On May 30, 2007, an online panel discussion, Breaking the Silence
About Crime Victims with Disabilities, took place. This webcast featured
panelists Ollie Cantos from the U. S. Dept of Justice, John Vaughn
from the National Council on Disability, Mary Lou Leary from Crime
Victims Association, and Beverly Frantz from the Association of University
Centers on Disabilities (AUCD). After the event, three of the panelists
made themselves available for questions.
Has there been an Increase
in the Number and Frequency of Crimes Against People with Disabilities?
Bev
Franz: The prevalence of crimes committed against people with disabilities
is difficult to calculate because there is no uniform system for
collecting this information. From the small studies that have been
conducted, the figures are consistently higher than for people without
disabilities. This is supported by anecdotal information. There are
several issues when collecting crime victim statistics and disabilities,
such as the term disability is too general, and law enforcement is
not required to collect data on whether the victim or alleged offender
has a disability. A larger question is, do we want them to? Unless
the disability is “visible,” how
would the police officer know (e.g., mental health issues, chronic
illness)? In fact, police departments are not mandated by law to
provide their crime stats to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.
However, the UCR reported that in 2005 there were a total of 53 hate/bias-motivation
crimes committed against persons with a disability.
Ollie Cantos: In terms of victimization of the population as a whole,
each year, for children, senior citizens and dependent adults ages
18-64, the [crime] numbers are 1 million, 2 million, and 5 million
respectively. This essentially means that there are more dependent
adults (i.e., persons with disabilities) who are abused or neglected
than the number of children and senior citizens combined. Especially
in cases in which disabilities are severe, perpetrators are most typically
known by the victim. In addition, when disabilities are visible, crimes
of opportunity are perpetrated, although I am not aware of specific
studies that have yet quantified the extent of such crimes to know
present rates versus past rates.
What are Government Agencies
Doing to Inform People with Disabilities of these Crimes and our
Vulnerability?
John Vaughn: The National
Council on Disability (NCD) has partnered with AUCD and National
Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC), along with support from the Department
of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services, to foster
greater public awareness about crime victims with disabilities and
to forge a national commitment to better serve this population. For
example, on June 19, 2007, NCVC hosted a plenary session entitled “Meeting the
Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities across the Life Span” at
its national conference in Washington, D.C.
We are also fostering public awareness by informing and educating service
organizations, holding public forums (such as webcasts), and dispersing
literature and resources to the public and government agencies, to
name a few.
Cantos: The Bureau of Justice Statistics is presently compiling data
to better track crime victimization, and these initial results are
expected to be released in early 2008. This [database] is historic
and unprecedented, because never has this [data collection] been done
at such a wide scale. The Crime Victims with Disabilities Awareness
Act requires collection of data by the federal government in order
better to track crimes committed against members of the disability
community.
How Can We Better Protect
Ourselves from an
Attack or Robbery?
Cantos: As is the case with
people without disabilities, the same approaches should be used. It
is important in all cases for victims with disabilities to know that
abuse, neglect, and other crimes are NEVER the victim’s fault.
As obvious as this is to say, there are often situations in which
perpetrators have literally said to their victims, “You made
me hit you. If you didn’t make
me so mad, everything would have been fine.” Society must
empower both children and adults with disabilities to know the
nature of different crimes and how to reach out for help if in
trouble. Then, when people do reach out, victim/witness service
programs should be accessible to these folks with disabilities.
Vaughn: Prepare before the
crime happens, such as learning personal safety techniques, knowing
your rights, and knowing what is a crime. People with disabilities
should also be aware of service organizations that are available
to help them if a crime occurs. The Department of Justice Office
for Victims of Crime sponsors a Web site containing a searchable
query of local organizations to serve almost any need. http://ovc.ncjrs.org/findvictim
services
What are Some Other
Online Resources?
Cantos: The best central location
is a clearinghouse that has been put together by the University of
Wyoming www.wind.uwyo.edu/ResourceGuide Also visit www.disability-abuse.com These
collectively will provide you with hundreds of resources, which
include materials for crime victims with disabilities and victim/witness
service providers alike. Critical information about the civil rights
of people with disabilities may be found at a site hosted by the
Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, www.ada.gov
Franz: Other good resources
are the National Center for Victims of Crime, www.ncvc.org;
the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, Criminal Justice
Initiative, http://disabilities.temple.edu;
and the National Criminal Justice Resource Center, www.ncjrs.gov
Why Did You All Come
Together to Address the Problems of Crime Against People with Disabilities?
Franz:
The ultimate goal of the partnership between the three agencies
(AUCD, NCVC, and NCD) is to foster greater public awareness about
crime victims with disabilities and to forge a national commitment
to better serve this particularly vulnerable population.
Cantos: To send a strong
and clear message to the community that the crime victimization
field is at least spotlighting these issues at a national level—far beyond what people have realized in the
past—and to rally all stakeholders to come together collectively
to address the many issues faced by crime victims with disabilities.
We as a society must continue to bring the needs of crime victims
with disabilities and their loved ones out of the shadows and into
the light of awareness and action so that we may each do our part
to help make things better.
Will there be another webcast like the one that took place on May
30?
Cantos: Yes. Future webcasts will be dedicated to discussing specific
aspects of the criminal justice system within a victims’ rights
context, so as to give practical solutions to real situations. In
other words, this is all just the beginning. ![]()
