Anita Alvarez accepting award.
Life Span presented its first Safety and Accountability Award to Anita Alvarez. Anita Alvarez is the first Latina woman to become Cook County State’s Attorney. She is the first career prosecutor to hold this office, having spent her entire legal career serving victims of violent crime. Ms. Alvarez leads the second largest prosecutor’s office in the nation, supervising more than 1,600 employees whose primary responsibility is to seek justice on behalf of crime victims and their families. Ms. Alvarez has made positive changes in the way her office handles crimes against women. Her tenure has been characterized by openness and inclusion of the advocacy community. Whenever possible, Ms. Alvarez seeks input of the advocacy community to improve her office’s response to domestic violence and sexual assault crimes.
Ms. Alvarez’s efforts to improve prosecutors’ response to crimes against women include:
- Mandating extensive training in domestic violence and sexual assault for prosecutors assigned to these cases. Chicago-based advocates were included in planning and delivering these trainings;
- Attending to the safety of specialized populations, including the streamlining of procedures for undocumented victims to obtain U visas;
- Using a national forum, and enlisting the help of U.S. Senator Durbin, to urge Congress to pass the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA);
- Employing innovative prosecutorial strategies to obtain the full legal protection for victims;
- Successfully arguing her first U.S. Supreme Court case involving evidence used in a sexual assault case.
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, Life Span Executive Director Denice Wolf Markham and Advocacy Liaison Jennifer Greene of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Life Span is an organization committed to the cessation of domestic violence and to the immediate relief of those who suffer from its consequences. Life Span provides comprehensive services to victims and their children, helping victims to eliminate abuse from their lives, build upon their strengths and become self-sufficient.
By Sandra Blake
from The Catalyst: The newsletter of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Women and the Law
