He said the statistics covers only the first three months of 2011 and his office is vigorously pursuing offenders to give justice to victims and their families.
“In the most recent quarter, 55 percent of our cases involved domestic violence. One out of two cases was domestic violence,” he told the Variety.
The Office of the Attorney General’s Criminal Division has seven prosecutors.
Buckingham, who was among the special guests at the launching of two community programs to address the growing number of domestic violence cases in the CNMI, said community support is crucial to the work that the prosecution does.
“This kind of community organization and community support is very critical to supporting victims and increasing awareness about this kind of crime. It’s a high priority for the Office of the Attorney General,” he said.
The two programs were launched at the judicial complex on Tuesday by the Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence and allied groups.
“Most of our cases involve domestic violence. And we take those cases seriously and prosecute them vigorously,” Buckingham said.
Through the coalition’s initiative, SART, or the Sexual Assault Response Team, was created.
SART is made up of members from the coalition, the Department of Public Safety, the Commonwealth Health Center, the Office of the Attorney General and Karidat’s Guma Esperansa.
Its launching coincides with the ongoing celebration of the Sexual Assault Awareness month.
Maisie Tenorio, executive director of the coalition, said too often victims are reluctant to seek help due to shame and other factors.
She said SART will ensure that victims are afforded the necessary help they need.
“Sexual assault prevention and intervention is all our responsibility. This is our community,” she said and noted that sexual assault is the most underreported crime in the United States.
Keiko Odashiro, coalition coordinator, said Guma Esperansa received the 2009 and 2010 Sexual Assault Services Program Fund of the Office on Violence Against Women from the Criminal Justice Planning Agency, which will enable the group to train volunteers to help sexual assault and domestic violence victims.
“Volunteers will receive 40 hours of training on sexual assault services and advocacy skills and will coordinate with Guma Esperansa staff to provide top quality services to victims of sexual assault. Advocates will provide victims with crisis intervention and referral of services through a 24-hour hotline, counseling and accompaniment to medical appointments, police interviews and civil and criminal court proceedings,” she said.
With the right training, advocates can help victims get healed and get justice for themselves, she added.
