DC Councilmember Charles Allen introduced a bill on Monday that would provide more comprehensive support to victims of crime in the District.
The legislation titled the “Expanding Supports for Crime Victims Amendment Act of 2021” is aiming to expand eligibility for victims’ right to compensation, create new positions of “crime victim advocates” in a number of serious crimes, and improve the city’s “hospital-based violence intervention programs.”
The bill proposes including elder abuse and destruction of property by intimate partners or due to gunshots onto the list of offenses for which victims and their families can apply to get compensation.
“Crime victim advocates” would help victims of serious violent crimes understand their options and resources. There currently are counselors in DC operating in sexual assault, human trafficking, and domestic violence contexts. The new position would serve victims of attempted murder, assault with intent to kill or commit sexual abuse, aggravated assault, and assault with a dangerous weapon.
“Crime victims need safety and healing to move forward,” Allen said in a release. “That doesn’t happen automatically in our criminal justice system.”
“This is an opportunity to take more of a public health approach to supporting victims, and it will help us reduce gun violence, by treating trauma and violence like a contagious disease and aggressively stopping its spread. In the midst of the pandemic, when the District is experiencing an increase in homicides and gun violence, the axiom ‘Hurt people hurt people’ rings all too true,” he continued.
The Ward 6 councilmember is the head of the DC Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety.
According to Allen, hospital-based interventions are an effective part of the District’s efforts in violence interruption, “engaging with victims at the hospital with serious injuries like gunshot or stabbing wounds where a retaliatory act is far more likely without intervention.”