SENTENCING THE VICTIM
Q&A with Liz Oakley and Joanna Katz

On June 17, 1988, Joanna Katz's life was changed forever. That night, she and another woman were abducted at gunpoint, taken to an abandoned house in Charleston, South Carolina, and brutally raped, beaten and tortured by five men for more than five hours.

After Katz reported her assault, her attackers were caught, tried and became eligible for parole after serving only a fraction of their sentences. In order to ensure that her attackers remain behind bars, Katz traveled over 100 miles from her home in Charleston to the state capital of Columbia—numerous times every year—to attend separate parole hearings for each of the five men who assaulted her. SENTENCING THE VICTIM is the story of how Katz spent years fighting for the convictions of her assailants—and for the rights of crime victims everywhere.

Since the film was shown on Independent Lens in 2004, several parole board practices have been reformed. Most importantly, the passage of South Carolina’s Bill S935, which requires that all codefendants convicted on one case, have their combined parole hearings on a single day. Victims no longer have to attend hearings more than once every two years. Victims who want to oppose parole hearings without having to travel, now have the option of attending via a satellite videoconferencing system.

Inside Indies spoke to Joanna Katz and Director/Co-producer Liz Oakley.

inside indies: What’s the biggest difference SENTENCING THE VICTIM has made so far? The passage of South Carolina’s Bill S935?

Joanna Katz: [South Carolina legislators] changed a lot of policy about how they address the victim. They now allow the victim to speak at the parole hearings prior to the decision. Out of all the letters we received after the film aired, the hugest outpouring had to do with people who were frustrated that the victim didn’t get to speak [before the sentencing]. It stole the victim’s voice. Afterward, it felt like they’d been heard—that that they were part of the decision-making process when the perpetrator was first convicted.

Liz Oakley: That’s a really tough question. Probably the most gratifying would be the passage of the legislation, but quite honestly, I don’t…Joanna might beat me up…but the impact was more dramatic in ways that can’t be measured in terms of awareness. When Joanna went out on tour without me, in one of the western states, the governor was there, and he was so moved by the film, that he was going to insist that the parole board in their state watch it. The power of that simple statement still overwhelms me.

ii: What happened after it aired on PBS?

LO: Certainly the biggest thing that happened was the South Carolina legislation change; without the film, I don’t know if it would have happened.

JK: The letters we received were mind-blowing. The most interesting thing about it was that people in the legal system, in the Department of Justice, had no idea what the post-conviction process was for the victim. I think the state wants to know, and I think it’s sort of a job for the victim to remind people what these [perpetrators] are capable of.

ii: When you were making the film, did you consider the possible impact?

JK: According to a lot of people inside the system: No. The one woman who gave me a lot of inspiration was Laura Hudson of the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network; she reaches out to victims who have come forward publicly, and she asks people to come to a roundtable discussion to see what they want changed and to discuss a plan.

When I went, this was my agenda: to get victims’ statements heard, to get parole hearings in the same case heard on the same day, and to allow videoconferencing, if it was too difficult for the victim to attend in person— especially the video testimony. All of this was going to be impossible as far as Laura was concerned. She said, “We’ll have to scratch off the other two, because I don’t want you to get frustrated…but don’t give up.” With that, I held hope that it was going to happen. But she had hope too; it’s exceptional people like that, who are there for victims’ rights, who make sure they pull through the rest of the battle.

LO: It’s funny, because I don’t do things small. I look back at our original grant proposals, when we were trying to get the film made…that was 12 years ago, and we named almost everything that we wanted to do and eventually accomplished. Did I really think we could do that at the time? Certainly that was my goal, but it’s rare when you’re able to do all those things. If we’d never gone any farther than the premiere, to the 200-plus people who saw it there, I’d say we accomplished our goal.

ii: Has there been any personal reaction that’s particularly surprised or touched you?

JK: There was a personal email from an admiral in the Navy—he had taken the time to see the film and respond. He commended me on my courage, and said it really made him understand what it meant to be a victim of sexual assault. It really kind of woke him up and made an impact on him, and made him want to show the film at a workshop of his own. It was letters like that, from people who I had no idea would even care, much less want to do something—and who would then carry that message.

ii: This was the first feature-length documentary for both of you. Has it inspired you to take on any other stories?

JK: This [story] still has a life of its own. I still get requests to show the film before various groups; recently I spoke at Guilford College in North Carolina. And I traveled to Asheville and spoke to the North Carolina Department of Probation and Parole, to show them what is possible.

LO: I’m working on a fabulous story now. It’s a film called Awaken the Dragon, about a wellness program for cancer survivors and a group in Charleston who has taken up the sport of “dragon boating”: 48 foot Chinese dragon boats, going down the river past plantation houses and rice fields.

It’s amazing what this sport has done for people’s lives. I’ve followed the story for a couple of years, telling the story of survival…. Six months ago they were finishing chemo, and now they’re competing in races. It’s unbelievably inspirational to be around these people, and we have been shooting for more than a year. We are really deep into fundraising now.

ii: It never gets any easier, does it?

LO: Hell, no!

Editor’s note: SENTENCING THE VICTIM was the highest-rated single episode of the Independent Lens series during the 2003-2004 season.

Visit the companion site for SENTENCING THE VICTIM >>

An extensive outreach campaign was created to support the film.
Read the impact study from the campaign. (PDF)

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