We can’t truly have “justice for all” unless we assure victims’ rights are also respected and protected and legally guaranteed.

MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020

The presumption of innocence—the fact defendants needn’t prove they did not commit a crime—is paramount in our legal system. But we can’t truly have “justice for all” unless we assure victims’ rights are also respected and protected and legally guaranteed.

Thanks to so-called “procedural shows” on TV, just about everyone can recite the Miranda Rights, a person's rights when being arrested to remain silent, to have an attorney, etc.

Less well known are the legal rights afforded crime victims. In the last half-century, state legislatures across the nation have passed tens of thousands of victims’ rights bills. The Missouri State Attorney General’s Office has produced a 32-page guide (PDF) about the rights assured to crime victims under an amendment to the state Constitution and laws in effect since 1993.
Treating Each & Every Victim With Compassion

I’ve listed the crime victims’ “general rights in Missouri” at the bottom of this page. It’s vital that we have these laws on the books to guarantee crime victims are always among the “all” for whom we seek justice. Just as essential as following the letter of the law, I believe, is sincerely treating each and every victim with compassion. 

I know that is why the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office has a Victim Advocate Unit dedicated to not only guiding a victim through the legal proceedings but also providing emotional support. That’s why the Prosecutor’s Office and one of our COMBAT-funded agencies, the AdHoc Group Against Crime, have teamed up on the Caring For Crime Survivors program. True to its name, this program is all about caring, offering help with basic needs such as shelter, food, clothing, even cleaning up the crime scene—if the scene happens to be where the survivor lives, which is often the case—and repairing damage, such as a broken door or windows.

A Year-Round Commitment
  
While this week has been designated National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, our commitment to victims must be year-round… 24/7… every year… and—I will repeat myself—for each and every victim.

As I write this, I’m remembering what Dr. Robert Winfield wrote for the COMBAT website earlier this year about treating gunshot wound victims. He told us about the agony that overwhelmed one woman when he told her about her son’s violent death:

At a glance, I knew nothing about the circumstances under which this teen sustained his injury. Drugs? Gangs? Bystander? I had never seen them together, but his last words were asking for his ‘mama’ and the anguish she expressed when I told her of his death was like a bullet fired into my soul. It occurred to me that regardless of the circumstances, this mother loved her child every bit as much as my mother loves me or as much as I love my own children.

No One Is Immune

These are uncertain times we are living through. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated clearly no one is immune. There for the grace of God goes I.

Sadly, crime has not “shut down” during this public health crisis. Just ask KC Mothers In Charge Founder Rosilyn Temple.

It took a pandemic to prevent her—for the first time since 2013—from being among the first on the scene at a Kansas City homicide to offer on-the-spot crisis counseling and other support for the victim’s surviving family. Unfortunately, there have continued to still be too many homicide scenes and other crime scenes. 

#CompassionIsContagiousToo

As Rosilyn recently said so well, “What we need is some stillness and to stop hurting each other. Even with all this social distancing, we ought to be coming together during this crisis.”

Beyond National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, let’s recognize that we all have a role to play in keeping one another safe and in helping victims become survivors. I’ll leave you with this hashtag we’ve been using on our Twitter posts these last few weeks during the COVID crisis, and I think  it applies here, for crime victims, as well: #CompassionIsContagiousToo.

Homicide Victims' Families & Violent Crime Survivors Still Need Support KC Mothers In Charge Founder Rosilyn Temple would—normally—be among the first to arrive at a Kansas City homicide scene, soon after the police, to offer crisis counseling  and other support for the victim’s surviving family members. But the novel coronavirus pandemic has forced Mothers In Charge and the AdHoc Group Against Crime to do the best they can, virtually and over the phone, to continue providing crime victim support services from a safe distance. » MORE