Address Confidentiality Programs
Aim to
Keep Victims Safe
By Carol
Lavery*
Stalking victims
often struggle to stay safe. They
may have to switch jobs, move to other towns or states, or even change their
names. And yet, stalkers may still
find them.
In response to the vulnerability
of stalking, sexual assault, and other victims, 32 states have launched
Address Confidentiality Programs (ACPs), which give victims substitute,
government-managed addresses (often a post office box) to use in place of
their physical address. All the
victim's first-class mail is routed to the substitute address and then
forwarded to the victim's actual address, decreasing the victim's
vulnerability to stalkers and other offenders who attempt to locate them.
ACPs, which began
inWashington
in 1991, reduce the risk that offenders can use public information to gain
access to their victims.
Offenders often use public data, such voter or drivers' license
registries, to find a victim's address. Yet victims can't falsify their
addresses on public documents-even to protect themselves-without facing
criminal penalties. ACP laws
bridge this gap by allowing victims to use the alternate ACP address when
submitting information to public agencies.
Laws governing ACP
eligibility vary from state to state. Most states require that the applicant
be a victim (or a parent or guardian of a minor victim) of the specified
crime, a state resident, and have recently relocated to an address unknown to
the perpetrator. While every
program accepts domestic violence victims, many also accept victims of sexual
assault, and stalking; some consider different circumstances. Often, trained or certified advocates
determine eligibility and may also help victims complete their applications,
perhaps at local domestic violence or rape crisis centers. Advocates may also
help victims develop an overall safety plan, in which the ACP plays a crucial
part. Victims then submit their
applications to the state agency that administers the program.
ACP programs offer government
agencies, local victim service providers, law enforcement and the business
community an opportunity to collaborate. Government agencies must cooperate to
keep the victim's location confidential. ACPs rely on local victim service
providers for referrals, counseling, safety planning, and occasional
application assistance to victims. Private businesses may contribute by
accepting the ACP substitute address when doing business with or employing ACP
participants.
Usually, the fewer people who
know a victim's location, the safer he or she will be. ACP can work only if the perpetrator
does not know where the victim lives, and when used in conjunction with other
safety strategies. Yet ACPs offer
both victims and government a promising and useful public safety tool.
To learn more about the services
of the ACP operating in your state, contact them directly. Information on
existing state address confidentiality programs can be found on the Stalking
Resource Center Web site, www.ncvc.org/src, under "Help for
Victims."
*Carol L. Lavery is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Crime Victim Advocate, which
is responsible for state-level post-sentencing victim services and the Address
Confidentiality Program. Her more than 30 years of victim advocacy also
include serving as director of a community-based service center for victims of
violence, and then as the state's VOCA and VAWA funding administrator.