Victim's Rights Project
Protecting and Enforcing Victim's Rights
Our Mission
The New Mexico Victims’ Rights Project is dedicated to providing education and enforcement of crime victims’ constitutional rights. The Project is available to assist all victims of violent crime.
The goal of the Victims’ Rights Project is to help victims meet their legal, financial and emotional needs through: pro bono legal counsel; assistance in information and case tracking; representation at court hearings; assistance in creating victim impact statements and filing for restitution; and facilitating contact with support groups and other victim resources.
“The American crime victim’s plea for fairness, dignity and respect was forged in the fire of a fundamental human need—that the individual citizen, whose life had been most directly impacted by the criminal act, would be assured that they were not an outsider to the process, and treated not as if they were mere evidence of the offense—but that their misfortune and their voice was of value, that they would be heard, listened to and appreciated, and that they would be regarded as essential to the justice system that was charged with righting the wrong.”
Jay Howell
Victims’ rights attorney,
Former Executive Director
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Board of Directors
Linda Atkinson – Executive Director
As the Executive Director of The New Mexico Victims’ Rights Project I interact with crime victims and their families every day. I realize being a crime victim is traumatic, and you probably don’t know where to turn to for help and guidance. I want you to know you’ve come to the right place, and you’re not alone.
Steven Flint – Chair
Steven began working with the DWI Resource Center as a volunteer consultant in 1993. Steven brings more than 20 years experience as a Programmer/Analyst. His career in traffic safety began as a programmer/analyst for the University of New Mexico, Division of Government Research. In 1987, Flint was employed as an analyst with the NM Traffic Safety Bureau, where he moved up to the Bureau Chief position and worked in that capacity for many years. After leaving the Traffic Safety Bureau, he entered the private sector as a programmer/analyst.
Juliana Lucero – Vice Chair
Juliana has been with the DWI Resource Center since 2008 as a board member and she currently serves at Vice-Chair. Her dedicated career includes New Mexico State Government as a Public Health worker and Team Leader in the areas of: Implied Consent Program, Healthcare Facility Compliance, Professional Licensure Regulations, Legislative sessions, and recently in Epidemiology Response. She is native New Mexican, with deep family roots in northern New Mexico. She is a community Volunteer in the arts and civic events in Santa Fe, NM. She earned a Bachelor of Science, General Science, from Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
Anna Lamberson – Board member
Arriving in Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1983 as an assistant professor of economics at New Mexico State University, Anna later moved to Albuquerque and commuted to work at the State’s Environmental Improvement Division and Department of Finance, the State Land Office, and for the Legislature’s House Taxation and Revenue Committee and Legislative Finance Committee. After leaving the State in 1997 to work at the City of Albuquerque, she served as Finance Director, Budget Officer and ultimately Chief Financial Officer. From 2009-2020 she worked abroad for US Agency for International Development and and European Union funded projects as a public finance advisor in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Jordan, Ghana, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Liberia and Bhutan where she was able to apply her government experience and her PhD in International Economics. Anna, now retired, lives in Albuquerque and looks forward to frequent visits to see her children and new granddaughter in London whenever possible
Al Benalli – Treasurer
Staff
Melissa Ames – Victim Advocate
Oris Salazar, Administrative Assistant
Carolyn Callaway, Attorney at Law
Volunteers
Thomas Beretich, MBA, JD – Consulting, Data Management, Crash mapping
Paul Trujillo, MBA – Accountant
Ben Montoya-Jennings, MBA – Community Outreach Liaison
501(c)(3) Status and Financials
The New Mexico Victims’ Rights Project is a project of The DWI Resource Center. The DWI Resource Center is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1993. The Center has continually served victims of DWI since that time. In 2003, we initiated tour Victims’ Rights Education and Enforcement Project to serve all victims of violent crime under a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) grant.
