Listening to Survivors: Voters’ Views on Safety and Justice

In September 2024, thousands of crime survivors from across the country marched on Washington, DC. Outside the Capitol, they rallied to champion a new approach to safety and justice. Organizers decried the twin tragedies of America’s public safety crisis: Our current system both inflicts mass incarceration that tears families and communities apart and also fails to provide people impacted by violence with the help they need, the dignity they deserve, and the right to heal they demand. 

The Survivors Speak March on Washington laid out a new vision for public safety rooted in crime prevention, community health, rehabilitation, economic mobility, and trauma recovery for all. 

At the march and inside the halls of Congress, survivors advocated for an end to mass incarceration and the policies it depends on – long sentences, mandatory minimums, and punishment over all else – and the expansion of solutions that actually make us safe. They rallied for violence interruption, mental health and addiction treatment for all who want it, jobs, and housing. 

This report shows that clear majorities of American voters support the policies that crime survivors traveled to D.C. to promote. Like survivors, voters support rehabilitation over punishment. They believe that jobs, housing, and mental health and addiction treatment are more effective ways to prevent crime than long sentences. And they believe that survivors of violence should be able to access the services they need to heal. 

At the March in Washington, survivors chanted, “Listen to survivors” and “When survivors speak, change happens.” The results of this national survey of likely voters demonstrate that the public has already begun to listen to survivors. When our elected officials do the same, the change that happens promises to bring about true safety and justice. 

Key Findings Include:

• Supermajorities of voters support services for victims of violence.
• Voters reject long sentences as the primary solution to crime. 
• Voters prefer investments in communities over spending on arrests and punishments. 
• Voters prefer laws that enable judges and officials to exercise discretion instead of mandatory minimum sentences and “truth in sentencing” laws.

Voters Support The New Victims' Rights Movement

The New Victims' Rights Movement is about closing the gaps between what victims want and need from public safety and what our criminal justice system currently brings about. Victims want crime prevention, mental health and substance use disorder treatment, housing, and jobs instead of lengthy mandatory sentences, increasing arrests, and tough punishments. Victims want access to trauma recovery, protection from job loss and eviction, and support to stabilize their families. 

The results of this national survey indicate that voters overwhelmingly support the vision of the New Victims' Rights Movement. They overwhelmingly believe that victims of violence should have access to the services they need to heal and recover; they believe the justice system should spend as much or more money on rehabilitation as punishment; they reject long sentences as the primary solution to crime; and they believe in protecting mental health and addiction treatment, school-based prevention programs, and crisis assistance from budget cuts. 

The crime survivors marched on Washington after rallying at state capitols across the country, where, over the past decade, they have demonstrated that the voices of survivors guide all of us towards new solutions to the tragedies of mass incarceration and a lack of safety. The results of this survey show that voters are listening. Policymakers can, too. 

Read more in the full report below.