Freedom´s Tools
Victim's Rights

Summary: According to the National Center for Crime Victims, Americans experienced 23 million violent and non-violent crimes last year. Fewer than half of the crimes were reported to law enforcement. As staggering as is this information, additional data suggests that, when compared with the general population, persons with disabilities are victimized at much higher rates:

• Children with a reported disability are 68 percent more likely to be victims of maltreatment than children with no reported disability.¹
• Women with developmental disabilities are at a 4 to 10 times greater risk of sexual assault than women in the general population.²
• More than one-fourth of persons with severe mental illness were victims of a violent crime in the past year, a rate more than 11 times that of the general population.³
• From 15,000 to 19,000 people with developmental disabilities are raped each year in the United States.⁴

Recently, several national organizations brought this troubling issue to the foreground. Over the next year they will work together for the purpose of more fully exploring incidents of crime and victimization as it relates to people with disabilities in America. A mission statement lifted from a recent press release issued by the The National Council on Disability summarizes the national effort:

"In releasing this joint statement, the National Council on Disability, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, and the National Center for Victims of Crime announce their partnership to break the silence about criminal victimization of individuals with disabilities in the United States. The ultimate goal of this partnership is to foster greater public awareness about crime victims with disabilities and to forge a national commitment to better serve this particularly vulnerable population."

Fifth Freedom will watch the national campaign as it progresses and use our electronic network to disseminate updates and information about how people can get involved as information becomes available. Additionally, Fifth Freedom will join in the effort to increase awareness about the topic by launching a statewide campaign to address this issue in Indiana.

As an avenue to launch the statewide initiative, Fifth Freedom hosted a workshop during the 2007 Indiana Governor's Conference for People with Disabilities entitled, Crime Victims with Disabilities: Dealing with the System.

Workshop presenters and the topics each covered are as follows:

• Sheri Caveda, Executive Director of The Fifth Freedom Network, spoke about the purpose of the workshop and its' tie in to the national initiative.
• Dee Enrico-Janik, Assistant Director of Client Services of Indiana Protection & Advocacy Services (P&A), shared information about Indiana crime data collected during a 2004 study and information about what Protection and Advocacy Services throughout the United States are doing address the problems experienced by crime victims.
• Karen Vaughn, Advocate At Large for The Fifth Freedom Network, shared a testimonial about her experiences as crime victim and the difficulties she encountered dealing with the legal system, post trauma.
• Carmen Kirkpatrick, ACT Coordinator for The Fifth Freedom Network, discussed how people with disabilities can minimize the likelihood they will be victims of crime by following simple common sense rules for remaining safe at home and when out in the community. She also shared contact information about where individuals who have become victims can go to get help in Indiana.

If you would like more information on this topic please email: Doug@fifthfreedom.org

To view the power point presentation and the handouts, click here

¹ Children's Bureau, "Child Maltreatment, 2004," (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005), 27, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm04.pdf (accessed May 11, 2007).
² W. Abramson et al., eds., Impact: Feature Issue on Violence Against Women with Developmental or Other Disabilities 13, number 3 (2000).
³ L.A. Teplin et al., "Crime Victimization in Adults with Severe Mental Illness: Comparison with the National Crime Victimization Survey," Archives of General Psychiatry 62, number 8 (2005).
⁴ D. Sobsey, Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities: The End of Silent Acceptance? (Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 1994).