ACLU of Rhode Island and Community Groups Denounce Rules Denying Compensation to Certain Crime Victims

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

PROVIDENCE, RI — Seven organizations that service people with substance abuse problems today sharply criticized as “discriminatory and mean-spirited” regulations approved earlier this week by General Treasurer Paul Tavares, allowing the state to deny compensation to victims of violent crimes based solely on their past drug-related criminal history.

The groups, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, called on the Democratic and Republican candidates for that office, Frank Caprio and Andrew Lyon III, to commit to repealing those regulations if elected.

“Although the regulation makes the reduction or denial in aid discretionary, its mere presence may be enough to discourage some victims from applying for compensation in the first place, said Steven Brown, Executive Director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. “At bottom, this regulation runs directly counter to the goals of victim compensation, and unfairly and inappropriately re-victimizes victims.”

The rule at issue provides that a crime victim’s compensation may be reduced or denied if he has pled guilty or been convicted of “violent felonious criminal conduct, or DUI/DWI, or the illegal manufacture, sale or delivery of a controlled substance, or possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver a controlled substance” within the past five years or subsequent to his or her injury. Drug and DUI convictions are the only non-violent offenses that have been added to trigger a possible denial of victim compensation. The DUI provision was added last year, and the drug offense language was adopted this week after a public hearing held earlier this month.

The organizations criticizing the General Treasurer’s action – the R.I. Council of Community Mental Health Organizations (RICCMHO), the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Association of R.I., Direct Action for Rights and Equality, the R.I. Medical Society, the R.I. Disability Law Center, RICARE, and the ACLU of Rhode Island – argued that the rule only serves to punish ex-offenders with addiction problems for their blameless involvement as victims in separate, unrelated criminal acts.

Elizabeth V. Earls, President/CEO of RICCMHO, said: “Treatment and rehabilitation work, yet regulations such as these send one message, and one message only — if you have ever suffered and struggled with an addiction, we will never forget and we will punish you at every turn. Frankly, I am embarrassed and I am outraged to know that this office is capable of such discriminatory and mean-spirited action.”

The organizations noted that compensation is generally available only for very serious offenses. Furthermore, the law explicitly bars compensation when the behavior of the victim directly or indirectly contributed to his or her injury or death. The organizations specifically focused on the impropriety of singling out DUI and drug offenses, both of which are often committed by people who are suffering from the diseases of alcoholism and drug addiction.

In a letter to the two General Treasurer candidates, Democrat Frank Caprio and Republican Andrew Lyon III, the groups stated: “As organizations that deal with people who struggle with a drug or alcohol addiction, we are frankly appalled that the General Treasurer’s office would turn on its head a program designed to aid crime victims into one that punishes them for their past misdeeds. It is particularly distressing that the specific offenders the General Treasurer has most recently decided to subject to this special treatment are ones who are often fighting serious addictions. The list of potentially disqualifying offenses in the rules was already extraordinarily excessive. But it is outrageous to extend them even further so that a drug addict who is sexually assaulted faces the possibility of reduced (or no) compensation solely because of her own past run-in with the law while selling drugs to feed her habit.”

Anne Mulready, supervising attorney at the Rhode Island Disability Law Center, noted that former addicts and those in treatment for addiction are considered persons with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. “In authorizing the reduction or denial of victim compensation benefits to people who have criminal drug records,” she said, “the Treasurer is setting up a system that potentially discriminates against former drug addicts and those currently in treatment for addiction on the basis of disability in violation of the law.”

In response to written testimony the ACLU submitted earlier this month in opposition to the rules, the General Treasurer’s office has called the new regulations “fair and reasonable.”

The letter to Sen. Caprio follows (a duplicate letter was sent to Andrew Lyon III, the other candidate for General Treasurer):

July 27, 2006

Sen. Frank Caprio BY FAX AND MAIL
Caprio for General Treasurer
PO Box 5896
Providence, RI 02903

Dear Sen. Caprio:

We are writing you in your capacity as a candidate for the Office of General Treasurer.

Earlier this week, the current General Treasurer promulgated a regulation allowing his office to deny compensation to victims of violent crimes based solely on their past drug-related criminal history. This follows a regulation he adopted just last year authorizing a similar penalty against crime victims who have a DUI conviction in their history.

As organizations that deal with people who struggle with a drug or alcohol addiction, we are frankly appalled that the General Treasurer’s office would turn on its head a program designed to aid crime victims into one that punishes them for their past misdeeds. It is particularly distressing that the specific offenders the General Treasurer has most recently decided to subject to this special treatment are ones who are often fighting serious addictions. The list of potentially disqualifying offenses in the rules was already extraordinarily excessive. But it is outrageous to extend them even further so that a drug addict who is sexually assaulted faces the possibility of reduced (or no) compensation solely because of her own past run-in with the law while selling drugs to feed her habit.

To provide you some additional background, we have enclosed a copy of the written testimony that the ACLU submitted at a public hearing on this regulation earlier this month, and the wholly unpersuasive response provided by the General Treasurer’s office to that testimony.

We urge you to publicly renounce these regulations to the extent they single out drug and alcohol-related offenses, and to pledge to repeal these provisions upon taking office if elected. No victim of a violent crime should have to think twice about applying for compensation for fear of having his or her criminal record, related to an addiction, used against them. Nor should any victim of a violent crime see his or her application denied or reduced because of a totally unrelated conviction in his or her past that may very well have been the result of a disability.

We appreciate your attention to our concerns and hope you will feel free to contact any of us if you have any questions or would like more information. We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth V. Earls, President/CEO
R.I. Council of Community Mental Health Organizations

Neil Corkery, Executive Director
Drug and Alcohol Treatment Association of Rhode Island

Mimi Budnick
Direct Action for Rights and Equality

Kathleen Fitzgerald, M.D., President
Rhode Island Medical Society

Anne Mulready, Supervising Attorney
R.I. Disability Law Center

Steven Brown, Executive Director
Rhode Island Affiliate, American Civil Liberties Union