WASHINGTON – Today, the Alliance for Safety and Justice released Crime Survivors Speak 2024, the largest commissioned survey of violent crime victims in the nation, exposing a massive gap between the billions spent on “tough on crime” policies and the needs and preferences of victims of violent crime.
“Aligning public policy with what we know violent crime victims want and need would mean a breakthrough in American crime policy, bringing safety and healing to millions – and it’s a breakthrough that’s long overdue,” said Aswad Thomas, a victim of gun violence, vice president of the Alliance for Safety and Justice, and national director of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice. “Across the country today, there are increased concerns about crime as well as continued problems with over-incarceration in our broken justice system. Listening to the experiences and preferences of victims of violent crime – who want more healing services for victims and to prevent crime before it happens – has the potential to solve both of those chronic challenges. That’s why thousands of crime victims from across the country will unite in a common purpose during the Crime Survivors Speak March on Washington: to heal and transform public safety policy.”
According to the survey, one in three Americans has been a victim of violent crime in the past ten years, and the majority of victims of violence receive no support in the aftermath of harm. Many suffer wide-ranging harms including post-traumatic stress disorder, disability and chronic illness, bankruptcy, and depression and anxiety.
Key findings of the survey show a troubling pattern of failure by our justice and public safety system to listen to violent crime victims and the misplaced priorities that failure has created.
- By a three-to-one margin, victims believe that the most effective way to reduce crime is to create more jobs and housing instead of long sentences.
- More than two in three victims believe that mental health and addiction treatment or job training and placement are more effective strategies to stop repeat crimes than long sentences.
- By a nearly two-to-one margin, victims of violence prefer investment in prevention, crisis assistance, and communities over more spending on arrests and punishment.
- A decisive majority of victims of violence prefer candidates who support shorter prison sentences who would use the money saved for youth violence prevention and treatment programs.
- Two-thirds of crime victims identified mental health and addiction treatment, violence prevention and school-based programs, or emergency shelters and crisis assistance as the most important public safety services to protect in a budget crisis.
- Seven out of ten victims of violence prefer sentencing policies that allow judges to consider the individual circumstances of the crime, the victim, and the defendant over requiring uniform sentence lengths for specific crimes.
The survey found major hardships – such as PTSD, bankruptcy, and life-threatening illness – often accompany victimization for many violent crime survivors. Compared to people who did not experience violence, people who were victims of violence in the past ten years were 3.8 times as likely to have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder, 3.6 times as likely to have declared bankruptcy, and twice as likely to have survived a life-threatening illness. Victims also experience disability, chronic illness, anxiety and depression at significantly higher rates than people who did not experience violence.
“Failing to help crime victims to heal has cascading consequences for our lives, our families, our communities, and everyone’s safety,” said Yolanda Jennings, a domestic violence survivor from Philadelphia. “Crime survivors like me have come together in state houses across the country to change policy, so victims and families are able to heal – and to make our communities safer and our laws more just. To be heading to Washington feels like a watershed moment for our movement.”
On September 24, thousands of victims from across the country who have faced the unimaginable – survived sexual assault or a mass shooting, lost loved ones to horrific violence, endured and found the courage to escape domestic violence abuse, and more – are uniting in a common purpose: to heal and transform public safety policy. Participants will march from the National Mall to a rally in front of the Capitol before lobbying their members of Congress and uplifting the Right to Heal Agenda, an eleven-point plan to ensure the needs of crime victims and communities most harmed by crime are met.
Download the full report: https://asj.allianceforsafetyandjustice.org/crime-survivors-speak-2024/
About the Crime Survivors Speak March on Washington
2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the Victims of Crime Act, the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, and the 20th anniversary of the Crime Victims Rights Act. To commemorate these huge milestones and advance a new victims’ rights movement, the first-ever Crime Survivors Speak March on Washington, September 24, 2024, will unite thousands of crime survivors from across the country to call for a new era of victims’ rights and public safety rooted in crime prevention, community health, rehabilitation, economic mobility, and trauma recovery for all. For more information, visit https://asj.allianceforsafetyandjustice.org/survivors-speak-dc/.
About Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice
Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice (CSSJ) is a national network of more than 200,000 crime victims advocating for a justice system that prioritizes healing, prevention, and recovery. The organization represents a new victims’ rights movement that centers the voices and needs of crime survivors in decisions about public safety. The movement’s grassroots, member-led initiatives have successfully driven significant policy changes and opened groundbreaking trauma recovery centers across the country. CSSJ is a flagship project of the Alliance for Safety and Justice. For more information, visit https://cssj.org/.
