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, 22 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.