Through a wealth of legal knowledge, a few jokes and one banjo, Shelia Simon conveyed the history and importance of domestic violence laws as part of Women’s History Month.
Simon, a law professor at SIUC, worked as a prosecution attorney before she came to the university and quickly took an interest in domestic violence.
Simon said she decided to go into domestic violence law after her first domestic violence case as a law student.
“Being that this is Women’s History Month, I feel it is important to acknowledge the changes that have been made to domestic violence laws pertaining to women and the things we have accomplished because of them,” Simon said.
Simon spoke to a group of roughly 40 people at the Women’s Law Forum at noon Thursday in the Lesar Law Building.
She said America’s domestic violence laws came from England and stemmed from Rome, though over time these laws have evolved into what they are today.
Simon said the majority of victims in domestic violence cases are women. She added the laws for domestic violence toward women changed when Mississippi became the first state of the United States to allow married women to own slaves.
Domestic violence laws expand beyond womens’ rights, Simon said.
She said the Department of Children and Family Services used to always supervise visitation with the abusive parent of the child, now they only provide supervision if the child was ever abused.
No matter who is on the receiving end of domestic violence, Simon said incidents are often kept quiet.
“Domestic violence by enlarge takes place in the home where there are no witnesses,” Simon said.
Simon lightened the mood with a musical twist. She said domestic violence is addressed in popular culture, especially country music. But domestic violence issues are not the only elements of country music Simon is versed in.
“Nothing says redneck like a banjo, but the banjo is an African instrument,” Simon said.
The Women’s Law Forum put together the event for Simon, said Gale Thomas, assistant clinical professor and staff attorney of the Domestic Violence Clinic.
Thomas said she has known Sheila Simon since 1995 and takes the same hands-on approach when teaching her law classes.
Thomas said she worked as a prosecution attorney for six years and spent three years working domestic violence cases.
“The domestic violence clinic’s purpose is to give students practical experience with real victims and to give victims legal representation when they can’t afford their own,” Thomas said.
Marcy Cascio, an LLM student in the domestic violence clinic, graduated from SIUC School of Law in 2009.
She said the domestic violence class gave her the opportunity to work one-on-one with victims and hear their stories.
“The best part of working with domestic violence victims is watching them regain strength and confidence in themselves.
Sheila and Gale are definitely great role models for law students,” Cascio said.
Deon Price can be reached at dprice@dailyegyptian.com or
536-3311 ext. 259.
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