George Gascón and Cristine Soto DeBerry – Daily News

There are countless people in our community who have experienced serious physical harm. Sometimes, they want a prosecution to occur, and sometimes they don’t. Some-times they want a prosecutor to seek a long sentence, and sometimes, they just want an apology and an admission of wrongdoing. Victims are, after all, not a monolith. But one thing applies to every crime victim: each person has something that they need to heal that goes beyond prosecution.

Some need medical care, some need therapy, some need relocation expenses or help finding a new job they lost while recovering. They have needs that cost money, time and resources.

Unfortunately, most victims are not finding the necessary support that they need in our criminal justice system, as a report issued last week by the Prosecutors Alliance made abundantly clear. That organization, of which we are members, surveyed over 700 crime victims about their needs. Across the board, the authors found that our criminal justice system consistently fails to connect crime victims with badly needed resources and instead leaves them to fend for themselves.

The results were disappointing although also unsurprising to those of us who have worked in the field for some time.

We are endeavoring to reverse course.

The needs victims have after experiencing harm are vast. According to the report, 41% of survivors needed emotional support after victimization, and 43% needed an immediate cash infusion to pay for rent, food or other necessities. Others needed medical care, and many needed a job. Very few could access necessary services, however, because they did not have the financial resources. 50% of crime survivors said they did not have money to pay out of pocket for expenses like mental health or relocation.

The criminal justice system, which ostensibly exists in part to help victims, did not provide needed assistance. And as a result, survivors received no treatment.

Our failure to aid people who have been victims of crime is morally reprehensible. For decades, we have declined to invest in proven tools that prevent crime, like blight remediation or hospital based intervention programs. For years, Congress restricted federal funding in support of research into gun crime, fearful that someone might show a connection between lax gun control and violence, thereby drawing the ire of the powerful NRA. We have underfunded public schools, health care, and mental health treatment.

If anyone is responsible for rising crime and physical violence, it is our political leaders who created the conditions in which it thrives. It is now our responsibility to help those who suffered because of our negligence. Our failure to fully support crime victims is a total dereliction of duty.

Our decision to ignore people’s unmet needs also has serious implications for public safety, our first concern as prosecutors. Hurt people tend to hurt people. 57% of gun violence victims, for example, will resort to violence in the future. Much of this criminal activity is retaliatory. If we actually helped those who have experienced harm, they might heal, and we could break the cycle. Without services, those once victimized are also more likely to be so again. Our failure to provide home relocation assistance, for example, leaves people trapped in dangerous domestic violence situations that, with a little support, they could escape. Our complacency is a public safety disaster.

Prosecutors play an important role in supporting victims and connecting them to the services available to them. Unless we tell them, many victims do not even know that community- based resources exist or that there are victims compensation funds in the state that can provide financial support. But for too long, we have failed to adequately connect victims with badly needed resources or even tell survivors about the supports that exist.

We and other reform minded prosecutors are leading the charge to change this culture by connecting victims to a broad range of services. In Los Angeles, we are offering support to all victims of serious crimes, for example, even if the police do not solve their cases or prosecution is otherwise impossible. We currently provide a range of free services to help victims become survivors, including counseling referrals, court escort and orientation, restitution assistance, medical and burial costs.

We also are working to expand the support offered to assist survivors of police violence and victims who may be labeled by the criminal justice system as “uncooperative.” This is a major change. We are of course still also prosecuting cases, but unlike some of our predecessors, we realize that is not enough.

Prosecution may fill a temporary need for retribution and justice, but victims deserve so much more.

Even if crime survivors were able to access every resource currently in place, there isn’t nearly enough capacity to give them the help they need.