S.F. crime victims could get more help
One-stop office would aid survivors in navigating system
Supervisor Catherine Stefani contends San Francisco is not doing enough for crime victims — so she’s giving voters the chance to decide whether the city should do more.
On Tuesday, Stefani introduced the San Francisco Victim’s Rights Initiative, a ballot measure that would create a new city office pulling together a range of victims’ services currently spread across multiple departments.
The Office of Victim and Witness Rights is envisioned as a one-stop shop outside of law enforcement where survivors can go to navigate a currently complicated system.
The ballot initiative, if approved by voters in June, would also establish the right to civil counsel for domestic violence victims, which would provide them free help with handling issues related to child custody, finances, restraining orders, immigration, housing and employment.
The proposal emerges amid a polarizing debate about crime in San Francisco, fueled by the pandemic and the upcoming potential recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Crime trends shifted during lockdown, with a rise in some property crimes and a drop in most violent offenses except for homicides. San Francisco and much of the Bay Area also saw an alarming spate of attacks against Asian Americans.
Some residents have expressed frustration with the district attorney’s victim services, with a statewide association of Asian American attorneys recently calling on the office to improve communication.
Earlier this year, Boudin said in a public hearing on crimes against
Asian Americans that he wants more resources to support victims. The city budget this year included more than $11 million for violence prevention programming and for existing victims’ rights programs under his department and others.
Stefani and other supervisors said their offices have become de facto clearinghouses for residents confused and frustrated by the city’s current, complex system.
“We are here because we know San Franciscans who are victims of crime don’t get the support they need,” Stefani said.
She said the current system “leaves victims with the task of navigating complex city bureaucracy right at the moment when they are least able to do so, and that needs to end now.”
Emberly Cross, who runs the citywide Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic, which helps survivors get protection from abusers, said during a news conference outside City Hall that the need is “staggering.”
“Every day in our community, legal services organizations are having to turn away domestic violence survivors who need emergency civil legal services, and that is not acceptable,” she said.
In order to qualify a ballot measure, four supervisors need to sign in support. Supervisors Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Ahsha Safaí and Matt Haney have already signed on with Stefani. Voters will decide the fate of the ballot initiative in June 2022.
City leadership would determine the size and cost of the new office in next year’s budget. The right to civil counsel would cost an estimated $1 million to $3 million. Victim advocates would remain in the District Attorney’s Office to prepare victims for trials.
San Francisco voters will also decide whether to recall Boudin on the June 2022 ballot.
When asked whether the ballot initiative was motivated by dissatisfaction with the district attorney’s victim services, Stefani told The Chronicle her criticism of Boudin was “no secret,” but pointed to a larger problem.
“Many victims of crime aren’t even served through the D.A.’s office, because either the crime isn’t reported or no arrest is made or no charge is filed,” Stefani said. “This will be a place where all victims of crimes can go ... and to bring together a myriad of different victim services in the city.”
Rachel Marshall, a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, said in an email that the office was still reviewing the proposed ballot initiative.
Marshall said supporting victims “has been and remains a priority of DA Boudin’s administration,” with an expansion of new positions in the victims services division. She said the office supports survivors in both charged and uncharged cases and is sponsoring a state bill that would expand support for all victims in California regardless of whether a person is arrested, charged or convicted.
“There continues to be a dire need in the city for mental health treatment and trauma recovery for victims and survivors — particularly in nonEnglish languages,” she said in her statement.
Stefani, who is up for reelection next year, said she opted to go to the ballot instead of introducing legislation to the Board of Supervisors because she wanted voters to weigh in on the right to counsel. She also said that she didn’t want her colleagues to “water down” her proposal.
Crime victims at Tuesday’s news conference welcomed the possibility of more support.
Monthanus Ratanapakdee, whose 84-year-old father died after he was shoved to the ground and hit his head in January, said that the District Attorney’s Office told her there was no Thai interpreter available because of budget, leading her to seek out help from a nonprofit to navigate court proceedings.
She said she believes that the new initiative would help ensure support for other victims.
“My father passed away. He cannot come and fight for it, but as a family victim, you should provide information for them to understand the case,” she said. “That’s very important.”
About 90% of domestic violence survivors’ cases are not resolved through the criminal courts, according to a city report.
Karen Miron, a domestic violence survivor, shared that she almost died at the hand of an abusive partner before leaving after her now-6-year-old daughter Aviana was born. She drained $4,500 of her daughter’s college savings to pay a private attorney to transfer the custody court battle in-county, but the help stopped when her money ran out.
With free legal aid from nonprofit Open Door Legal, she won full custody.
“I’m excited to hear that our city wants to protect survivors like me,” she said. “More and more resources are coming.”