From the Beginning. . .

Paige and BPP (Best Prosecutor Pal), Erin Greenawald

I met Paige for the first time in 1997 in a tiny, cramped office in the Franklin Building located in downtown Salem. That’s where part of the Marion County District Attorney’s Office used to be housed. The little space dedicated to law clerks held four desks, one crammed onto each wall. Paige, a second year law student at Willamette University, was beginning her first year as a law clerk at the DA’s office. I was a second-year law clerk, starting my third year in law school. We became fast friends, connecting over a shared sense of humor (perhaps some mischief), and our mutual goal of graduating from law students to lawyers, law clerks to prosecutors. (Spoiler alert: We did both!)

From the start, I immediately recognized that Paige has an incredible ability to connect with people; she possesses genuine compassion for and empathy towards others, especially victims who, through no fault of their own, are thrust into the criminal justice system. These qualities have served Paige well in her career. But more importantly, they have served the victims she has been privileged to work with in the twenty-plus years since we first met.

Paige’s empathy, caring, and compassion have often most starkly been displayed when engaging with Domestic Violence victims. Domestic Violence is a problem of epidemic proportions in our society. More than one in three women will be subjected to rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. One in seven men will experience severe physical violence. In Marion County, we see how these national numbers translate locally. The Center for Hope and Safety (formerly Mid-Valley Women’s Crisis Center) has served Domestic Violence victims in Marion County and the Mid-Willamette Valley for over 40 years. The Center averages approximately 21,000 contacts to the program each year. These contacts include, but are certainly not limited to: crisis line access, emergency/transitional/long term shelter, and support groups. Additionally, the Center provides education and training throughout the community.

The Marion County District Attorney’s Office long ago recognized the importance of prioritizing Domestic Violence cases. Marion County was one of the first offices in Oregon to create a team of specially-trained prosecutors to exclusively handle Domestic Violence cases. Paige and I both had the privilege to be among the first members of that team. And while DV cases are among the most challenging that any prosecutor will handle, Paige was a natural. Paige always understood how to balance what were often –times competing obligations: a prosecutor’s responsibility to represent the State of Oregon and to hold the offender accountable, while at the same time genuinely listening to the victim’s input and providing them with the support that is so critical.

Over time, Paige’s role at the DA’s office shifted away from the DV team. However, because of her unique combination of skills, both legal and innate, she has been called on throughout the years to work on complex and complicated Domestic Violence cases. I know that of the thousands of cases she has handled, among those that have stuck with Paige the most are those involving Domestic Violence. In some instances, she has forged long-lasting friendships with the victims in those cases with whom she has had the honor of working.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. On Saturday, October 7^th, The Center for Hope and Safety in partnership with the Marion County Domestic Violence Council, of which the DA’s office is proud member, will host the 11^th annual “Steps to Safety Walk/Run” to raise awareness of domestic violence in Marion County, and beyond. Paige will be there on Saturday. And as the next Marion County District Attorney, I know that she will continue to be there, as she has been for twenty years, for Domestic Violence victims and their children.

{About the Author:  Erin Greenawald currently serves as the State Domestic Violence Resource Prosecutor at the Oregon Department of Justice.  She has been a Deputy District Attorney in both Marion and Yamhill Counties where she has been the voice for countless victims of domestic and sexual violence and she currently trains law enforcement around the nation about these issues.  She and Paige no longer share a cramped office, but they still share of love for their jobs, for eating out at great restaurants, and for occasionally getting into "mischief".  They find each other to be the funniest people they know.}