Jesse Doiron Jr. was raised to believe that when someone needs a helping hand, offering one is the right thing to do. So in April 1983, when he encountered a couple of hitchikers on an isolated stretch of road, he pulled over and offered them a lift.
Gene Hughes of the Beaumont Journal (Texas) writes about Doiron's near death at the hands of those hitchhikers, and how it
moved him to work with other victims of violent crime.
His injuries required a long hospital stay: Because his sister was a nurse, Doiron was given early release into her care. Because he had given depositions to law enforcement officials and identified Voght and Novelli through photographs, he never again saw the men who attacked him. He's often thought about making contact with them through one of the many victim-meets-offender programs, but hasn't yet done so.
"I was victimized at a time when victims weren't very important, and not a lot of consideration was given to them," he said. "I don't mean that I was treated badly. I was treated very kindly by all of the first responders, so at the end of a very bad day I felt really good about people. Now, we actually train our law enforcement to understand that there is a psychology of being victimized, and if you really want to get a victim to cooperate, you don't want to revictimi0ze them. You need to help the victim realize what has happened to him.
"A lot of what we do - groups that are helping victims understand what has happened to them -- we're trying to help the future victims," he said. "Our keynote speakers aren't always victims talking about being victimized. It's the whole community that is victimized, really. It's a continuum of pain."
Doiron now helps part of the community by volunteering with Bridges to Life, a coalition organization whose mission is to connect victims and offenders in prisons, through education and focusing on victim impact.
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