Breaking the Silence on Crime Victims with Disabilities in the
United States
In the past, I have distributed email surrounding
crime victimization of children and adults with all types of disabilities.
I am pleased to report, not only how attention toward this issue
continues to increase within the victim/witness field, but how
you yourself have the opportunity to be involved in helping to
make things better. It starts with becoming more aware of the related
issues, whether crime victimization has been an area of focus for
you or not. The next step is to think creatively about how you
within the context of your organizational work may play an active
role in supporting people with disabilities victimized by crime,
even if that initially takes the form of utilizing your personal
network to distribute information to those who may very well benefit
from its receipt. Indeed, we all have a role to play in stopping
crime victimization of people with disabilities of all ages.
As a recent development, one week ago today, the National Council
on Disability (NCD), along with the National Center for Victims
of Crime (NCVC) and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities
(AUCD), announced a joint statement on crime victimization, specifically
geared toward calling for greater support for some of the most
vulnerable of our Nation's population. For your reference, I am
including the joint press release below. The Joint Statement was
the direct result of efforts by the White House Domestic Policy
Council several months ago to bring together these stakeholders
to dedicate greater attention to crime victimization issues and
to pool together networks and resources for the purposes of enhanced
collaboration. The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department
of Justice has been working with these entities as well.
In addition, this Wednesday, a web cast will be taking place that
will represent collaboration in this arena at unprecedented levels
as the Joint Statement and its call to action are discussed. The
Rehabilitation Services Administration of the Office of Special
Education and Rehabilitative Services of the U.S. Department of
Education continues to fund groundbreaking efforts by the Independent
Living Resource Utilization project (ILRU) which has played a significant
role in educating the broader community about pressing issues having
a direct impact on the disability community. Thanks to that time-honored
commitment, ILRU's next webcast will be bringing together hundreds
of individuals, agencies, and organizations through this web cast.
DOJ's Civil Rights Division, which also works in partnership with
other internal Department components (including the Office on Violence
against Women and the Office for Victims of Crime) will set the
stage for the process of expanding awareness about vital issues
within this arena. NCD, as part of its efforts to take historic
steps to devote much-needed attention to crime victimization more
than ever before, will place into context the direct implications
of the joint statement and what it could mean for the community
at large. NCVC, which has focused greater attention on the plight
of crime victims with disabilities than ever (already resulting
in local and state governments, victim/witness service providers,
people with disabilities, and people without disabilities being
made more aware of what actions may be taken to address these pressing
issues) will talk about the role of victim/witness programs in
serving persons with disabilities. AUCD, which has formed an active
working group composed of organization leaders and in dialog with
government agency officials, will discuss its cross-sector collaboration
work and will give a description of research-related findings within
a victimization context for those who may not be aware of existing
statistics in the field.
The web cast will be designed, not as the final step, but merely
as the next in a series of steps to increasing research in the
field, empowering organizations and agencies to making their victim/witness
programs and services more accessible to people with all types
of disabilities, to minimize reinvention of the proverbial wheel,
and ultimately at a broad scale to break the silence on crime victimization
of men, women, and children with all types of disabilities. By
the time the web cast is done, people will have practical information
that they may put to use immediately. Supplementing the web cast
itself which will also be archived, additional information will
be posted on ILRU's designated web page. I encourage you to attend
the web cast and to ask others to do the same.
In team partnership, a myriad of stakeholders are being told about
this web cast. NCD, DOJ, and AUCD are each informing thousands
of disability community organization leaders in communities of
every size with groups including independent living centers and
statewide councils on independent living, university centers for
excellence, statewide councils on developmental disability, consumer
and advocacy organizations, government agencies, private sector
organizations, social service providers, and more. NCVC has sent
out word to all of this nation's federally-funded victim/witness
programs, numbering at almost 10,000; and, this is significant
because it represents new dialog with many entities which in the
past did not devote concerted attention to serving victims of crime
who have disabilities. In other words, this web cast will bring
together people both from within and outside the disability community
or, put another way, folks from within and outside the victim/witness
community. To my knowledge, never before has this taken place at
such a broad-based level.
The web cast is part of a comprehensive approach by a multitude
of organizations and agencies to highlight research efforts, increase
the availability and quality of service for crime victims with
disabilities and their families, and enhance meaningful access
by such individuals to every part of the criminal justice system.
As this web cast becomes the most recent in an arcenal of tools
to foster short-term and long-term change, no longer will children
and adults with disabilities be without recourse. At last, we will
all be able to contribute more significantly to doing our part
to making things better.
Best of all, this is just the beginning. The President's Committee
for People with Intellectual Disabilities is also spotlighting
attention on crime victims issues and plans on including related
recommendations in its upcoming report to the President. On a separate
front, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is now
working on studying maltreatment of individuals with disabilities
across the lifespan in comparison to those without disabilities,
and this baseline data that is being collected will pave the way
for a more concerted approach in the future as public policy continues
to develop within this arena. These efforts will be discussed both
in future email from me and in future events designed to continue
to spawn collaboration.
