CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — The Annual Summit on Domestic Violence hosted by the Nueces County District Attorney's office, is set for this Saturday at the Del Mar West Campus.
The DA's office has joined forces with several agencies to bring this educational seminar to light and bring awareness to domestic violence. Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Felony Division, Sharra Rodriguez, says domestic violence is the biggest crime in Nueces County. She also believes that although there are good resources for those associated with the crime, there are not enough resources available. "Females and males that come through our doors don't know about the resources, they don't know that they're necessarily victims of domestic violence," states Rodriguez. "So it's definitely something in our community that I feel needs to have more education on, as well as more resources available."
Every year there are keynote speakers at the summit, but this year the two new components are the teacher and student aspect as well as the Call to Action, by Judge Inna Klein.
The American Federation of Teachers in Corpus Christi has come together to help educate the public on the others involved in domestic violence cases. "We as educators need to be the professionals in the classroom to help deal with those emotional and psychological manifestations of that behavior, as a result of domestic violence and how the children are treated," says American Federation of Teachers President, Dr. Nancy Vera. Vera believes that there are many cases out there that involve children, that many people do not know about.
Judge Inna Klein of the 214th Court of Nueces County, says within the past year, her courtroom has focused solely on domestic violence crime cases. "I think the difference between domestic violence crime and any other crime is that it's not one specific offense," Judge Klein says, "in this case you can't just separate the victim and the defendant they may have children they may have finances, they may have 20 years of memories together."
In addition to these two topics, there will be speakers by First Assistant District Attorney, Matt Manning; discussion by a strangulation expert, Kelsey McKay and a legislative update by Alexandra Crantrell.
The 2019 Summit on Domestic Violence, will take place at the Del Mar West Campus: Emerging Technologies Center
8:30-4:30PM
628 Airport Rd. ET BLDG 124AB
Free for the public, must register HERE
