Assistance to victims

The Project for Assistance to Crime Victims and Crime Witnesses is an initiative to provide quick and focused assistance to victims of crimes provided for in the Polish criminal system. The project is part of the victim assistance network, which is co-founded by other NGOs from all over the country and united by the Ministry of Justice. If there has been violence against you or your family, you have been cheated, suffered a beating, suffered a car accident, been robbed or witnessed such acts – you can count on our help.

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Our project activities are primarily aimed at supporting our wards through difficult times, both emotionally and legally. The project offers free legal advice, psychological and therapeutic assistance, career counseling and material support. As part of our efforts, we will assist in contacting law enforcement agencies to help you get through the entire legal process and help you regain your sense of security. Our psychologists will assist in managing emotions and trauma, and First Contact Persons will provide the necessary material support to alleviate the effects of being harmed by a crime. The project places special emphasis on providing a warm, friendly environment where everyone can feel listened to and understood, so you will find peace, comfort and security in our spaces.

Who are we targeting?

Our activities target 3 main groups regardless of a person’s age:

  • Crime victim – these are individuals or entities whose legal good has been threatened or violated by the act or omission of another person. The subject is, for example, companies or
    NGOs, also offices. A legal good, on the other hand, is the interest of each person in living a problem-free life. In other words, a person harmed by a crime is anyone who has suffered a
    harm – physical, mental, material or legal – as a result of a legally prohibited act, i.e. a crime. It could be someone who was directly attacked,
    robbed, cheated, who experienced violence or was injured in a car accident.
  • family members of the victim – this will be a spouse or wife, partner or partner, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents or siblings.
  • witnesses to crimes – that is, people who were not harmed, but saw or heard another person commit a crime.

To be an aggrieved party, it is not necessary to have any resolution by the court, the prosecutor’s office or the police. The mere fact of threatening or violating someone’s legal good has the effect of assuming that the person is harmed.

As a rule, we help if no more than 5 years have passed between the commission of the crime and the request for help. In exceptional situations (such as murder, rape, severe beatings or domestic violence), the time limit is longer and subject to individual assessment by our specialists. The assistance is not limited in time, but our activities are primarily directed at the rapid return of the victim to independent functioning in society.

Forms of assistance

  • Legal assistance, including mediation with the offender,
  • Language interpreter assistance until the initiation of pre-trial proceedings, conducted by the Police or the Prosecutor’s Office,
  • The assistance of a sign interpreter or a guide interpreter for legal assistance.
  • psychological, psychotherapeutic and psychiatric assistance,
  • assistance from the Person of First Contact (OPK),
  • covering the costs of health care services (including rehabilitation), medicines to the extent that the medicine would not be reimbursed or to the extent that it is not reimbursed, medical devices, including dressing materials, orthopedic items and aids, to the extent that they are necessary in the healing process of the injury suffered as a result of the crime or its consequences,
  • covering costs related to education in public schools and kindergartens, individual teaching, according to the age and educational needs of eligible persons; – covering costs related to child care in crèches and children’s clubs run by municipalities, based on the provisions of the Law of February 4, 2011. on child care for children up to the age of 3, – organizing and financing training and courses to improve professional qualifications and covering the costs of examinations confirming professional qualifications, – covering the costs of temporary accommodation or shelter,
  • Financing of periodic subsidies to current rent obligations and charges for heat, electricity, gas, water, fuel, collection of solid and liquid waste for a dwelling or single-family house to which an eligible person holds a legal title, in proportion to the number of persons permanently residing in the dwelling or house,
  • the service of adapting a dwelling or a single-family house to the needs of a person victimized by a crime in the event that the loss of physical fitness occurred as a result of the crime, – funding for travel on public transportation or covering transportation costs related to obtaining benefits and regulating the matters specified in the points above,
  • covering the cost of food vouchers,
  • covering the cost of vouchers for the purchase of clothing, underwear, footwear, cleaning and personal hygiene products,
  • Financing the costs of an organized trip of an eligible minor,
  • Financing the costs of a trip of an authorized person with a minor over whom he/she has custody, or an authorized minor with the person under whose custody he/she remains during which psychological assistance will be provided,
  • Financing of construction works, including preparation for the implementation of construction works, in particular, the cost of developing project documentation, preparation of land for construction, expert reports, certificates, surveys, geological work, necessary to achieve the objectives under the Act,
  • Purchase of facilities and equipment,
  • purchase of intangible assets,
  • For witnesses, arranging and financing the assistance of a sign language interpreter or interpreter-guide to provide psychological assistance,
  • for witnesses to cover the costs associated with psychological assistance, including organizing and financing the assistance provided by the first contact person.

PROJECT INDICATORS

Indicator namePlanned level to be achieved at
End 2025
Number of victims supported600
Number of witnesses supported6
Number of hours of legal counseling8000
Number of hours of psychological assistance700
Amount of material support609,300.00 PLN

Project contact

Człuchów

Natalia Paluszkiewicz

ul. Średnia 12, 77-300 Człuchów
601083738
człuchów@lumus.org.pl
Chojnice

Natalia Paluszkiewicz

ul. Kręta 6, 89-600 Chojnice
601083738
chojnice@lumus.org.pl
Bytow

Dariusz Mieczkowski

ul. Podzamcze 34, 77-100 Bytów
601088479
bytów@lumus.org.pl
Miastko

Dariusz Mieczkowski

ul. Konstytucji 3 maja 1, 77-200 Miastko
601088479
miastko@lumus.org.pl
Lębork

Magdalena Zielke

ul. Krzywoustego 1, Piętro 3, lok. 1, 84-300 Lębork
601995935
lebork@lumus.org.pl
Slupsk

Aleksandra Duszak

ul. Jana Pawła II 1 Lok 633, 635, 76-200 Słupsk
601081865
slupsk@lumus.org.pl

Funding

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Financed by the Justice Fund, which is administered by the Minister of Justice.
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Funded by the National Liberty Institute – Center for Civil Society Development under the Government Program for the Development of Civic Organizations for 2018-2030.

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