A crime victim, this Fresno woman has reclaimed her life, and is ready to help others
“Why didn’t you tell someone sooner?”
Survivors of child sexual abuse and family violence hear this question all too often.
In the News
Landmark Justice Reform Package on Its Way to the Governor
With the House vote Friday, the Florida Legislature has passed its most expansive justice reform bill in 20 years, an initiative led by the state’s crime surivors, many of whom rallied in Tallahassee this session to call for change.
Forbes: Breaking the cycle of crime
A new, and sobering, report released last month reveals that four in 10 Texans have been a victim of crime in the past 10 years, with many experiencing trauma, stress, anxiety and fear as a result. The report from the Alliance for Safety and Justice further shows that seven in 10 violent crime victims have been victims more than once, and that nine in 10 Texas crime victims do not receive support from the state’s victim compensation program that could help them recover.
Opinion: Break the cycle of crime to make our communities safer
As a survivor of the 1992 murder of my two daughters, mother, sister, niece and nephew, I have spent much time thinking about what could have prevented the murders of my family over the past 27 years. While the man who did this was convicted and ultimately executed, I am committed to helping prevent these kinds of tragedies by ensuring the use of proactive safety solutions.
We can’t have meaningful criminal justice reform without helping victims and offenders
If Gov. Ron DeSantis signs Florida’s criminal justice reform bill into law soon, it will mean the voices of citizens like Darla and Elliott Saunders are starting to matter more than the voices of politicians like Mike Hill. Hill was the lone dissenting voice in the state House against a bill aimed at reducing recidivism and pulling back some of the harsher penalties against low-level, nonviolent crimes. He criticized the bill’s bundling and feared it would send a message Florida is getting too soft on crime.
More Articles
From Heartbreak to Healing
Increasingly, victims of crime and their surviving family members are speaking out for reconciliation, rather than retribution, in the debate over criminal justice reform. In April, about 500 people gathered at the Convention Center in downtown Sacramento, California for the annual Survivors Speak Conference. The conference, organized by Californians for Safety and Justice (CSJ), a …
Black Wounds Matter
The idea of mobilizing crime survivors for criminal-justice reform may sound obvious, but it’s not—or, at least, it hasn’t been. Lenore Anderson, the executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, once worked at the district attorney’s office in San Francisco. There, she said, “I experienced communities under siege from violence—from cycles of violence—where there …
The Marshall Project: My Son Was Murdered on Mother’s Day
00That May weekend four years ago started like most: I hoped to see my son but needed to go to work. In fact, it was the Saturday before Mother’s Day, and he’d already called to say that he was driving down to see me for the occasion—he had something special for me, he said. His …
Continue reading “The Marshall Project: My Son Was Murdered on Mother’s Day”
Stockton Record: Justice for loved ones: Survivors Speak program helps victims unpack trauma and heal
Jessica Salcedo was a day from turning 25 when she was found dead at a vehicle repair shop in south Stockton. On July 2, 2016, the mother of two had made plans to meet someone about some money that was owed. She never returned home. Police found her body the next day. That is all …
What We Need To Curb Violence In The U.S. (And It Isn’t More Prisons And Policing)
This article was published on 8.25.20 in the Huffington Post. “Survivors are rarely centered in discussions about American criminal justice and violence prevention. We should be.” By Aswad Thomas In reaction to increased violence in some American cities this summer, we’re witnessing the old familiar responses. As Chicago experienced record murders, President Donald Trump announced he would send in …