Crime Survivors at the Center

Recognize, protect, heal. Despite increases in prison spending, many communities remain unsafe. For too long, justice policy and investment decisions have not been informed by the experiences and insights of the most typical crime victims. Those that bear the disproportionate burden of crime – young people, especially young people of color; elderly people; immigrant communities; people with disabilities; LGBTQ individuals; homeless individuals; and residents of low-income communities – need a voice and a role in safety strategies. Placing survivors at the center means recognizing who is vulnerable to crime; amplifying investments in protection, trauma recovery and restorative justice; and partnering with survivors to understand and stop the cycle of harm.

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Breaking the Cycle of Harm

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Recognize Who is Most Vulnerable to Crime

Many crime survivors don’t come forward for complex reasons, such as shame, fear of retribution or distrust of police. Shared Safety starts with understanding who survivors are and where survivors are coming from.

Why do we need it?

Individuals at highest risk of being victims of violent or repeated crime are often unacknowledged and unsupported by our current systems, especially if those survivors come from marginalized communities or have committed crimes themselves. This contributes to under-reported crimes and unaddressed trauma.

How does it help?

Recognizing and engaging all survivors in Shared Safety solutions strengthens recovery and helps prioritize victim services. It requires deepening our understanding of “survivors” to include individuals at highest risk of being victims of violent or repeated crime, including young people of color, elderly people, immigrants, people with disabilities, residents of low-income neighborhoods and individuals who may have committed crimes themselves.

Questions To Ask

Who is most likely to be a crime victim in our community? Of violent crime? Of repeated crime?
What percentage of crimes go unreported and why?
How can we encourage more victims to report crimes? How can we encourage witnesses to come forward?
What resources have we dedicated to community outreach and removing barriers to seeking help?

One in five Californians were victims of crime in the last five years. People of color were more likely to experience a violent crime.

What does it take to implement?

Partner with communities most impacted by crime to identify and engage crime survivors.
Survey high-crime communities to identify barriers to accessing services.
Recognize why vulnerable populations are afraid to speak up – immigration status, prior or current criminal justice involvement, fear of retaliation, etc. – and adjust your outreach accordingly.
Publicly acknowledge crime survivors in high-crime communities and tailor safety policies to address survivors’ needs.

Outcome Measures

Improved data collection of victims by race/ethnicity, gender/sexual identity, disability, age, legal status and geography.
Decreased percentage of unreported crimes by various demographic factors.
Greater alignment between the demographic composition of crime survivors and the users of victim services.

Examples

Resources

Well-Being is Safety

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Create a Healing Agenda for Crime Survivors

What would happen if we put as many – or more – resources into healing crime survivors as we put into punishing people who commit crimes? It’s time for a new healing agenda.

Why do we need it?

Historically, the criminal justice system heavily focused its efforts on punishing the person who caused harm, rather than on reducing the risk of it happening again or addressing the crime survivor’s needs. The result? People who are most impacted by crime are often least likely to receive help.

How does it help?

Crime survivors overwhelmingly favor a system that focuses on healing, rehabilitation and treatment. Developing a strong healing agenda that puts the needs of crime survivors foremost in our system’s response to crime can help survivors recover from trauma, make survivors less likely to be victims again and lead to less criminal activity overall.

Questions To Ask

What types of short-, mid- and long-term assistance for survivors should be prioritized?
Is there sufficient investment in community-operated healing services in addition to government-operated services?
Are survivor services culturally appropriate, trauma-informed and accessible by all?
Who is excluded from accessing victim services (e.g., gang-involved youth, undocumented immigrants, people with criminal records)?

Two in three crime survivors reported experiencing anxiety, stress, and difficulty with sleeping, relationships or work after the crime incident.

What does it take to implement?

Place community-based, culturally relevant recovery services at the forefront of your Shared Safety strategy.
Seek the input, participation and buy-in of communities most impacted by crime.
Make outreach programs known, accessible and timely to all crime survivors regardless of immigration status, criminal justice involvement or refusal to assist police and prosecutors. Include in your list of resources programs offered by non-law enforcement entities.
Ensure staff are engaging harder-to-reach crime survivors.
If strategies are not reducing harm, engage the communities most at risk to find out what’s going wrong.

Outcome Measures

Increased victim services funds allocated to community-based healing organizations.
Increased percentage of crime survivors requesting and receiving victim assistance.
Increased staff trained to work with special needs populations.

Examples

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Well-Being is Safety

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Ensure Access to Restorative Justice & Trauma Recovery

When a crime is committed, individuals and communities are harmed. Restorative justice and trauma recovery focus on repairing those harms.

