Victims are not evidence.

Victims are not side characters in their own trauma.

Victims should not have to survive the crime and then survive the system.

Victims are human beings whose lives are forever divided into before and after what was done to them. They deserve rights that carry just as much weight as the rights of the accused.

Right now, the legal system gives the accused enforceable rights, legal representation, and protection at every stage. Victims may have rights written on paper. Yet those rights are often not enforced, not equally protected, or backed by real legal power in the moments that matter most.

This petition exists to confront that systemic failure.

The Victims’ Equal Rights Act (VERA) is a proposed piece of legislation designed to give victims enforceable rights, legal protection, and a guaranteed voice throughout the legal process.

 

Under this Act, victims would be granted:

Equal Legal Protection:

• The right to independent legal counsel, provided to victims just as legal representation is provided to the accused
• The right to not be placed in any legal proceeding or setting where they are outnumbered or unrepresented

Enforceable Rights:

• All existing victim rights must be fully enforced in practice, not merely written into law or treated as recommendations
• Victims must be treated with the same level of legal protection, procedure, and accountability as the accused
• Violations of victim rights must carry real consequences and legal remedies

Informed Participation:

• The right to be clearly informed of their rights before any questioning or legal interaction
• The right to understand the purpose, setting, and participants of any meeting before it occurs
• The right to decline, pause, or reschedule any questioning, interviews, or evaluations without coercion, intimidation, or any form of penalty.

Protection During the Process:

• Protection from coercive, misleading, or high-pressure legal interactions
• The right to be treated as a protected participant, rather than reduced to a witness, a source of information, or a case file.

Accountability:

• Legal accountability for any professional who fails to uphold victim rights
• A clear process for victims to report violations and seek enforcement of their rights

Sign this petition to demand enforceable rights, legal protection, and a voice for every victim.

Too many victims never report what happened to them. Others walk away from the legal process entirely, overwhelmed by exhaustion, re-traumatization, and a system that leaves victims powerless.

I know this because I lived it. What I share here is only a fraction of what I experienced, and even that was enough to show me how deeply this system fails people.

In 2023, I was drugged while my boyfriend recorded himself taking full advantage of my body. In the videos I found on his phone, my body was limp. I was silent. I was not moving. I was not responding. I was unable to protect myself while he used my body, violated me repeatedly, and took away my ability to fight back.

What followed was not only trauma. It was a legal process that forced me to relive the harm while leaving me unheard, unsupported, dismissed, and powerless in the very system that was supposed to protect me.

Evidence was not properly collected when I reported what happened. As a result, the drugging will never be formally confirmed. That failure is only one part of a much larger problem; victims should not lose the truth of what happened to them when the system fails to preserve it.

At no point were my rights clearly explained to me. I was assigned a victim advocate, but they were not equipped to guide me through what I was facing. I had little understanding of my rights, what to expect, or how to protect myself in the process.

With nowhere left to turn, I began researching on my own. When I asked the State’s Attorney about getting legal guidance, I was reassured that it would not be needed and that she would step in to assist only when necessary.

Towards the end of the case, I was asked to come in for “questions,” without being told what that would actually involve. When I arrived, I was placed in a room with the State’s Attorney, an investigator, and another attorney present to witness my answers. I was questioned about details I had already provided years earlier. I was not told I could have my own legal representation. I was not told what my rights were in that moment. The accused has an attorney to protect them at every step, and through every question. Victims are not guaranteed that same protection. I had no designated advocate present and no legal counsel responsible for protecting me or standing beside me, while the State’s Attorney — the very person expected to represent my interests in court — was the one questioning me. I was left exposed, unsupported, and thrown to the wolves by the very system that was supposed to help me through this. 

After that intense questioning, I broke mentally, physically, and emotionally. I could no longer keep myself together. I felt completely drained and could not continue carrying the weight of the process. I accepted a plea where he would plead guilty to two of the sixteen counts. I was exhausted, traumatized, and afraid that if I kept going, he could walk away with no accountability at all.

I understand now why so many victims walk away. Not because what happened to them doesn’t matter, but because the process itself becomes something they cannot survive.

This is not just my story; it is one of many that are only now coming to light. Many victims experience even worse and are still forced to navigate a complex, emotionally damaging system without clear rights, legal protection, or a guaranteed voice in the process. 

The accused is given enforceable rights, legal representation, and protection at every stage. 

Victims are not.

That imbalance is not just unfair. It is systemic neglect of the very people the system is meant to protect.

Sign this petition to demand enforceable rights, legal protection, and a voice for every victim

Learn more and follow the movement: VoicesNotSilenced