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We're continuing the introductions of our valuable team this week. Please meet our newest addition, Mary Kate. 

During National Crime Victims' Rights Week this year, brave victim survivors, Leigh and Audrey shared their story. You can watch the media account here or check out their opinion piece that ran in local newspapers. For Leigh and Audrey, there is power in sharing their story and using their voices for change. 

Hello! My name is Sarah Shambrook and I am the Political Director for Marsy’s Law for Iowa. I oversee the day-to-day operations of our field team to ensure that we are speaking with Iowans all across the state with a vested interest in crime victims’ rights and gaining knowledge from their combined experience, stories and beliefs along the way.

After graduating from Drake University (Go Bulldogs!) in 2015 with a degree in Law, Politics & Society and Rhetoric, I spent three years working as a paralegal in a heavy litigation firm. There I realized the detrimental effects laws could have on everyday people if the laws and policies were written without a concern for how they would affect different types of communities and people. I decided that instead of working within the confines of the law, I wanted to be a changemaker to help write and pass better policy with an understanding of how the language of the law may be carried out in different communities.

Marsy’s Law for Iowa affords me the stellar opportunity to not only see the legislative side of policy making, but also be immersed into the campaign trail of talking with and learning from everyday voters and community leaders across the state to make sure the policy we recommend is mindful of individual community needs and concerns – plus it’s bipartisan, so who can beat that?

I’m a firm believer that law and society have a cyclical relationship, and my hope for Marsy’s Law for Iowa is that we can work together with the state and survivor/advocate community to ensure that victims and survivors of crime are afforded the basic constitutional rights we all deserve to ease even the smallest burden of dealing with the (albeit confusing, tricky and sometimes unfair) criminal justice system. Affording victims of crime constitutional rights in Iowa helps to signal a culture change in our state to show those going through a system that they did not ask to be a part of that we believe you, we know this is hard, and we are here to help.

I look forward to meeting you and hearing why you care about crime victims’ rights!

Sarah

You can reach me at [email protected]