{"id":5856,"date":"2016-10-28T19:55:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T19:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=5856"},"modified":"2016-10-28T19:55:08","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T19:55:08","slug":"hotline-assists-texas-crime-victims-with-legal-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=5856","title":{"rendered":"Hotline Assists Texas Crime Victims with Legal Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_5857\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/gr-54570-1-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5857\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5857\" src=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/gr-54570-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"The AVOICE hotline provides legal help in Texas for victims of domestic abuse and other violent crimes. Photo: Highwaystarz\/iStockphoto\" width=\"600\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/gr-54570-1-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/gr-54570-1-1-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-5857\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The AVOICE hotline provides legal help in Texas for victims of domestic abuse and other violent crimes. Photo: Highwaystarz\/iStockphoto<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>by Mark Richardson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><strong>AUSTIN, Texas<\/strong> \u2014 Victims of violent crime in Texas, particularly victims of domestic abuse, have a strong advocate to help them with legal issues they may face following an assault.<\/p>\n<p>October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the group Advocates for Victims of Crime, also called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tlsc.org\/programs\/avoice.asp\" target=\"parent\">AVOICE<\/a>, works to help victims of violent crime in Texas put their lives back together and move forward. Erin Martinson, legal director at the service, said crime victims \u2013 particularly those who suffer domestic abuse \u2013 most often need help getting protection orders against their abusers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe typical reason is that they\u2019re in danger when they call us. There will have been a history of abuse in their relationship with their partner, physical or sexual or both,\u201d Martinson said. \u201cSometimes we see stalking in these kinds of cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martinson, a former prosecutor, said survivors of violent crimes such as assault, child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and stalking often need to act quickly to protect themselves and their families. AVOICE has a staff of attorneys and other advocates who can be reached on a toll-free, statewide hotline.<\/p>\n<p>She said the group often steps in for victims when local officials aren\u2019t willing to help.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don\u2019t have the benefit of having a local prosecutor who would file a protective order for them,\u201d Martinson said. \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of jurisdictions where county and district attorneys, for whatever reason, feel that they don\u2019t have an obligation to file protective orders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added that AVOICE handles legal services for other crime victims as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do some Title IX work on campuses for victims of violence and sexual assault,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done some immigration work. We help victims in criminal cases assert their rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Martinson, AVOICE also offers training to local police, prosecutors and advocates in assisting victims of violent crime.<\/p>\n<p>AVOICE is a program of the Texas Legal Services Center. Its staff can be reached during weekday business hours at 888-343-4414.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Mark Richardson AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Victims of violent crime in Texas, particularly victims of domestic abuse, have a strong advocate to help them with legal issues they may face following an assault. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the group Advocates for Victims of Crime, also called AVOICE, works to help victims of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5858,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5856\/revisions\/5858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}