Victimization and Safety
Vera’s Center on Victimization and Safety (CVS) works with government and nonprofit organizations to enhance efforts to prevent and address interpersonal violence and related crimes, including domestic violence and sexual assault. The center specializes in fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration and promoting policies and practices that hold abusers accountable, prioritize safety, and also help survivors heal. By combining staff expertise and skills with the practical knowledge of professionals in the field, it provides technical assistance and guidance that is timely, relevant, and reflective of current best practices.
Featured
End Abuse of People with Disabilities
Connecting practitioners, organizations, government agencies, communities, and individuals
The End Abuse of People with Disabilities website is managed by the Center on Victimization and Safety (CVS) at the Vera Institute of Justice. As awareness about the rates of violence against people with disabilities and Deaf people grows, so does the need to connect the practitioners, organizations, government agencies, communities, and individual ...
Supervised Visitation and Exchange
Keeping Survivors of Domestic Violence and Their Children Safe
Ending an intimate relationship, particularly when children are involved, is difficult. When the relationship has been affected by domestic violence, risks to the safety of the adult victim and the children compound the difficulties. Despite the risks involved in granting violent parents contact with their children, some courts and legislatures are ...
A Blueprint for Change
Toward a National Strategy to End Sexual Abuse of Children with Disabilities
Vera partnered with the Ms. Foundation in 2012 to launch a project to learn more about the factors that contribute to sexual abuse of children with disabilities and to determine what can be done to prevent it, as well as to recommend holistic responses that involve victim services, disability services, law enforcement, police, schools, and communit ...
Related Work
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 ...
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 ...
Compensation Considerations for Self-Advocates Receiving Government Benefits
Vera’s Center on Victimization and Safety developed this tip sheet to provide basic information on some government means-tested benefit programs for people with disabilities, and to explain the potential effects that receiving compensation may have on these benefits. The tip sheet also guides readers to additional resources for people with disabili ...
How Safe Are Americans with Disabilities?
While people with disabilities make up nearly one-fifth of the U.S. population, they remain largely invisible to society at large, and victim response systems in particular. And despite growing public awareness of violent victimization, it excludes the victimization of people with disabilities, who are at particular risk of serious violent crime, i ...
Series: Gender and Justice in America
Sexual Assault Awareness is Key to Keeping Girls Out of the Juvenile Justice System
Every April, tribute is paid to survivors of sexual violence through educational and awareness-raising events across the country. To that end, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) campaign for 2017 seeks to shine a spotlight on leaders who can influence the cultural change needed to end sexual violen ...
Blog Post
Shannon Scully
Leah Hairston
Vera Mourns the Passing of Senior Program Associate Amy Judy: 1962-2017
Amy had both a personal and professional commitment to social justice, access, and inclusion. She was actively involved in her Madison community and was a dedicated friend to many. The impact of her life’s work will live on in the countless people she has helped. Indeed, a foundational report she co-authored—entitled “How Safe are Americans with Di ...
Blog Post
Vera Institute of Justice
Lifting of Funding Restrictions Paves the Way for Incarcerated Survivors of Sexual Abuse to Access Victim Services
On December 31, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) published a summary of changes to the rules governing how victim service agencies can use Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) assistance funds. The rule changes, which went into effect in August 2016, dramatically expand the ways states and territories can use funds to ...
Blog Post
Allison Hastings
Victims of Domestic Violence Need Greater System Support
As October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month comes to an end, we can reflect on how far we’ve come since the early 1970s—when shelters gave women the option to leave abusive partners, but separation was considered the only viable option. Today, women who experience domestic violence have Family Justice Centers, specialized domestic violence court ...
Blog Post
Jannette Brickman
Uniting to End Violence Against People with Disabilities
Thanks to the dedicated work of advocates around the country, the public has increasingly begun to recognize the prevalence of violence against people with disabilities over the last 15 years, yet little opportunity exists to coalesce into a full-fledged movement. Through the support of the NoVo Foundation, Vera’s Center on Victimization and Safety ...
Project
Nancy Smith