Attorney General Eric Holder recognized seven individuals and three organizations for outstanding work on behalf of crime victims, including Malibu resident Brooks Douglass, at an event hosted by the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. April 8.The Attorney General’s annual Victims’ Service Awards recognizes individuals’ courageous responses in the aftermath of a crime and their personal efforts to better serve the needs of victims.
Douglass was awarded the Ronald Wilson Reagan Public Policy Award, which honors an individual whose leadership leads to significant changes in public policy to benefit victims. He received the award for changing state legislation to help guide victims through the criminal justice system during his time as a state senator in Oklahoma. Douglass passed numerous bills to aid victims, including the Oklahoma Victims’ Bill, while in office.
Douglass, now a Malibu resident, witnessed the murders of his mother and father in his native Oklahoma in 1979. He and his sister Leslie, who were 16 and 12 at the time, survived the shooting that killed their parents and testified against the men responsible for their deaths.
Douglass went on to become Oklahoma’s youngest state senator at 26. He later moved to California to pursue film-making aspirations.
Douglass’ film, “Heaven’s Rain,” which was released last year, tells the story of the tragedy.