DWI Victim Impact Panel

Victim Impact Panels were originally designed as a series of lectures on the dangers and consequences of drunk driving. Most of these panels last between 90 and 120 minutes and are offered in Westchester County once a month at the Westchester County Center. It is the specific policy of the courts in Westchester County to mandate attendance at one Victim Impact Panel after a conviction for a DWAI or DWI offense.

The goal of the panel is to deter future DWI offenses by exposing the realities and consequences that drinking and driving have on innocent people. Speakers at these panels are supposed to include direct DWI accident victims or family members who have lost loved ones as a result of drunk driving accidents. They may also feature people who have hurt themselves by drunk driving or driving while on drugs.

However, in reality it appears that the Victim Impact Panels in Westchester County are not performing as originally designed or intended. As you will discover by the following letter to the Westchester County Executive by a former client who was convicted of a DWAI and mandated to attend such a panel. Following is his story, critique of the panel and suggestions for improvement, which hopefully you will find helpful.

Mr. Robert P. Astorino
County Executive
900 Michaelian Building
148 Martine Ave.
White Plains, NY 10601 Robert P. Astorino

Dear Mr. Astorino,

I have lived and voted in Westchester County for 23 years. I’ve owned a home and paid taxes in Westchester County for 20 years, and for 35 years I’ve been a professional writer and communicator. On 9/15/11, I attended a Victim Impact Panel sponsored by Westchester County at the County Center. I was court‑mandated to attend, having been convicted of DWAI, a traffic violation. I’m writing to convey to you personal impressions and suggestions about this meeting.

Although there are positive aspects of the Victim Impact Panel, on the whole it is a negative for Westchester County and a mostly wasted opportunity to communicate with 5,000 residents per year, in my opinion. I will tell you my views on: 1) what’s right with the Victim Impact Panel; 2) what’s wrong; and 3) how to fix it, quickly and inexpensively.

What’s Right

Westchester County Probation Officers (POs) who supervised meeting logistics did a good job. They were polite and diligent throughout the two‑hour meeting. The meeting I attended had about 300 attendees. Registration and crowd‑control were efficient. The audience, which averaged about 35 years of age, was orderly and respectful.

What’s Wrong

The meeting content is delivered by two POs who are negative, insulting, degrading, and unprepared to deliver a meeting of this type. They don’t understand the purpose of a Victim Impact Panel, which is to achieve effective communication and education by publicly airing the voices, experiences and feelings of victims and survivors.

These two POs treated all 300 participants the same by repeatedly and untruthfully calling us criminals, by haranguing, insulting and degrading us. Although they knew nothing about us personally, they spoke as if they were brow‑beating a felon whose rap sheet and history they know. It was mostly about their egos and need for authority and control, not communicating clearly with us.

The overall feeling of the meeting is intimidation, manipulation and degradation, so the opportunity to educate is wasted. I spent much of the meeting watching other attendees, and it was clear they felt threatened, defensive, and fearful. There was no opportunity for audience participation or questions. A few “raise‑your‑hand” questions the POs asked were so manipulative and threatening that nobody in a crowd of 300 dared to raise a hand.

The POs said they were glad the meeting room felt hot and crowded, because they wanted the audience to feel uncomfortable. Their goal seemed to be to make the two hours feel like torture, and they succeeded. They don’t understand that torture only well works to communicate and educate in a totalitarian state, and Panel attendees know they don’t live in a totalitarian state. So, we spent the two hours closing our minds to the negativity, and watching the clock on the wall tick.

At one point, one of the POs said: “I hate this meeting and I hate being here.” Implicit in his attitude was that he hated us, whom he repeatedly called “criminals,” even though the audience included many people who were there voluntarily or have been convicted only of a traffic violation. As taxpayers, we wondered why a positive opportunity to communicate with 300 County residents for two hours should be such a hateful job.

At one point, the other PO showed a video clip of a young woman survivor who told her story about being horribly disfigured in a drunk‑driving accident. The PO followed up with the comment: “She lived. But if this happened to me, I’d rather be dead.” What a negative and ignorant comment to make at a Victim Impact Panel. If the young woman had died, she would not have lived to tell her story and make an impact on thousands.

