Last year, 5,582 children and 19,362 adults received sexual assault services at a PA rape crisis center. Over the past 6 years, demand for services rose, while state and federal support for these programs fell. To put is plainly, RAPE RISES, WHILE VICTIM SERVICES FALL. We need your help to stop the crisis.
Pennsylvania’s 47 rape crisis centers provide lifesaving services to all 67 counties, including counseling, medical advocacy, legal accompaniment, prevention education, and 24/7 crisis response. Adult and child survivors need this safety net, but state and federal legislators keep cutting holes in it. Rural counties are at a huge disadvantage. Where you live in Pennsylvania shouldn’t determine whether you get help after a crime.
Here in Lebanon/Schuylkill County, SARCC provides access to 24-hour hotline support, advocacy, and accompaniment to police stations, hearings, and hospitals for local victims. That included support for 1,100 of our friends and neighbors. 40% of those served by SARCC were children.
According to the CDC (DeGue) the lifetime cost of rape, is $122,461. That means in PA, in one year, the nearly 26,000 victims served at sexual assault programs serve will accrue a total lifetime cost of $3,245,216,500. Comparatively, PCAR is asking for an investment in victim services and prevention of $23 million annually. This investment is a fraction of a percent of the state budget. One legislator called it a rounding error last year. But this investment will restore advocacy, prevention, trauma therapy, and education services statewide.
Sexual assault services are fiscally responsible public safety investment. Sexual assault victim service advocates are not a social program—they are public safety infrastructure. They help law enforcement solve crimes, protect constitutional rights, reduce costs, and keep dangerous offenders off the streets. Sexual Assault advocacy services are far less expensive than prolonged investigations, failed prosecutions, or repeated emergency responses.
Early support for survivors reduces downstream costs related to healthcare, repeat victimization, homelessness, and long-term dependency on public systems. Every dollar spent on advocacy helps maximize the effectiveness of existing law-enforcement funding. Invest now, so we don’t have to keep accruing the costs of ongoing violence.
Adequate funding is a smart, cost-effective use of public dollars. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Survivors have a right to supportive, trauma-informed services after experiencing violence.
