Human Rights and the Victims of Crime

Richard C. Kagan

Published 07:41 a.m., January 7, 2010

Human Rights and the Victims of Crime

The end of the year is full of statistics. They include the obvious news such as the fall and slow rise of the stock market, the number of war casualties, and the deaths from H1N1.

Sometimes the statistics are initially small and not so obvious. For instance, one person is murdered every 31 minutes, raped every 2.7 minutes, assaulted every 7.2 seconds, and domestic victimization is registered on the average about once every two minutes. A hate crime is reported to the police nearly once an hour.

In 2006, 25 million crimes were committed in the United States. Of these, 6 million were violent. More than a quarter of people with severe mental illness had been victims of violent crime.

One statistic that is usually buried at best, and ignored at worst is the number of victims of crime. This number of those who died or are still living in fear and hurt would easily be a major multiplier of those who have committed crimes.

Concern for the abused is a major pillar for human rights advocates. To some it might seem that human rights are designed to provide special treatment for the criminal. In fact, human rights concerns have concentrated on creating a society that promotes dignity as well as justice. Recognition of the rights of the victim is key to human rights law.

The influence of this approach can be viewed in the Congressional establishment of the Crime Victims Fund in 1984. This radical reform is the only Federal program that funds services to help victims of all types of crime. The source for the funding comes from fines and penalties and not from taxes. By 2008, it had collected nine billion dollars.

A year later in 1985, after years of discussion, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the “Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power.” The Declaration specifies victims’ rights of access compensation and assistance. Unlike criminal law, which usually deals with penalties, human rights law combines legal principles with efforts to eradicate or compensate for injustice. The legal system does not usually try to repair the injury.

How does this relate to us in Ottertail County?

You might be surprised. There are several programs that support victims of abuse.

With money from the Federal Program for Victims of Crime, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Office of Justice Programs provides 60% of the funding for Someplace Safe. This organization serves victims of family violence in eight western counties in Minnesota. The funding is used for helping victims of child abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault. This work is often very private and thus unobserved.

To bring this work on behalf of the crime victim, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety is sponsoring an exhibition called the “Art of Recovery.” Working with the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Office of Justice Programs will hold its seventh annual event from April 18-June 20. The exhibits will include the artwork of those who were directly or indirectly affected by criminal behavior. The co-sponsors are holding this exhibition to heighten “public awareness about crime victims and their rights.”

Their web page (www.arts.state.mn.us/aor/2010/call.htm) and phone number (651) 215-1626, (800) 866-2787 will provide much information on their past work and the coming art show.

Examples of the artistic work include poems, essays, and paintings. former exhibitions, there were many remarkable presentations.

Carol Ann La Fleur, a mother of six children, previously had suffered from “years of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse including rape and molestation” She was further abused while in a psychiatric hospital. There she began to journal. And she found her way back to health. Currently she has been working towards her associate’s degree in criminal justice. In her contribution, she submitted “The Silent Words” which is “a testament that although we are victims, yet we are strong. We have a choice to stay the victim or take back our lives.”

Adam Sheda had served for two years in Iraq. One week after he returned home he was murdered at the age of 26. Adam enjoyed painting. One of his uncompleted works was of his sister’s daughter. His sister presented this work at the exhibition. With great pain and emotion, she commented that like his life, this painting is “unfinished.”

The event includes people who were not direct victims. In a sense, we are all our brother and sister’s keeper. We can act with empathy, sympathy, and support to those who were abused as if they were part of our family. An example of this feeling of understanding and sharing the pain of others is the story, “Yellow Bus,” by Gregory Abbott. He begins by making it clear that he is not the abused. “My story is not one of a direct crime victim, but a victim of crime done to people I cared about. For every crime victim, there are probably a dozen like me who carry around some sort of guilt for not standing up to the perpetrator.” He tells the story of helplessly doing nothing while observing violence during a bus ride.

The reason for writing this column is to urge all of you to consider how to express yourselves about the lives of victims of crime. These can be your own experiences, or those of others. There will be an opportunity to attend the show in the late Spring. But even more important, one can encourage people to create and send in their creative work for the next show. The more we make public the pain and the recovery of those who are abused, the more we can help them re-enter the world with strength and purpose.

Locally, we also have an event. In conjunction with Ann Reed’s concert on March 6, the Center for the Arts and Someplace Safe will be exhibiting life size silhouettes of women and children in Minnesota who were murdered during domestic violence in 2008. Rebecca Peterson, director of the Center, wants to use art as a medium to reach out to the community at large. “Art can be more expressive and create a stronger emotional reaction than just reading about crime in the newspaper. And it can make one feel deeply the pain of the abused. It helps to wipe away the feelings of isolation and of despair. It helps us to recognize the pain of being a victim. In other words, we can all remember the saying, ‘There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

Richard C. Kagan

Professor Emeritus

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