A coalition of Newport News police, prosecutors and victim-services groups is bringing two of the nation's most prominent domestic violence advocates to the city for a day-long summit later this month, with sessions aimed squarely at one of the hardest crimes to prosecute: strangulation. United 4 Justice and Healing is organizing the Domestic Violence Awareness Summit for Oct. 26 at the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center, running from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The event, first reported by WAVY, is expected to draw survivors, advocates, professionals and community members for programming on emerging issues in domestic violence, including strangulation. The agenda includes a panel titled “A Parent's Voice: Love, Loss & Legacy of Domestic Violence.”
National Advocates Headline the Day
Among the scheduled participants are Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack, who are set to lead a conversation about trauma-informed responses to domestic violence, per the same account. The pair began their careers as prosecutors in San Diego, where they started building what would become the largest specialized Domestic Violence Unit in the country starting in 1988, according to Alliance for HOPE International, the organization Gwinn and Strack went on to found.
In 2002, Gwinn and Strack led the opening of the first Family Justice Center in America, in San Diego — a model designed to give survivors one location for access to the services they need, the station's report notes. Alliance for HOPE International says the Family Justice Center model has since expanded to roughly 300 centers across 45 states and 25 countries, built on a blueprint that has also informed centers such as the Nampa Family Justice Center in Idaho, the Crystal Judson Family Justice Center in Tacoma, Washington, and the St. Louis Family Justice Center in Missouri, according to the Alliance's collaborative-model overview.
A Focus on Strangulation Cases
Strangulation is one of the summit's featured topics.
Virginia law classifies strangulation as a Class 6 felony when a person, without consent, unlawfully and knowingly and intentionally applies pressure to another person's neck to impede blood circulation or breathing, resulting in wounding or bodily injury, according to the Virginia Code.
Evidence-Based Prosecution and a Personal Mission
Gwinn and Strack are also scheduled to discuss trauma-informed responses to domestic violence. Gwinn, who grew up in a family affected by violence and abuse, has said he plans to discuss the success of the one-stop center model he helped create, and has said Newport News has its own history of collaborative domestic-violence work.
Gwinn has also spent 15 years measuring hope within survivor programs, describing hope as involving goal setting and what he calls pathways thinking. He has said he believes hope, paired with partnerships and support, can help break generational trauma, and that community support can help prevent children from repeating generational cycles of domestic violence. Hope is also a focus of Gwinn's work.
Locally, Transitions Family Violence Services has worked to eliminate domestic violence in Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson and York County since 1977, offering free and confidential programs along with emergency shelter at an undisclosed location for adults and children fleeing abuse, according to the organization's website.
Tickets for the Oct. 26 summit are available through Eventbrite, per WAVY's report. Organizers have framed the gathering as a chance for survivors to connect with the same philosophy that reshaped how one major American city approaches domestic violence — and now aims to do the same in Hampton Roads.
