BOSTON, April 9, 2015—Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley today congratulated a longtime staff member honored yesterday for her innovation and dedication in serving child victims of abuse and exploitation.
Jacquelyn Lamont, the DA’s director of youth safety and outreach and forensic interviewer in the office’s Child Protection Unit, received the Innovations Award from the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance during the 2015 Massachusetts Victim Rights Awards Ceremony at the State House yesterday morning. The award is given to service providers, agencies, and individuals responsible for innovative programs and policies to help crime victims in Massachusetts.
Jacquelyn Lamont, director of youth safety and outreach for Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley, joins Liam Lowney of the Massachusetts Office of Victim Assistance at yesterday’s Victim Rights Awards Ceremony at the State House yesterday. Lamont was honored with the Innovations Award for her groundbreaking photo exhibit, Now You See, which portrays the eyes of child victims and adult survivors of abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Lamont was honored for her work creating the groundbreaking photo exhibit “Now You See,” which displays the eyes of child victims and adult survivors of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The project provides each survivor the opportunity to share a message of hope, resilience, and strength while providing encouragement to other victims. The collection has been displayed at the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse, the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County, the John Hancock tower, the Massachusetts Children’s Alliance annual gala and other venues. It can be seen online at http://www.suffolkdistrictattorney.com/now-you-see/.
“Jackie’s work is about empowering victims and survivors,” Conley said. “It’s helped dozens of victims who disclosed abuse and took steps to hold their abusers accountable. It’s spread the message to other victims that they are not alone and that there are people who will listen when they are ready to come forward. She’s a true innovator who has dedicated her career to serving the most vulnerable victims my office sees. I can think of no one more deserving of this honor and am grateful for her work on behalf of the people of Suffolk County.”
Lamont, a 19-year veteran of the DA’s office, began her career as a victim-witness advocate in the Central Division of the Boston Municipal Court. She was soon promoted to the DA’s Major Felony Bureau and then to the Elders and Persons with Disabilities Unit at the time of its creation in 2001. She served as deputy chief of Conley’s Victim Witness Assistance Program before being named to her current position, in which she is responsible for the DA’s youth outreach efforts and leading forensic interviews with child victims.
This is not the first award MOVA has bestowed on Lamont; the agency honored her in 2003 with that year’s Victim Witness Advocate Award.
Following the morning awards presentation, Lamont went on to lead an evening ceremony at Harvard University’s Gutman Library Gallery honoring 16 victims who took part in “Now You See” and the family members who supported them through the prosecution of their abusers. Many of the cases resulted in convictions and guilty pleas while others did not; the ceremony honored each victim and family member for their bravery in disclosing the abuse and their perseverance and commitment during the prosecution.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
