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...
Closing the Research Gap
Violence against people with disabilities is a significant public health and human rights issue. Although people with disabilities face disproportionately high rates of victimization, the empirical research on why or how this occurs, as well as prevention and intervention efforts, is limited. Vera’s Center on Victimization and Safety is working to ...
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Nancy Smith
Ending Sexual Abuse of Children with Disabilities
Existing efforts to address sexual abuse of children often fail to sufficiently account for children with disabilities, who are at higher risk for abuse than children without disabilities. In fact, the sexual abuse of children with disabilities has not garnered the attention of policymakers, practitioners, advocates, or community members, and these...
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Sandra Harrell
Related Work
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...
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
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Shannon Scully
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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
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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
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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
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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...
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Nancy Smith
Promoting Justice for Men with Disabilities
Most research on violence against people with disabilities and Deaf people has focused on the needs and experiences of women. However, emerging research suggests that men with disabilities also experience high rates of violence. In partnership with the Department of Justice, Vera’s Center on Victimization and Safety will explore the unique needs of...
Promoting the Voices of People with Disabilities
There is a centuries-old divide stopping the voices, ideas, and opinions of people with disabilities from informing the services and policies designed to support and protect them. Unfortunately, this gap also exists in the anti-violence field, and places people in a marginalized position within the movement. This project seeks to lift up the voices...
Equal Access for People with Disabilities
People with disabilities experience violence at much higher rates than people without disabilities. In 2013 alone, 1.3 million violent crimes were committed against people with disabilities. Yet, people with disabilities face significant barriers to reporting their victimization—their accounts are often dismissed or not taken seriously—as well as u...
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Nancy Smith