The Multnomah County Board Of Commissioners Thursday proclaimed the week of April 10 through 16 as National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. The move honors more than 30 years of achievements since the 1984 passage of the Victims of Crime Act.
The act allows governments to collect fines from offenders to support victims’ services.
The annual recognition “challenges us to improve crime victims’ services by seeking resources and protections needed to help rebuild their lives," said Commissioner Judy Shiprack, who sponsored the proclamation. "We also celebrate past decades of hard earned progress and renew our commitment to overcome the harm and trauma caused by crime.”
Recent milestones for victims’ rights include eliminating Oregon’s statute of limitations in cases of first-degree sexual assault, testing thousands of backlogged sexual assault evidence collection kits, and passing a new law to keep those backlogs from building back up, said Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill.
His office has also hired a victim's advocate to work with those whose backlogged cases will undergo testing, an advocate to work with victims of gang violence and an advocate to work with victims of trafficking.
Martha Strawn Morris, director of the Gateway Center for Domestic Violence Services, said the county’s support has allowed staff to accommodate 10,000 survivors and 60,000 visits since it opened five years ago.
The center helps survivors connect to services, and helps them understand the criminal justice system; that’s crucial because so often law enforcement relies on them to help prosecute offenders and protect them and other people from potential abuse.
“You help domestic violence survivors be served in the most humane and just manner possible,” Strawn Morris said. “When we assert victims’ rights, we encourage and support their participation; we minimize and mitigate trauma. In short, we help with justice for all.”
Chair Deborah Kafoury said Strawn Morris raised a powerful point - one she hadn’t considered before. “We have huge expectations of them,” she said. “The fact that we’re relying on victims to keep our community safe.”
Meg Garvin, a law professor and executive director of the National Crime Victim Law Institute, said people are starting to realize the powerful role survivors can play - in their own lives and in the community. And people are starting to listen.
“We know the justice system works best when people are heard and listened to,” she said. “The movement has continued to evolve and we’ve started to listen to survivors.”
One thing they need are low-cost or no-cost legal services to help them navigate a criminal justice system that relies so directly on them.
“That’s one of the pieces of the puzzle that has come into clarity,” she said. “With this Crime Victims’ Rights Week, I just want us to celebrate the work we’ve done this far. And I want us to commit together to moving forward and continuing this amazing work.”