and Maltreatment Register. Hoffman’s class action lawsuit alleged
that many of those individuals had their cases improperly closed by the
state Office of Children and Family Services without hearings.
While not open to the public, the database can be
accessed by employers to see if job applicants seeking to work with
children have ever been reported as child abusers. Those applying for
jobs in day care facilities and juvenile justice centers, or those
seeking to become foster parents or even camp counselors, can be subject
to these database searches.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=903691&category=STATE |
