Mental Health Professionals for Victim Justice

The popular culture abounds with documentation of the mental anguish which victims suffer as the result of crime. What is less well known, but no less well documented within our profession, is the psychological trauma caused by the criminal justice system itself, which often imposes its own kind of victimization.

When crime victims are disenfranchised, not given notice of proceedings, not allowed to be present or heard at proceedings in their cases, when there safety is ignored by decision makers in the system, they suffer once again, but this time at the hands of the state. The loss of empowerment over any aspect of the search for justice only deepens the serious injuries already caused by the offender.

We are Mental Health Professionals for Victim Justice and we strongly support your efforts to pass the Kyl-Feinstein Crime Victims Rights Amendment. The rights which are enumerated in the proposed amendment will empower crime victims and that empowerment is healthy for them and will be healthy for our country.

We stand ready to assist you in your efforts to establish these rights for all Americans.