JOAN D'ALESSANDRO - 7 yo - (1973) Convicted: Neighbor, Joseph McGowan - Hillsdale NJ

New film about murdered Hillsdale Brownie scout advocates for more protective laws


Friday, February 7, 2014    Last updated: Friday February 7, 2014, 7:44 PM
BY  MARY DIDUCH
STAFF WRITER



HILLSDALE — It’s only 15 minutes long, but Rosemarie D’Alessandro hopes a film about her daughter, Joan, slain 40 years ago, sends a message that resonates for years to come: that society needs stronger laws to protect children and their families.


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Rosemarie D'Alessandro with Brownie Scouts who are from the same school and are the same age that her daughter was.


“The Story of Joan, An Angel Advocate” aims to educate the public and particularly lawmakers across the country.

Seven-year-old Joan was a Girl Scout in April 1973 when she delivered cookies to her neighbor, high school teacher Joseph McGowan. McGowan sexually molested and murdered the girl and left her body in a New York state park.

The video, whose executive producer is Joan’s former babysitter, Peggy Frazier O’Connor, explains what happened to Joan, her murderer and four laws passed in Joan’s name. It will be available this week at www.joansjoy.org, the website for the Joan Angela D’Alessandro Memorial Foundation.   

D’Alessandro also is to be featured on a series by O’Connor, “In Search of Steel Magnolias,” that documents the stories of women who have overcome adversity.

Since Joan’s death, her mother has become a children victim’s advocate, lobbying to keep McGowan in prison for life and advocating for passage of four laws in her daughter’s name. The first such law, Joan’s Law, was passed in New Jersey in 1997 and mandates that anyone who murders a child under 14, in conjunction with a sexual offense, will never be eligible for parole. Federal and New York version of the law also have been passed.

D’Alessandro now is lobbying for another law, also in New Jersey, to ensure that murderers of children ages 18 and younger do not become eligible for parole. It has been under deliberation in the Legislature for more than two years, D’Alessandro said.

With this film, D’Alessandro hopes Joan’s Law can be passed in other states. The federal version, signed by President Clinton, applies only to all federal lands.

“This way, if other people see [the film], they can start doing what I did in their state,” D’Alessandro said.

The video comes as D’Alessandro and Joan’s foundation, which promotes child safety and helps neglected youth, works to put the finishing touches on a white sculpture and garden to be unveiled outside Hillsdale’s train station on April 3, the day the first Joan’s law was signed in 1997.

The sculpture took more than a year to earn the Borough Council’s approval, as some in the borough felt the original message to be inscribed on the sculpture — describing the crimes committed against Joan — was too graphic. Negotiations between the council, D’Alessandro and the foundation led to a compromised text approved in December that describes Joan’s personality as well as her mother’s legacy.

“It’s about the message,” D’Alessandro said. “It’s about doing work. It’s about getting child safety out there. It’s about victims rights and protecting all innocent people, which is every single person.”


http://www.northjersey.com/hillsdale/New_film_about_murdered_Hillsdale_girl_advocates_for_more_protective_laws.html?c=y&page=2#sthash.kAjnmZ5G.dpuf

(snipped)"We've been pleased to be able to create this for Rosemarie, to give her this video she can use to hopefully advance her cause," said Peggy, who, growing up on the same block as Joan, remembers how her disappearance changed the face of her neighborhood. Children were no longer allowed to venture outside at night, and playing in front yards halted.

"Joan's loss was devastating to our family," she said. "It was so shocking and it was so terrifying that that could be one house away from you. You just have to wonder how somebody in the world could have taken somebody like that," said Peggy. "It's like a collision between everything that is good and pure with something that is evil."

Peggy is determined to spread awareness, to let people know that that child abduction does happen and legislators need to act. "I don't want to see that happen to another innocent child, another innocent mother, another innocent family," she said.
- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/community/250009181_Film_promotes_expansion_of_Joan_s_Law.html?page=all#sthash.hoDpKBak.dpuf

Thanks Twinkletoes for sharing this!