NCVRW 2023 is almost here!

Every year, millions of Americans are affected by crime.  Many will need ongoing care and resources. April 24–30 is  National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, a time to celebrate  the progress achieved, raise awareness of victims’ rights  and services, and stand with our families, neighbors,  friends, and colleagues whose lives have been forever  altered by crime. We resolve to help them find their justice  and forge new healing pathways. We commit to enforcing  victims’ rights, expanding access to victim services, and  providing equity and inclusion for all. This National Crime  Victims’ Rights Week, show victims they are not alone.*  Call Victims United Inc at (340) 642-5204 to learn how  you or someone you know can get the help they need.

Derechos de las víctimas 

Debemos recordar que cuando alguien pierde un derecho todos lo  perdemos. – William Reece Smith, Jr. (1925–2013) Al dar derechos a otros directamente afectados, nos otorgamos  derechos a nosotros mismos y a nuestro país.

 – John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–1963) 

La verdadera libertad requiere el estado de derecho y la justicia,  y un sistema judicial en el cual los derechos de algunos no estén  asegurados mediante la denegación de los derechos de otros. 

– Jonathan Sacks (1948–2020)

 No debemos solo poner vendas en las llagas de las víctimas heridas  bajo las ruedas de la injusticia, debemos poner freno a las ruedas  mismas. 

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945)

Acceso a servicios

Concretar la promesa de igualdad ante la justicia conforme a la ley  fue el principio fundador del Departamento de Justicia y es la misión  que debemos representar siempre. No puede haber igualdad ante  la justicia sin igualdad de acceso a la justicia. Y dado que todavía no  tenemos igualdad de acceso a la justicia en los Estados Unidos, la  tarea que tenemos por delante es urgente. 

– Merrick B. Garland (1952– )

Igualdad e inclusión para todos

La justicia que no se basa en la igualdad, en el bienestar social y en  la comunidad no es justicia en absoluto. 

– DeRay Mckesson (1985– )

No es posible estar a favor de la justicia para algunos y no estar a  favor de la justicia para todas las personas. 

– Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) 

Si uno es neutral en situaciones de injusticia, ha elegido estar del  lado del opresor. 

– Desmond Tutu

Improving Language Access for Immigrant and Refugee Crime Victims 

1 The United States is remarkably diverse. According to American Community Survey data collected from 2009 to 2013, American households speak more than 350 languages.1 Diversity, in all of its forms, is the bedrock of American democracy.  However, for the roughly 25.1 million individuals over the age of 5 who do not speak English as their primary language— who are categorized as Limited English Proficient (LEP)—their linguistic diversity is too often a barrier to accessing critical  public services.  Systemic inequalities in language access are particularly harmful to immigrant and refugee victims of crime, who are more  at risk of robbery, assault, theft, human trafficking, and intimate partner violence than the general population. A selfreported survey of 90 undocumented Latinos living in Memphis, Tennessee, found that 63 percent of respondents had been a victim of one or more crimes.

2 Immigrants and refugees are also less likely to report the crimes they experience.

3 Many immigrant and refugee crime  victims experience added layers of stress, isolation, and depression when they are not able to access services due to  language barriers. Nearly one in three Spanish-speaking Latinas surveyed by the National Latina Network at Casa de  Esperanza reported that they had encountered challenges accessing domestic violence-related services because of  language barriers.4 Addressing language access barriers for immigrant and refugee populations is rarely as simple as translating forms or brochures into non-English languages. While translation is part of the solution, victim service providers must go further.  Under federal law and executive orders, all agencies that receive federal funds must make a reasonable effort to provide meaningful language access for LEP individuals. In practice, though, victim service providers are often unaware of this requirement or do not understand how to provide meaningful language access.  Ultimately, access is about choice and knowledge. LEP crime victims need to be informed of their rights in a language they can understand. They need to be made aware of the availability of culturally competent services to help them.  Organizations must respect cultural differences. They should have formal language access policies and qualified interpreters and translators available, when needed. We, in the victim services field, must make a conscious decision to build organizations that reflect our multicultural and multilingual nation, from the inside out. 

1 U.S. Census Bureau (2015). “2013 American Community Survey.” Retrieved from https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USCENSUS/ bulletins/122dd88. 

2 Bucher, Jacob; Manasse, Michelle; and Tarasawa, Beth. (2010). “Undocumented Victims: An Examination of Crimes Against Undocumented Male Migrant Workers.” Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice. 7. Retrieved from www.researchgate.net/publication/267378044_Undocumented_ Victims_An_Examination_of_Crimes_Against_Undocumented_Male_Migrant_Workers. 3 Davis, R.C., and E. Erez. Immigrant Populations as Victims: Toward a Multicultural Criminal Justice System. Research in Brief. Washington, DC:  U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, May 1998, NCJ 167571. 4 National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities and National Domestic Violence Hotline (2013). Realidades Latinas. A National Survey on the Impact of Immigration and Language Access on Latina Survivors, (Research Report No. 2013.4). Retrieved from www. nationallatinonetwork.org/research/nln-research 

 During National Crime Victims' Rights Week and throughout the year, we want to let victims of crime know that they are not alone.

 The Crime Victims’ Rights Act of 2004 (CVRA) increased victim involvement in the federal criminal justice system by guaranteeing them certain basic rights, such as the right to be informed of any court proceedings or parole proceedings, the right to speak at public court proceedings, and the right to confer with the government attorney assigned to their case.  But the most fundamental right that it enumerated was the “right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the victim’s dignity and privacy.” By recognizing the essential humanity of victims and expanding their role in the criminal justice system, the CVRA helped restore power to survivors who often feel powerless in the aftermath of a serious crime.  Since the CVRA became law, evidence has accumulated that what justice means to victims often differs from what justice means in the traditional context of the law. A study published by the Urban Institute in 2018, for instance, asked  80 survivors of sex and labor trafficking and 100 human trafficking stakeholders in 8 cities across the country for their  definition of justice; only 24 percent of respondents defined it punitively, as incarceration. And a national survey conducted  by the Alliance for Safety and Justice found that 61 percent of the 800 crime survivors polled supported more spending on  prevention and rehabilitation rather than long prison sentences. 

 Whatever form justice takes within the criminal justice system, fulfilling victims’ needs regarding justice requires that their voices be reflected and respected not only in the justice system process, but also in the care and support they receive after the crime has taken place. Survivors must have agency and choice in their interactions with law enforcement, service providers, and health and judicial professionals. And they need a seamless continuum of support to heal from the trauma they suffered. Helping victims find their personal justice is thus a communitywide, holistic, and ongoing effort.  The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), part of the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs, is leaning into that effort by identifying creative and innovative ways of expanding access to victim services and increasing service options available to crime victims so that they and their families can choose the services and support systems that best meet their needs.  For instance, OVC’s TeleSAFE program is expanding access to Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners (SANE) through telehealth technology. Victims in rural, tribal, and remote communities that lack SANE nurses will now have access to safe, trauma-informed examinations following an assault. OVC is also funding a national center for increasing access to victim services and compensation in areas that have been historically marginalized and adversely impacted by inequality. Closer to home, Victims United Inc, Family Resource, VIDVSAC and Women's Coalition of St. Croix are some of our local organizations, programs, or resources that are improving victim access to services and victim service options. The victims’ rights movement that gained national attention with the President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime and was strengthened by the CVRA transformed our criminal justice system by creating space for victims’ voices. The success of the movement now will be judged by how closely we listen to victims’ voices, both inside and outside the courtroom, and the doors we collectively open to help them find the justice they desperately seek.