THE LEGAL DEFENDER AGAINST ABUSE

Virginia Hopkins

Founding member, Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center

SUPERPOWER: PROFOUND CARING

When Virginia Hopkins was growing up in Arnettsville, her house was a regular stop for folks in need. Her mom, a registered nurse, was well-known for her willingness to assess ailments, bandaging her patients or directing them to the hospital. She always kept medical supplies at the ready, along with extra food for those who were hungry.

Her mother’s compassion and generosity, as well as her upbringing at the United Methodist Church, influenced Hopkins in profound ways. While she initially felt called to serve as an emissary for the church, her education led her toward a different kind of helping. She obtained a law degree and began working with legal aid.

Like her mother, Hopkins saw her clients well beyond regular working hours. “They knew if they came and waited, I would see them,” she says. The work exposed her to some of the most difficult aspects of her clients’ lives, like poverty or sexual abuse, but it also fueled her passion to use the legal system to help them. “If I could get a kid out of a home where they were being abused and into a safe place, or get the danger out of the house, that makes a difference.”

After seeing the need for advocates for victims of sexual and domestic violence, Hopkins became a founding member in 1973 of what’s known today as the Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center. Serving Monongalia, Preston, and Taylor counties, the Center provides confidential and free services including emergency shelter, counseling, support groups, advocacy, and education.

Hopkins was instrumental in the passage of 1976 legislation that helped define and categorize the types and severity of assault and abuse, giving law enforcement and prosecutors legal grounds to hold offenders accountable. She served as an assistant prosecutor in Preston County in the 1980s and was elected prosecutor in the 1990s. She also served as director of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute.

Fifty years after co-founding the RDVIC, Hopkins continues to serve on its board, and she also works in private practice. “I can take the cases that I want. I help folks who are in vulnerable positions, and I’ll do that as long as I’m able.” 

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