Reaching All Victims
Supporting victims of crime is of course a critical component of the justice system. Our history of working to improve services for victims of crime started by developing Safe Horizon, one of the country’s flagship victim services providers, in 1975. One of the main challenges today is reaching victims that “mainstream” agencies aren’t helping because meeting their needs requires a broader set of skills.
Who is part of this group? There are alarmingly high rates of violence among people with disabilities and Deaf people. Several of our projects focus specifically on survivors of domestic and sexual violence that have had nowhere to turn for help, as well as hosting a national resource center to guide agencies on how to rigorously evaluate whether their services are meeting the needs of all survivors. Other underserved victim groups include LGBTQ people, incarcerated individuals, and young men of color. Work to support these people includes a nonprofit model of legal guardianship to protect older adults and other vulnerable people from abuse, and a project for young men of color who are victims and perpetrators of violence that promotes healing and accountability, to ultimately break cycles of violence.
Issue
Spotlights
Featured
Accounting for Violence
How to Increase Safety and Break Our Failed Reliance on Mass Incarceration
In the United States, violence and mass incarceration are deeply entwined, though evidence shows that both can decrease at the same time. A new vision is needed to meaningfully address violence and reduce the use of incarceration—and to promote healing among crime survivors and improve public safety. This report describes four principles to guide p ...
Out of the Shadows
A Tool for the Identification of Victims of Human Trafficking
The landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act made trafficking in persons a federal crime in 2000, but the greatest obstacle to rescuing victims of human trafficking is identifying them. To make this task easier—and subsequently, get people the services and support they need while also generating evidence against their traffickers—Vera created an ...
Young Men of Color's Help-Seeking Following Violent Victimization
Getting help after experiencing violence is important for a person’s recovery process, but not everyone gets the help communities can provide. Young men of color are at heightened risk for being the victims of violence, especially robbery and physical assault. Therefore, they are disproportionately exposed to the negative consequences associated wi ...
Project
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Ryan Shanahan
Related Work
How Can District Attorneys’ Offices Use Restorative Justice?
Restorative justice is a framework that views crime, conflict, and wrongdoing as harm to relationships and not merely violation of the law by focusing on people who have been harmed and their needs, while also holding people who have caused harm directly accountable for those needs. Restorative justice successes include reduced recidivism, high sat ...
Developing a PREA-Compliant Language Access Plan for Incarcerated People Who Are Limited English Proficient
Language access means ensuring that people who have limited or no English language proficiency or are Deaf or hard of hearing are able to access information, programs, and services at a level equal to English-proficient hearing people. Providing language access to incarcerated victims of sexual abuse honors their humanity and worth in the wake of a ...
COVID-19 Adds to Challenges for Trans People in California’s Prisons
In prisons, trans and GNC people are subjected to harassment and violence by both staff and other incarcerated people. Because they are targeted in these ways, trans and GNC people are often considered “troublemakers” when problems arise. This means they’re disproportionately placed in solitary confinement, where their transition-related medical ne ...
Blog Post
AJ Rio-Glick
Vulnerable Adults Urgently Need the City to Renew Funding of the Guardianship Project
The Guardianship Project serves as court-appointed agency guardians to a vulnerable, mostly indigent population—elderly and disabled people who lack family or other supports. The project’s multidisciplinary services provide essential support networks and enable clients to live as independently as possible—regardless of their ability to pay. The COV ...
Advancing Transgender Justice
Illuminating Trans Lives Behind and Beyond Bars
While transgender and gender non conforming (TGNC) people are extremely vulnerable to heightened policing, surveillance, and targeted victimization by the state, there is little research on the experiences of incarcerated TGNC people, and almost no policy explicitly protecting them. Upon release from prison, transgender individuals often find thems ...
Project
David Pitts
Opening the Door to Healing for Crime Victims Who Have Previously Been Incarcerated
People who have been incarcerated are also often survivors of violence—harm that may have happened to them before, during, or after their time behind bars. Yet, for many, the shame and stigma of being labeled “offenders” often eclipses the less visible but painful reality of their experiences of violence. We are proud to release a new report that ...
Blog Post
Allison Hastings
National Resource Center for Reaching Victims
Vera’s Center on Victimization and Safety is working to increase the number of victims who receive the support they need to help them heal by convening the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims. The Resource Center’s vision is that victim services will be accessible, culturally relevant, and trauma informed—and that the overwhelming majorit ...
Project
Nancy Smith
Opening the Door to Healing
Reaching and Serving Crime Victims Who Have a History of Incarceration
More than 2 million people are locked up in U.S. jails and prisons. Most were victims of crime before they were incarcerated, and many experience victimization during their incarceration or once they return home. But regardless of when their victimization occurred, the vast majority of survivors who have previously been incarcerated do not get the ...
Crisis Response Services for People with Mental Illnesses or Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
A Review of the Literature on Police-based and Other First Response Models
The Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) launched Serving Safely in May 2018 as a national initiative to improve police responses to people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) and intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD). The initiative’s Research and Evaluation Committee developed this literature review as a first step toward creating a research ...
Incapacitated, Indigent, and Alone
Meeting Guardianship and Decision Support Needs in New York
In 2005, the Vera Institute of Justice and New York State’s Office of Court Administration initiated The Guardianship Project (TGP) to serve as court-appointed agency guardian to a vulnerable, largely indigent population—elders and persons with disabilities lacking family or other supports—thus enabling them to live as independently as possible. Th ...
Serving Safely
Fact Sheet on the National Initiative to Enhance Policing for Persons with Mental Illnesses and Developmental Disabilities
People living with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities are disproportionately represented in contacts with the police, and these interactions can lead to stress and dangerous conditions for everyone involved. Law enforcement agencies can now request the tools they need to serve safely and effectively.