Judith Santos

Judith Santos is invigorating social support for victims of violence in Mexico by coordinating a network of services and educating the public.

Judith Santos has developed a system to deal with an alarming hike in violent crime in Mexico, especially in Mexico City where a crime is committed every 3.7 minutes. Aware of the devastating consequences of any violence in the life of any person, she provides the legal, medical and psychotherapeutic assistance crime victims require to defend their rights and restore their sense of well-being. Most frequently Judith responds to violent robbery in public areas, sexual crimes and less often, domestic violence and homicide. She is also working to introduce more caring into the way in which Mexican society, particularly law enforcement and public officials, perceives all victims-whether of crime, violence, natural disasters or human rights abuses-and to reduce their numbers through prevention. In contrast to the indifference and bureaucratic red tape common in official processes, Judith provides citizens with an extensive network of accessible and high quality, if volunteer, services from lawyers, physicians, psychotherapists and citizens' organizations. Also unlike the government, she does not require victims to press charges in order to receive assistance. Her team is the only private organization in Mexico City to provide its comprehensive array of services for victims and provides an example of Judith's concept of how the members of civil society must deal in a mutually supportive way with the realities of violence and disaster.

Despite the many efforts implemented by governmental authorities, civil society and other national and international citizen groups, crime and violence in Mexico continue to escalate drastically, spurred on in part by the precarious-and ever deteriorating-economic conditions that most of the population has suffered for more than ten years. In 1994, in Mexico City alone, an average of 465 crimes was reported daily; of these, 140 were violent. And the trend is clearly increasing: in 1993, the daily average was 365 crimes, of which 119 were violent in nature.

Victims of violence suffer both physically and psychologically. Not only do they face material losses that can sometimes alter their living conditions for a long period of time. They also endure consequences of a less tangible, more emotional nature, oftentimes greater than material losses because they affect their personal behavior and that of their families. Due to such problems, many crime victims find themselves unable to function properly and others lose their jobs; it is not uncommon for crime victims to be unable ever to restore the conditions in their lives that preceded the criminal act.

In addition to enduring traumatic criminal experiences, crime victims must undergo lengthy and insensitive bureaucratic processes whenever they are willing to stand up for their rights. Almost invariably, they find themselves caught in a vicious cycle of corruption and abuse of power when dealing with police authorities and public officials.

In 1992, Judith established the Foundation for the Assistance of Victims of Crime and of Abuse of Power (FAVCAP) through which she has developed several programs for the assistance of victims. Her work is organized along three strategic lines: crisis management; coordination of community support and education services; and development of a nationwide network that employs her model.

The Foundation provides a multi faceted clinic for the assistance of victims. Its main objective is to ensure prompt legal and psychotherapeutic assistance to counteract the traumatic effects caused by the violent experience and to restore the victim's sense of security and independence. The clinic provides counseling, legal and medical assistance and referrals to other institutions; most of the services are delivered by a team of professionals who donate part of their working hours to assist the Foundation's clients and, increasingly, to train additional trainers. In this manner, Judith continues to build community-based services even as state funding for social services remains scarce.

Another layer of the Foundation's work is built upon a network of people who have received its services. These "volunteer promoters" are trained to collaborate with governmental bureaucracies, citizens, organizations and private individuals to create and improve services for victims. This network establishes violence-prevention workshops, especially for women and youth; in addition, it organizes assistance and preparation for natural disasters.

Judith has designed and presents courses and workshops to educate the public, informing them of their legal rights, of what they can do to enforce those rights, of which governmental or private institutions they can turn to in case of need, and teaching them how to protect themselves. In the long term, she promotes the creation of "Community Centers for the Assistance of Victims," based on her Foundation's model, where public servants and volunteers will receive specialized training to ensure adequate assistance for victims within their own communities.

After having lost her house and all her possessions during the 1985 earthquake, Judith experienced what being a victim in Mexico truly meant. She became aware of just how vulnerable she and other people were, and she realized that the only solution lay in finding and offering mutual support. Additionally, as a psychologist, she had witnessed the devastation wrought by violence and crime, which affected not only the victim but his or her family and community as well. She had seen many victims treated primarily as the means to bring criminals to justice, without adequate consideration of their personal trauma.

For many years, Judith worked as a psychotherapist trying to deal with the consequences of all forms of violence on an individual basis. However, unsatisfied with the limited scope of this approach, she started looking for broader, more encompassing ways to address the issue and developed the notion of comprehensive assistance for victims, which led her to found FAVCAP in 1992.

Born in Mexico City, the eldest of four siblings, Judith lived in a restrictive environment dominated by her father, who had an authoritarian and despotic nature. From an early age, she felt like a victim who could do nothing but comply with the decisions that her father took in her stead, many times going against her true wishes. Having been able to free herself of such victimization, she feels intensely for other people suffering similar situations.