Vera’s Accessing Safety Initiative (ASI) helps its partner jurisdictions—states and cities—enhance the capacity of their social services and criminal justice systems to assist women with disabilities & Deaf women who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Common Justice offers an alternative to the traditional court process for youth charged with felonies such as assault, robbery, and burglary. Project staff bring together people immediately affected by a crime to acknowledge the harm done, address the needs of the harmed party, and agree on sanctions other than incarceration to hold the responsible party accountable. The project, based in Brooklyn, New York, seeks to repair harm, break cycles of violence, and decrease the system’s heavy reliance on incarceration.

Vera's Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit (CBAU), in conjunction with the Center on Youth Justice, is working with the North Carolina Youth Accountability Planning Task Force to estimate the costs and benefits associated with raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction.

The Supervised Visitation Initiative (SVI) works with supervised visitation programs funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women to enhance their capacity to effectively and safely serve families who have experienced domestic violence. The initiative provides these programs with training, tailored consultation, and access to information on best practices from programs across the country.

Responding to sexual assault in a correctional facility requires great skill, coordination, and sensitivity, as well as an understanding of the unique challenges presented by a confined setting. In its 2009 national standards and final report, the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission called on correctional facilities to develop a sexual assault response protocol based on the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2004 National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations, Adults/Adolescents. CVS’s Sexual Assault Forensic Protocol Project is working with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to develop a guide for prisons, jails, residential community corrections, and lockups for adapting the national protocol to these environments.

Over the past 45 years, the crime victims’ movement has made great strides toward meeting victims’ needs and has emerged as a powerful source of social, legal, and political change. Despite these advances, crime and violence continue to affect a significant number of people in the United States each year, and challenges persist to providing appropriate services for all victims. Although a variety of critical services exist for some crime victims, many marginalized people who experience violence often are left without adequate resources, support, and treatment options. Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services seeks to dramatically expand the vision and impact of the crime victim services field in order to meet the needs of all crime victims. It aims to do so by strategically defining the role of the victim services field in the nation’s efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of communities.