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Providing Services to Victims Viewing a Trial at Multiple Locations. Masthead shows a series of photos depicting trials, conferencing, and TV watching.
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Getting Started--Meeting a Need
Setting Up a Safe Haven for Victims
   What Is a
   Safe Haven?

  Locating and
   Managing a
   Safe Haven

  Coordinating a
   Safe Haven

  Special
   Considerations

  Emotional Support
   Strategies

  Evaluating
   Your Program

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Building Your Coalition
Developing Task Forces
Providing Limited Services
Notes

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Partnerships for Safer Communities

Setting Up a Safe Haven for Victims

All of the wonderful services, from the food to the support, made our stay so much easier. It was wonderful to have a safe place to go where you can talk freely. It made a difficult time meaningful.4

For many victims and survivors, participating in the judicial process is a necessary element of their healing process. Other victims, however, may be retraumatized by the experience. Viewing the trial can be difficult in many respects—

  • The testimony and other evidence may force victims and survivors to relive the horror of the tragedy.
  • The defendant has all the benefits of the U.S. Constitution and the presumption of innocence.
  • The defendant may use the trial as a forum for expressing his or her political views.
  • Victim-impact testimony can be highly emotional and occasionally graphic.

For these reasons, a victim service protocol that focuses on providing services in a Safe Haven facility can be very successful during high-profile trials involving victims of large-scale terrorism.

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