Why do we need it?

Having been a crime victim in the past is the strongest predictor that someone will be one in the future. Crime victims aren’t the only ones deeply affected. Healing crime survivors’ trauma produces ripple effects that benefit the safety and healing of loved ones and entire communities.

How does it help?

Crime survivors who receive help are less likely to experience crime again. Traumatized children who have access to services are less likely to experience negative health outcomes or engage in crime later in life. Restorative justice gives crime survivors a voice and greater satisfaction with the justice system, while holding the individuals who committed the crime accountable and reducing recidivism.

Questions To Ask

Does our community offer culturally relevant restorative justice and trauma recovery models?
Are we sufficiently addressing the direct and indirect impact on families, schools and communities?
Are individuals who caused the harm encouraged to take responsibility?
What outreach is needed to engage communities most harmed by crime?
Are all relevant stakeholders involved?

Two out of three crime survivors report not receiving help from the criminal justice system.

What does it take to implement?

Create a broad range of healing opportunities, not just clinical therapy referrals.
Ensure crime victims have access to legal assistance including witness protection, visa protection for immigrants and restitution.
Ensure all relevant parties are involved in developing and implementing restorative justice programs.
Address trauma with family- and community-based approaches.

Seek funding through the Victims of Crime Act for victims most impacted by repeated crime and violence.

Outcome Measures

Increased percentage of crime survivors engaged in, and satisfied with, restorative justice and trauma recovery programs.
Increased percentage of individuals under criminal justice supervision participating in restorative justice and trauma recovery programs.
Greater frequency of community healing events.
Greater restitution compliance for participating individuals.
Lower re-conviction rate for individuals in restorative justice programs.

Examples

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Well-Being is Safety

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Engage Crime Survivors to Improve Outcomes

Intentionally engaging survivors to inform safety priorities is necessary to understand what they need and improve outcomes.

Why do we need it?

We still don’t know very much about what crime survivors need from our safety systems. The vast majority of survivors have been historically excluded from public safety policy-making, despite the invaluable perspective survivors bring.

How does it help?

Including crime survivors in policy-making ensures that the people most affected have a say. Lacking survivors’ insights and realities, policies risk doing more harm than good by failing to deliver services and interventions that help with healing and recovery. If the system responds in line with the crime survivor’s input, the survivor is more likely to maintain trust in the criminal justice system and not feel additional trauma in the process.

Questions To Ask

Are representative crime survivors serving on public-safety, health budget and grant-making bodies?
How else are crime survivors engaged in decision-making?

Victims of violent crime are four times more likely to become victims of crime again.

What does it take to implement?

Earmark a role for crime survivors on public health and safety boards and committees.
Hold town halls featuring crime survivors and community leaders.
Elicit community feedback from high-crime areas when safety policies are being considered.

Outcome Measures

Increased number of survivors involved in developing and implementing crime prevention strategies.
Increased presence of representative crime survivors on public safety and health decision-making boards.

Examples

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Well-Being is Safety

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Shed Stigma & Foster Awareness

No one should be made to feel like they are less than human. A culture that recognizes trauma and witnesses personal struggles without shame can build sustainable pathways to healing.

Why do we need it?

When systems designed to serve crime survivors treat trauma as a source of blame or shame, they force it further underground and discourage people from seeking treatment and support.

How does it help?

Building community well-being by example, through institutional culture change and community outreach, is critical to securing long-lasting, sustainable safety. Reducing the shame and stigma often associated with trauma can itself remove barriers to getting help. By fostering awareness of these issues, we can reduce the social isolation and anxiety that often accompany them.

Questions To Ask

How can we ensure that people with trauma are safe and treated with dignity?
Do we engage, hire and promote individuals with diverse lived experiences?
Do we provide government employees with help for secondary traumatic stress?
Are we educating our communities about unaddressed trauma and pathways to recovery?

One in five people will not seek care for a mental health condition because they are too afraid or embarrassed.

What does it take to implement?

Train all first responders and staff providing trauma recovery in trauma-informed practices.
Challenge stigma by assessing your own professional and social interactions and by supporting public figures who share their own personal experiences.
Take proactive steps to engage, hire and promote individuals with diverse lived experiences.
Initiate public education campaigns to combat stigma.

Outcome Measures

Increased percentage of staff and volunteers trained on trauma-informed strategies.
An increase in media coverage that includes personal stories of recovery.
Increased use of trauma recovery services.

Examples