McDonald County Victim’s Advocate
McDonald County Victim’s Advocate Dana Banta has been working to help victims of crime since 2004. In that time she has worked alongside four different prosecutors and helped countless people change their lives for the better.
Banta works to serve anyone who has been a victim of a crime, whether that be theft, assault, or the murder of a loved one.
The Health Department and the Sheriff’s Office will often send her referrals, but Banta also counsels those seeking advice on how to better their situation or sometimes how to remove themselves from their situation completely.
“The hardest thing to do is leave what you know to be normal and start out somewhere else,” Banta said. “Sometimes people just want to talk about options. I meet with them and assess their situation. We’ll discuss safety plans, protection orders. A lot of my job is answering questions and explaining the judicial process.”
“If you have never been around the court system, it can be scary,” she added.
To help make a victim feel at ease, Banta will take time to familiarize them with the courtroom and the process of a trial before they are scheduled to testify.
“I’ll walk them through the courtroom, let them sit in the chair that they will be in, and give them a play-by-play of what to expect,” Banta said.
She also works with victims to determine a just punishment for their offenders.
One thing that Banta wishes more people knew about is the Victim Compensation Program. This program helps victims to pay medical bills that they may have accumulated as a result of their victimization.
The program is not funded by taxpayers but is supported by a fee that all convicted offenders pay with their other fines.