I want you to know, how grateful I am to you personally for helping
to end the silence on crime victimization against people with disabilities
by helping us to spread the word. We are all in this together,
whether we are in the crime victimization field or not. Through
your participation in efforts to make a difference, you yourself
will be a part of the solution. At a minimum, if ever in the future
people wish to know where to go, you will now be aware of where
to send folks so that they do not end up feeling as if no one cares.
Best wishes to you, and thanks so much for everything. As always,
do feel free to email or call if you need anything. Happy Memorial
Day!
--Ollie
Olegario D. Cantos VII, Esq.
Special Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Room 5539
Washington, DC 20530
(202) 514-8191 (Voice)
(202) 514-0716 (TTY)
(202) 307-2839 (Fax)
Ollie.Cantos@usdoj.gov
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BREAKING THE SILENCE ON CRIME VICTIMS WITH DISABILITIES
For Immediate Release
May 21, 2007
Contact: Mary Rappaport, NCVC
(202) 467-8714
Mark Quigly, NCD
(202) 272-2004
Kim Musheno, AUCD
(301) 588-8252
Breaking the Silence on Crime Victims with Disabilities
New Partnership to Combat Pervasive, Hidden Problem Announced
On-line "Town Hall" to Be Held May 30 to Discuss Path
Forward
Washington, DC---Addressing the long-neglected needs of crime
victims with disabilities is the focus of a new partnership announced
today by the National Council on Disability, the Association of
University Centers on Disabilities, and the National Center for
Victims of Crime.
The ultimate goal of this partnership is to foster greater public
awareness about crime victims with disabilities and to forge a
national commitment to better serve this particularly vulnerable
population.
"For far too long, crime victims with disabilities have been
virtually invisible in our nation. Greater understanding by the
general public, elected officials and other policy makers, and
those in the disability, judicial system, and victim services communities
is foundational to addressing the unmet needs of this underserved
population," said John Vaughn, chairperson of the National
Council on Disability. "We join our esteemed partners today
in calling for a comprehensive approach to turn this situation
around."
Very little reliable national data exists on crimes against people
with disabilities. Existing research suggests, however, that persons
with disabilities are victimized at much higher rates when compared
with the general population. One study, for example, found that
more than one-fourth of persons with severe mental illness were
victims of a violent crime, a rate more than 11 times that of the
general population. [FN1]
With more than 51 million people in the United States reporting
some level of disability [FN2]-and the nature of disability increasing
the risk of victimization-the partnering organizations underscore
the critical importance of helping crime victims with disabilities
access the criminal justice and social services systems.
"Crime victims with disabilities should enjoy the same rights,
protections, and services afforded other victims of crime," said
Mary Lou Leary, executive director of the National Center for Victims
of Crime. "Our partnership represents a historic opportunity
to bring the victim services, criminal justice, and disability
communities together to identify innovative approaches to reaching
these victims."
In announcing the partnership, the three organizations released
a joint statement that calls for expanded research to establish
the prevalence and impact of crime against persons with disabilities.
The statement also calls for greater public education to raise
awareness about the circumstances and needs of persons with disabilities
who have been victimized by crime; public policy changes that integrate
crime victims with disabilities and their needs into the current
framework of federal, state, and local services; increased access
to programs and services that will help crime victims with disabilities
rebuild their lives; and a national leadership forum that will
serve as a unifying and pro-active voice for crime victims with
disabilities. (To see the full joint statement, see www.ncvc.org.)
"Too many crime victims with disabilities are living lives
of silent desperation," said Royal P. Walker, Jr., JD, president
of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. "This
exciting initiative can give individuals who have been victimized
by crime new hope and bring about a fresh look at this multifaceted
problem."
Advance Announcement: The media is invited to attend an on-line "town
hall" meeting that will be held by the partnering organizations
on Wednesday, May 30, 2007, at 3:00 p.m. (EDT). This meeting will
connect victim service providers, disability activists, and others
from across to country to discuss the joint statement in greater
detail and identify specific strategies for addressing the needs
of crime victims with disabilities. Please call Mary Rappaport
at 202-467-8714 for more information. The Web cast is being donated
and produced by Independent Living Research Utilization.
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The National Council on Disability (www.ncd.gov) is an independent
federal agency mandated to advise the President and Congress on
the diverse needs of persons with disabilities and to promote policies
and practices that empower individuals with disabilities. The Association
of University Centers on Disabilities (www.aucd.org) supports member
programs to enhance the quality of life for persons with developmental
disabilities. The National Center for Victims of Crime (www.ncvc.org)
is the nation's leading resource and advocacy organization dedicated
to helping victims of crime rebuild their lives.
Footnotes:
1. L.A. Teplin et al., "Crime Victimization in Adults With
Severe Mental Illness: Comparison With the National Crime Victimization
Survey," Archives of General Psychiatry 62, no. 8 (2005).
2. Erika Steinmetz, "Americans with Disabilities: 2002," (Washington
DC: U.S. Census Bureau, May 2006).
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