Program Focuses On Repairing Physical Damage & Helping Crime Victims Become Crime Survivors

The bullet hole is still there, but now hidden beneath a work of art. What matters most is that this door has been replaced—the bullet hole in it no longer constantly reminding a family that their home had been struck by gunshots.

The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office introduced the Caring For Crime Survivors program more than four years ago to provide services to survivors who may not see their cases result in a “day in court.” They’re often families whose homes just happened to be in the line of fire. In such incidents, there are few witnesses and the police investigations can quickly go cold.

Caring For Crime Survivors will repair the physical damage done to these homes—repairs that often cost less than a family’s insurance deductible but are still beyond what they can afford—and, when needed, refer survivors to counseling services. The Prosecutor’s Office operates Caring For Crime Survivors in conjunction with the AdHoc Group Against Crime, and the program is funded by COMBAT.

Branden Mims, AdHoc’s Director of Crisis Intervention, vividly recalls the moment he first saw the pain a bullet that “missed’ can cause: 

We were assessing the damage done this house from just some random gunfire in the neighborhood. The teenage daughter had covered the bullet holes in her bedroom walls and door with Band-Aids. She didn’t want to see them. She peeled back one of those Band-Aids and started to cry. Before we began this program, I don’t think we realized just how traumatizing it was for people to still have these bullet holes in their homes. These holes are an everyday reminder of what happened to your home, to your family—to how close you or someone you love came to getting hurt, maybe killed.

AdHoc has doors struck by bullets—they can only be replaced not repaired—painted by local artists, so that the artwork can later be sold in a fundraiser. 

» National Crime Victims' Rights Week • April 18-24, 2021