Crime Survivors for Community Safety: Our Vision for Change

Crime Survivors for Community Safety is working for the prevention of violence. Prevention must be the lens through which we examine the criminal justice system, our policies, and our continued work towards criminal justice reform.

The role, voice, and needs of survivors of violence and crime and communities hurt by violence are central in our work.  We recognize everyone affected when crime or violence occurs; the survivor(s), their family and community, the people accused and convicted of the violence, and their family and communities.

The following informs our vision:

• Violence in our society is complex, we explicitly acknowledge all forms of oppression and the roles they play in creating violence.
• As human needs are met, crime and violence decline.
• We have a responsibility to care for each other when any of us have been hurt by crime or violence.
• No one should be left behind or thought of as a “throw-away” person.
  

We want a system that:

• Respects and protects everyone’s human rights.
• Works to hold people accountable for harm they have perpetrated.
• Facilitates the reparation of relationships harmed by crime or violence, when appropriate.
• Treats everyone as human beings who have the ability to transform and change.
• Strives to find solutions that support positive behavioral changes. 
• Promotes violence prevention.

We believe that a holistic system will be one that provides for the needs of survivors, those accused of violence, prisoners, all of their families, and the general public.  

This document is part of a larger framework intended to inform our work based on an analysis by progressive survivors of violence and crime.   

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