Technology To Benefit Crime Victims

Under a probation reform bill recently signed by South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, crime victims will no longer be required to travel hours to attend parole board hearings in Columbia, but instead can link by videoconferencing from Trident Technical College in North Charleston. This will save hours of travel time and tons of stress, according to advocates. Already, inmates link via video from prison.

Trident Tech will provide space for the conferencing every Wednesday and several Tuesdays during the year. Trident Tech’s Ginger Norvell explains that the college and the parole department will have to underwrite the program because the Legislature did not allocate any funding. Money will have to be set aside to pay a trained staffer to handle Trident Tech’s video connection component.

Many families still prefer that local crime victims make the trip to Columbia to talk to parole boards face-to-face. “Personal contact is more effective,” says Teri Porcel, victim witness coordinator for the 9th Circuit Solicitor’s Office for Charleston and Berkeley counties.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the .