SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has a new tool designed to keep crime victims informed on the status of the perpetrator in their cases. It's called My Voice.
"We're trying to get to the point where we can react out to victims as soon as possible after the sentencing to let them know who we are, and that they will be hearing from us at some point," explained Brittany Karzen with the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
Karzen says that crime victims often don't know or understand why the parole board is contacting them or what a parole hearing means. She says it doesn't necessarily mean someone is getting out. But with indeterminant sentencing like Utah has, someone handed a term of 1 to 15 years in prison means they could be up for parole in as little as three years.
If victims want to stay informed and add impact statements, they are typically notified by traditional mail. Karzen says the My Voice system is designed to streamline that process. "This is a tool that is going to allow us to take in additional information from those victims," she explained. "... these are all really important things that can help us make sure victims know what’s happening, IF they want to know. It’s also a place where the victims like, ‘I don’t want to talk about this ever again,' we can make a note of that, and we won’t notify them.”
Phase one of My Voice will be used primarily as an internal tool, but ultimately, officials want to allow victims themselves to come in and interface with the program, enter their contact information, and their preference as to whether or not they want to be contacted.
