Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton was recently reappointed to the Domestic Violence State Coordinating Council (DVSCC) by Deborah Taylor Tate, Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts.
“Her abiding commitment to insuring victims of domestic or sexual abuse have access to justice in our system began as a young prosecutor and has continued throughout her stellar and historic judicial career,” said Director Tate. “She never accepts the ‘way things are,’ but chooses to improve, re-structure and change for the good of both individuals and our larger court system. Whether she is organizing backpacks for the beginning of a school year or conducting sexual assault awareness seminars for high school students, she sees a need and gathers resources and other champions to meet that need in the community.”
Judge Dalton will serve another four-year term, representing the Judiciary on the Middle Grand Division of the DVSCC. The Council was created to increase the awareness and understanding of domestic and family violence, and its consequences, while striving to reduce the incidence of it within the state. The responsibilities of the DVSCC include creating policies for police and judicial officers in response to domestic violence and providing training courses and curriculum for law enforcement, judges and judicial personnel who handle and respond to domestic violence situations.
Judge Dalton is a former prosecutor in the Nashville District Attorney’s office, assigned to the family protection unit. She said this role allowed her to gain a very intimate appreciation of the dynamics of domestic violence.
“I hope that I not only help in furthering their goal of increasing awareness and decreasing incidents, I hope I continue to learn to assess the cases I have to decrease the occurrences of domestic violence,” said Judge Dalton.
Judge Dalton said, unfortunately, she’s seen an increase in cases of domestic violence during the pandemic. She said the biggest hurdle continues to be access to resources for the victims of domestic abuse.
