April marks the annual six-day period when a message of empowering crime victims is pushed into the national spotlight.
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week will wrap up its 30th year on Saturday. The theme this year was “30 years: Restoring the Balance of Justice.”
The week aims to provide resources and programs to help assist crime victims nationwide. It can also be used to engage in conversation geared toward helping victims get assistance and avoid re-victimization.
In light of the ongoing investigation into sexual assault claims at MSU by the federal government, sexual assault issues were looked at on campus.
Jayne Schuiteman, interim director of the MSU Women’s Resource Center , said the week is about raising awareness for victims of all violent crimes, not just sexual assault.
“A week of this nature is important for violent crimes of any nature, not just sexual assault,” she said. “It provides a visible medium to tell the campus community that we care about these issues.”
Schuiteman said the center didn’t provide educational programs this week because they are a place for victims to go when they need direction to higher authorities.
“We are a clearing house for information and resources,” she said. “If someone comes to me and told me they were a victim of sexual assault we would point them to the appropriate offices.”
East Lansing police Capt. Jeff Murphy said the department doesn’t change their procedures for crime victims awareness week.
“We’re always dealing with crime victims, it’s a daily thing and there’s nothing we change for this week,” he said. “We would have to take officers away from crime prevention to talk about crime prevention through an educational program. That doesn’t make sense to me, and that’s what we would have to do.”
Victims don’t report more crimes during the week according to Schuiteman, but she said that isn’t what’s important. The important thing is that the university has a unified message.
“You don’t see more women or men coming forward during the week,” she said. “What’s important is that the university has a unified message.”
