Lynn Shiner and Nancy Chavez share a tragic bond. Both women have lost children as a result of violent crimes. And ever since their losses, they have devoted their lives to improving services to crime victims and their families. Shiner’s son, David, and daughter, Jennifer, were killed by their father on Christmas Eve 1994. She now is deputy director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s Office of Victims’ Services. She drove development of the website, www.pacrimevictims.com, that provides comprehensive resources for crime victims and their families … the kind of services that were not available when she was victimized. And she writes about the ongoing trauma experienced by the survivors of homicide.

Watch the entire interview with Lynn Shiner Part 1

Shiner pushed the General Assembly to pass what has become known as Jen and Dave’s law. She explained on Radio Smart Talk that the law “… allows any individual involved in a custody situation to have information about the criminal activity of the other custodial parent. In my case, their father had been arrested for stalking and harassment and no one shared that information with me. Had I known, I could have done something different around custody or at least had supervised (visits), but that information wasn’t available to me at the time.” Shiner will share more of her insights about support for crime victims and what she has endured on this week’s show.

Watch the entire interview with Lynn Shiner Part 2

Nancy Chavez’s daughter, Randi Trimble, was murdered in a plot hatched by Randi’s husband and carried out by his friend. The two men conspired to kill her in order to finance a horror movie they were producing. They are serving life sentences for her brutal slaying. Chavez delivers community talks as a member of the Coalition of Pennsylvania Crime Victim Organizations' Survivors Speakers Bureau. She also oversees Randi's Race, an annual run/walk to raise funds for Domestic Violence Services in Cumberland and Perry counties. Chavez joins us to talk about how her experiences dealing with the criminal-justice system led her to advocate for crime victims. She says much more is needed to guarantee their families justice. “The website (pacrimevictims.com) is a great resource to me … Having your rights as a victim of crime is very, very important, but also, when I look at this site, to understand how this crime has affected me is extremely important," she notes. "We can’t ever forget the trauma a crime victim does go through. The different stages of shock, pain, and of course guilt, anger, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder was what we faced continuously and having them as part of this website allows the resources to really touch any person possible.”

Another valuable component of the website is the ability to track offenders as they move throughout the prison system. Chavez, for example, keeps tabs on which prisons house the two men convicted of Randi’s murder. And the website offers links to many financial-assistance programs available to victims. Empowering people at their most vulnerable moment is one of the strongest components of the outreach.

Victims often need help navigating the labyrinth of the American criminal-justice system. It’s a system in which there are many safeguards to protect a defendant’s rights but not always the sensitivity to remember the suffering of victims and their loved ones. B.J. Horn, director the Office of Victims' Services at the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency, will be on our panel. PCCD administers the Victims’ Compensation-Assistance program that annually pays out $14 million on behalf of crime victims.

Send us your thoughts at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Click to watch the full program online.