Jennifer Storm was nominated by Pennsylvania Tom Corbett in 2013 to serve as the Commonwealth's Victim Advocate, and she was later confirmed by the Commonwealth's Senate for a six-year long term. Now that those six years are up, both the current Governor Tom Wolf and Storm were attempting to have another six-year term approved by the Senate. However, the Senate voted 32-18 against her renewal for serving as the Victim Advocate in November of this year. Prior to this action, legislators were pushing for an amendment to a bill that would require that the Commonwealth's Victim Advocate possess a law degree and be a licensed attorney. States surrounding or nearby Pennsylvania, such as New York and Connecticut currently have similar roles held by people with a law degree. It is unclear if that is a requirement of their position, but according to the Inquirer, in most states being an attorney is not a requirement to serve in the role.
Photo Credit: Penn Capital-Star 2020
Directly from the Pennsylvania Office of the Victim Advocate website, the role of the Victim Advocate is as follows: "responsible for representing the rights and interests of crime victims before the PA Parole Board and the Department of Corrections and to provide notification to crime victims of the potential for inmate release, opportunity to provide testimony, and notification of the inmate’s movement within the correctional system...is responsible for advocating the interests of adult and juvenile crime victims throughout Pennsylvania."
So, the question is, do you need a law degree to advocate for the rights and interests of crime victims, to provide notification to crime victims, and to testify? The answer is simply no.
Lawyers have an identified client. Their role is to work one-on-one and represent the interests of a person by making legal argument. When serving as a prosecutor, or district attorney, the role is to carryout the law to serve the community by arguing the law in favor of community protection. The Victim Advocate does not have one identified client. They serve and promote the interests of all victims in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, regardless of their gender, age, own circumstances, crime that they were a victim of, etc.
Interestingly, there are many positions that you think may have a requirement to have a law degree, but no such requirement exists. State Senators and Representatives, for example, according to the Pennsylvania Constitution have the following qualification requirements:
" Senators shall be at least 25 years of age and Representatives 21 years of age. They shall have been citizens and inhabitants of the State four years, and inhabitants of their respective districts one year next before their election (unless absent on the public business of the United States or of this State), and shall reside in their respective districts during their terms of service."
There is no mention of a requirement of a legal degree, nor to be a licensed attorney.
A duty of both representatives and senators is to draft laws, yet there is no explicit requirement that they be a licensed attorney.
Arguably the two "highest" leadership positions in the Commonwealth, the governor and the lieutenant governor, do not require a law degree or be a licensed attorney (according to the Pennsylvania Constitution).
Finally, police officers, probation officers, parole officers, and magisterial district court judges. All of these criminal justice positions do not require a law degree or the individual be a licensed attorney.
The point of this argument is not to say that all of these previously mentioned positions should now require a law degree or be a licensed attorney. The point is to show that our standards for what constitutes someone who is prepared to work within the criminal justice system, or legislature for that matter, are not uniform in their requirements. Each role may not be best served by a particular degree, and instead, by the culmination of unique, diverse, and relevant experience and education that a person brings to the position they seek to serve in.
What unique, diverse, and relevant experience does Jennifer Storm bring to the Office of the Victim Advocate?
Storm served as the Director of the Dauphin County Victim/Witness Assistance program for 10 years. She has lived experience as a survivor of victimizations. She has lived experience as someone in recovery from substance misuse. She has lived experience as a member of the LGTBQ community. She has authored several books discussing her life's experiences and lessons she has garnered from that. She speaks at all different kinds of events, serves on panels and boards related to victim rights. Storm has worked to advocate in high profile cases such as the Sandusky case, Cosby case, Catholic Church clergy abuse case, among others. She is a proponent of Marsy's Law, which states that crime victims' rights in Pennsylvania should be protected by the Commonwealth's Constitution.
For more on Jennifer Storm's history, check out this article: https://www.penncapital-star.com/commentary/my-story-my-experience-make-me-best-suited-to-be-pa-s-victim-advocate-jennifer-storm/.
As a former victim advocate, who worked at a non-profit victim assistance agency, I was not/am not a licensed attorney, nor were any of my colleagues or supervisors. Our role was and is to strengthen the voice of the person who was victimized to a level that it can be heard by all of the other parts of the legal system and beyond. It was not our understanding of the laws that was important, but our understanding of how the system worked. We built connections with all members of the legal system and other community agencies so that we could reduce the risk that the person who experienced victimization was not going to be secondarily victimized by the system. The job of the local victim advocate is not to argue the law one way or another, it is to speak with those who may have been encouraged not to speak.
Jennifer Storm has served in the explicit role outlined for a Victim Advocate, as well as above and beyond. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, two governors, and many other advocates all see the good that she has done for the state. Critics argue that she is one-sided, seeing things for only particular victims or fails to recognize the needs of those who have committed crimes. To counter this, in Storm's own words in a op-ed:
"Pennsylvania citizens deserve a justice system that is balanced - that is sensitive to both the liberty at stake for the accused and the harm endured by the victim. By elevating the rights of victims into the Pennsylvania Constitution, we make a statement that we honor and respect both of these things, separately but equally. Co-equal, respective rights can exist in our constitution while not competing against one another."
Co-equal without competing. Finally, many of those who commit crimes have been victimized themselves in some way. Therefore, the line between advocating for victims and those who commit crimes cannot be clearly drawn anyway.
Want your voice heard? Currently a petition is available to sign on Change.org to keep Jennifer Storm on as Victim Advocate. See and sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/tom-wolf-keep-jennifer-storm-as-pa-victim-advocate.
References:
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (2020) OVA: OVA team. https://www.ova.pa.gov/AboutOVA/OVA%20Team/Pages/default.aspx.
Couloumbis, A. (2020, Sept 28). How Pa.'s Victim Advocate found herself in the crosshairs of the GOP-led senate. Spotlight PA. The Inquirer. https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/spl/pa-jennifer-storm-victim-advocate-senate-joe-scarnati-20200928.html.
DeJesus, I. (2020, Nov 16). Pa. senate rejects another term for Victim Advocate Jennifer Storm. PennLive Patriot News. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/11/pa-senate-rejects-another-term-for-victim-advocate-jennifer-storm.html.
Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. (2020). Magisterial District Judges: Qualifications. https://www.alleghenycourts.us/district_judges/qualifications.aspx#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20become%20a,year%20period%20prior%20to%20election.
Pennsylvania General Assembly. (n.d.). The Constitution of Pennsylvania. https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/consCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&ttl=00&div=0&chpt=4&sctn=5&subsctn=0.
Storm, J. (2019, Oct 29). OpEd: Marsy's law. Pennsylvania Office of the Victim Advocate. https://www.ova.pa.gov/Key%20Initiatives/Marsys%20Law/Documents/Marsy%27s%20Law%20OpEd.pdf.