PUBLIC SAFETY CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED BY CENTERING SURVIVORS OF CRIME

Each year, Crime Victims Week serves as a national moment to recognize the experiences of survivors, elevate their voices, and examine how well our systems respond to harm. It is also an opportunity to look forward—asking not only how we react to crime, but how we can better support healing and prevent future harm.

Research from the Alliance for Safety + Justice highlights a clear and consistent message from survivors of violence: they want investments that strengthen people and communities, not just systems of punishment. By a nearly two-to-one margin, survivors of violence prefer investment in prevention, crisis assistance, and community resources over more spending on arrests and punishment. 

These findings reflect a deeper reality about what survivors experience after harm occurs. “The prevalence of major hardship among survivors of violence is a strong indication that our current public safety system is failing.” (1) Many victims face ongoing challenges—financial strain, lack of access to mental health care, and limited support during recovery, which are needs that are often unmet by traditional responses focused primarily on prosecution and incarceration. 

This is where restorative practices offer a meaningful alternative. Restorative approaches focus on accountability, healing, and repairing harm by bringing together those affected—when appropriate—and centering the needs of victims. Rather than asking only what law was broken and how to punish, restorative practices ask: Who was harmed? What do they need? And how can that harm be repaired? 

Check out an infographic our team made offering a comparative perspective between the restorative justice and criminal justice system.