NCJ Number
255046
Date Published
April 2020
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This brief reports on listening sessions with victim service providers, who discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the needs of girls and women of color who have experienced criminal victimization, along with creative ways to address those needs.
Abstract
The victim service providers report that girls and women of color are experiencing higher rates of death and isolation in this era of social distancing and stay-at-home mandates. One issue identified in the listening sessions is how social inequality has compounded the impact of the pandemic measures. Residential housing segregation and institutional racism have resulted in communities of color living in densely populated neighborhoods, which are often far from grocery stores and medical facilities. The over-representation of people of color in correctional and detention facilities also increases their risk of virus exposure. People of color are more likely than Whites to work in the service industry, where the risk of infection is greater for "essential workers," who continue to work outside the home. Victim service providers also noted that weakened social support, which would normally come from outside the home, isolates and increases domestic abuse. Such abuse tends to be disproportionately high among girls and women of color. Among promising strategies for addressing victimization of girls and women of color during the pandemic are daily phone calls from service providers, buying burner phones and leaving them for victims in safe non-contact locations, advocating for survivors with landlords, and making support group curricula online friendly.