Report released during annual Survivors Speak event, the state’s largest annual gathering of crime victims, reveals application denial rates have tripled since 2019, leaving thousands of survivors, including grieving families, without promised state support and fueling cycles of harm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2026
CONTACT:
Stephanie Ong, [email protected], Alexis Meisels, [email protected], Will Matthews, [email protected]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — More than 200 survivors of crime gathered on the grounds of the state capitol Tuesday to release a devastating new report revealing California’s primary lifeline for crime survivors, the California victim compensation program, is failing to meet the urgent needs of those it was designed to serve.
The report release was part of the state’s largest annual gathering of crime victims, an event called Survivors Speak sponsored by Californians for Safety and Justice and Crime Survivors Speak, the state and nation’s largest network of crime victims. The more than 200 attendees demanded the state do a better job of protecting public safety by stabilizing funding for and expanding access to critical resources and services survivors of crime need to heal.
“True safety is built in the immediate aftermath of harm, not just on the back end of the legal system,” said Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, the state’s leading public safety advocacy organization. “When we fail to provide rapid access to mental health support, relocation, or funeral costs, we allow trauma to spiral into a cycle of further harm. By failing survivors, the state is effectively subsidizing the next generation of violence.”
The report’s findings detail a system increasingly defined by bureaucracy rather than support.
Since 2019, compensation awards to victims have plummeted by nearly 30 percent, even as by, according to the report. In 2019, the denial rate for survivors seeking help was one-in-twelve; by last year, that figure jumped to nearly one-in-three applications. As the process has become more hostile, the number of survivors even attempting to apply has dropped from 50,000 to just 35,000 annually.
The report highlights a disturbing “phantom deficit” used to justify austerity. While CalVCB budgets as if it spends $79 million on victims, it consistently spends $20 million to $30 million less. Despite claims of scarcity the state’s restitution fund has seen significant surpluses in three of the last four years. While money reaching victims dropped by nearly 30 percent, CalVCB’s internal administrative spending increased by nearly 30 percent—a $9 million jump in overhead while fewer families received help.
To address this crisis and interrupt cycles of violence, the report outlines five urgent policy mandates:
-
- Streamline and Expand Access: Pass legislative changes to remove red tape for youth victims, including AB 2247, known as the T.H.R.I.V.E. Act, which would ensure free access to mental health services to youth victims of and witnesses to gun violence
-
- End Discrimination: End discriminatory victim blaming and “cooperativeness” denials that disproportionately impact survivors of color, and remove eligibility restrictions for survivors on probation or parole.
-
- Secure Stable Funding: Shift away from a failed model that relies on restitution fines from low-income defendants. The state must fulfill its commitment to eliminate these fees and provide a general fund appropriation of $100 million annually.
-
- Restore Flexible Assistance: Reinstate funding for the Flexible Assistance for Survivors (FAS) grant program to cover emergency needs like security cameras, groceries, and rapid relocation.
-
- Protect Trauma Recovery Centers (TRCs): Ensure a minimum of $35 million in annual funding to restore all 24 of the state’s TRC’s, which serve as the front lines of healing for the most vulnerable survivors.
“Safety is not just the absence of crime, it is the presence of well-being and support,” said Hollins. “California must stop hoarding resources meant for healing and start investing in the survivors who hold the key to a safer state.”