National Crime Victims’ Rights Week

This week is officially National Crime Victims’ Rights Week in Cass County.

Surviving a crime can have myriad lasting effects on victims, including physical, psychological, social, and financial issues.

We know that countless survivors never tell anyone about what happened to them.

Each of us has a moral responsibility to actively participate in the healing of others.

It is necessary to create safe environments for survivors of crime, providing not only support but also access to critical services and, above all, hope.

Victim service providers, community members, businesses, places of worship, colleagues, neighbors, and family members are capable of providing victim- centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive support.

We must listen to survivors and be willing to create new options for support to ensure that all victims of crime can receive help and seek justice.

We must do everything we can to show survivors that hope - the belief that the future will be better - is not just tangible but within their reach.

National Crime Victims’ Rights Week encourages all people to ask themselves the question, “How would you help a victim of crime?”

Cass County is dedicated to raising awareness of options, services, and hope for crime survivors.

By proclaiming this week Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we reaffirm our commitment to creating a victim service and criminal justice response that assists all victims of crime during Crime Victims’ Rights Week and throughout the year; and express our sincere gratitude and appreciation for those community members, victim service providers, and criminal justice professionals who are committed to improving our response to all victims of crime so that they may find relevant assistance, support, justice, and peace.