ABSTRACT
The parents of murdered children who engage in activities aimed at making changes in our criminal justice systems each have a specific goal in mind. After the child's murder when the parents do realize their fate, they begin searching for long-term activities that will help them survive. Some become members of groups established to help bereaved persons deal with their grief. A sampling of these groups and organizations will be covered in this chapter. Only the parent of a murdered child can fully understand how traumatic these court appearances are for Jenny, and why they set her back in her effort to reconstruct her life. Many parents of murdered children are asking the same question. Each parent looks for signs that their elected officials are leaning toward spending more of their tax dollars on victims' rights rather than giving them away to groups. When these parents see that little of this is happening, many of them become activists.
