Guest Editorial: National Crime Victims’ Rights Week

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Far too often, innocent victims in our community are snatched from their families, never to see their loved ones again. They become one of the thousands of Americans every year who are casualties of gun violence and other senseless crimes.

While we can never truly understand the depth of trauma or the impact these tragic deaths have on the lives of homicide victims’ families, helping them find their personal justice is a communitywide and ongoing effort.

April 23–29 is National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, a weeklong initiative that calls upon our communities to stand with citizens whose lives have been forever altered by crime and to commit to helping them find their justice and forge new healing pathways.

As part of this observance, my office is hosting our annual victims’ vigil, “An Evening of Remembrance,” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, at Freewill Missionary Baptist Church. This will be a time of reflection, remembrance, and action.

Whatever form justice takes, fulfilling the needs of victims’ families requires that their voices be reflected and respected not only in the justice system process but also in the care and support they receive after the crime has taken place. They need a seamless continuum of support to heal from the trauma they suffered.

I encourage the entire community to join us on April 25th as we remember those whose lives were brutally and prematurely ended and to demand that more be done to stop the recurrence of violent crimes in our City, County, State and Nation.

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