These two POs are not trained as professional communicators and they were unprepared to deliver an effective meeting. They showed several videos that were streamed over the Internet, so that each video played for 10 seconds, then interrupted and paused for five seconds, time and again. There was no way for the audience to grasp the message or emotions of the herky‑jerky videos.

The POs didn’t have a coherent agenda, so there were many gaps and pauses, waiting for somebody to speak. To fill gaps, they repeated the same insults and threats, over and over.

At one point, one of the POs filled a gap by informing the audience that a 19‑year‑old girl with serious alcohol problems had failed a breathalyzer test at the door. He then went into her personal problems and behaviors in front of 300 people. I was shocked by the ad‑hoc outing of a young County resident for no apparent reason. If a troubled young person learns she has been publicly humiliated by a Westchester County PO and then kills or injures herself, who will be responsible and liable?

At least 40 minutes of the two‑hour meeting were filled with still or video images of blood, gore and violence on the highway, mainly because the POs lacked other content to deliver. It became sickening and then numbing, like a violent video game, and it was generally unconnected to any survivor/victim story.

At no time in this two‑hour meeting did the POs state the purpose of a Victim Impact Panel, probably because they don’t understand it. Their personalities and negative attitudes dominated the meeting. The voices of survivors and victims were overshadowed and not heard.

How to Fix It

The focus of a Victim Impact Panel meeting content should be on the experiences and feelings of survivors and victims. All content delivered by Westchester County should be scripted, and it should be the same, regardless of audience. Westchester County’s message should be the same for the Kiwanis Club as for a court‑mandated audience, because survivors’ and victims’ stories are equally powerful for all.

Unless Westchester County can find a PO who is a skilled communicator, a different person should be chosen to moderate. There should be no condemnation, threats, degradation or humiliation. The meeting should begin with the moderator welcoming the audience and stating its purpose:

“The purpose of a Victim Impact Panel is to give voice to the survivors and victims of drunk driving. We believe that when you hear their stories, told truthfully and honestly, you will understand the devastating consequences of drunk driving, and you will choose positive attitudes and behaviors. That’s why we are here. A court can mandate you to be here physically. But it can’t mandate you to open your hearts and minds to these stories. I’m personally requesting you to do this. We will give you a chance to participate by telling us what these stories mean to you, if you choose.

“A victim of drunk driving is a person now dead. A survivor is a person who has been devastated by drunk driving — physically, emotionally, financially or otherwise — and lived to tell about it. Victims’ voices have a right to be angry or bitter, because they have lost their lives to drunk driving. A survivor also has a right to be angry or bitter. But survivors’ stories are most powerful when they are told truthfully and honestly, focusing on facts survivors know and emotions they feel, so you can live in their shoes. The only way to experience what survivors know and feel is to listen to them with an open heart and mind, and now you will have that opportunity.

“Some survivor stories will be told to you in person, and survivors also will speak for victims whom they have loved and cherished. Other people will read their true stories, and if you wish to volunteer as a reader, you are welcome. After each story, we will ask someone in the audience to share a thought or feeling, based on what you’ve heard. We ask that you keep these comments brief, supportive and relevant. In the last 20 minutes of our meeting, you will have the opportunity to ask questions or make brief general comments about what you’ve experienced here, if you choose.”

All meeting content from Westchester County should be repeatable — the same from meeting to meeting. The only variation should be audience responses and questions. The POs may say it’s impossible to control audience response in a meeting of this type. But it can be done, and it can be powerful in engaging the audience and increasing positive education and communication. Give it a try.

The negativity of voice and lack of relevant content in the current Victim Impact Panel is causing suffering in Westchester County, in my opinion. It’s creating a two‑hour torture chamber for 5,000 residents per year, many of whom are taxpayers, non‑criminals and fundamentally good people who really do want to listen and learn. It’s also creating ill will toward the County and squandering a great opportunity for positive education and communication that would help to prevent drunk driving, and all the suffering it causes.

I love living in Westchester County, and I know Westchester County can do a better job than this mess. Thanks for listening to me.

Sincerely,
Rich W