Justice Now: Strengthening Rights for Survivors of Sexual Violence

By Karla Hernández, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Vivo Alliance

A Crisis Ignored

Sexual violence against women isn’t just a crisis — it’s an epidemic, a global emergency hiding in plain sight. The numbers are staggering, and for too long the world has refused to acknowledge the lives these numbers represent. According to UN Women, one in three women worldwide — that’s 736 million women — will experience physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. In addition to that, according to RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network), 975 out of 1,000 perpetrators of sexual violence walk free.

When a woman is raped, when a survivor is ignored, when a system protects perpetrators instead of victims, it’s not just the survivor’s problem — it’s an issue that affects entire societies. Violence doesn’t stay in one body, one home, or one community. It ripples outward, shaping the way we all live. It teaches men that being abusive is their birthright. It teaches women and children that safety is uncertain. It teaches a community that justice is optional. Strengthening protections for victims is essential to maintaining public trust, safeguarding communities, and ensuring that all individuals have access to a fair legal process.

In 2021, a State of Emergency for Gender-Based Violence was declared in my home of Puerto Rico — an official acknowledgment that this problem was accelerating at an alarming rate. By December 2023, despite two years of remedial efforts, the Governor extended this declaration, because the rates of violence had not declined. And since sexual assault is universally underreported, the true numbers in Puerto Rico are even higher, yet unknown.

A Personal Journey in Search of Justice

In 2020, after my own harrowing experience of being raped and almost killed by a stranger, I embarked on a personal journey for justice. My husband, Gerald, and I pursued every available avenue within Puerto Rico’s criminal justice system, but without success. Throughout this process, we encountered numerous legal roadblocks and systemic failures that highlighted the lack of victims’ rights and the problems with the prosecutorial system. After sharing my story publicly in 2023, we were contacted by numerous other sexual assault survivors facing similar struggles. This overwhelming response reinforced a stark reality: Puerto Rico’s legal system is not adequate when it comes to providing justice for survivors and punishing perpetrators of sexual assault. Because of this, we decided to found Vivo Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to taking on that inadequacy and bringing meaningful reform to the criminal justice system in Puerto Rico, especially regarding crimes of sexual violence.

Systemic Failures in the Legal System

One of the most pressing issues facing survivors of sexual assault is the flawed management of DNA evidence, particularly rape kits (the physical evidence collected from a victim of sexual assault). Across the U.S., tens of thousands of kits remain unprocessed. There are three major issues: the delay in collecting and processing DNA evidence, the lack of transparency in how DNA evidence is handled, and the absence of clear guidelines for tracking and managing rape kits. All of these undermine the ability to bring perpetrators to justice.

Beyond forensic challenges, survivors encounter additional legal barriers. They often receive little to no information about the progress of their criminal case and are frequently excluded from critical case decisions. And unlike the accused, victims are not guaranteed legal representation, leaving them without an advocate or a voice in a complex and often discouraging legal process.

While existing remedial initiatives in Puerto Rico focus on violence prevention and victim rehabilitation, they fail to address how sexual assault cases are processed and prosecuted. This glaring gap allows perpetrators to evade accountability — free to harm again — while survivors are left re-traumatized by their helplessness and failure to obtain justice. Such systemic failures erode public trust in the justice system as a whole.

These challenges are not unique to Puerto Rico; they reflect broader systemic issues across the United States, and the U.S. legal system shares some responsibility here. Puerto Rico remains a U.S. territory, governed by laws and policies that are often dictated by Washington. When gender-based violence is ignored in Puerto Rico, the message is clear — it can be ignored anywhere. That message fuels impunity, not just in Puerto Rico, but across the entire U.S. and beyond.

A Legislative Proposal

Recognizing the urgent need for reform, Vivo Alliance launched the Advocacy & Accountability Project, a comprehensive initiative conducted in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico Law School and experts in the forensic and legal fields. Our research analyzed victims’ rights laws across the U.S. and 21 other countries, identifying best practices and key deficiencies. Based on our findings, we developed a new Victims’ Bill of Rights designed to improve the prosecution process, minimize re-victimization, and increase justice for survivors in Puerto Rico. Among its key provisions:

• Timely Processing of Rape Kits — Establishing legal deadlines for testing new kits and eliminating the backlog of untested evidence.
• Guaranteed Legal Representation for Victims — Ensuring survivors have access to legal counsel throughout court proceedings.
• Improved Transparency and Victim Notification — Providing survivors with real-time updates on case status and forensic evidence.
• Clear Pathways to Challenge Case Management — Providing survivors with effective mechanisms to challenge prosecutorial decisions that fail to deliver justice.
• Strengthened Legal Protections for Victims’ Rights in Court — Ensuring survivors’ voices are heard during trials and sentencing.

This is a concrete legislative recommendation designed to reform Puerto Rican law in a way that emphasizes victims’ rights and improves prosecutorial tools, while ensuring due process. The question is not whether reform is necessary but whether we are willing to act.

National Allies and Focus

In this effort, we are proud to collaborate with some of the most influential organizations leading the fight for victims of sexual violence: RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization; the Joyful Heart Foundation, renowned for its groundbreaking work on rape kit reform; LULAC (The League of United Latin American Citizens), the country’s oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights organization: and the National Center for Victims of Crime, a national leader in providing legal support for victims across the U.S. These organizations have been at the forefront of pushing for policies that support survivors, reform forensic practices, and hold perpetrators accountable.

“Every victim of crime deserves dignity, justice, and a system that works in their best interest,” says Renee Williams, Executive Director of the National Center for Victims of Crime. “Too often, survivors face barriers that prevent them from accessing the support and protections they need. Addressing these challenges — whether in Puerto Rico or any other part of the country — helps create a stronger, more equitable system for all victims.”

Although we are focused on implementing reforms in Puerto Rico, we believe that efforts like these can help inform broader discussions on strengthening victims’ rights nationwide. While some U.S. states have made progress, inconsistencies leave many victims unprotected, highlighting the need for a more unified and effective approach. It is our hope that our proposed efforts to improve Puerto Rico’s justice system, based on best practices, can invigorate a national movement and serve as a model for increased reforms across the United States.

Dr. Ray Serrano, the National Director of Research and Policy at the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) says, “Ensuring that all communities — regardless of their background — have access to safety, support, and protection is essential for building a more just society. Hispanic and Latin American individuals often face additional barriers, from language access to systemic inequities, that prevent them from receiving the assistance they need. Addressing these challenges requires urgent and sustained action. The work that Vivo Alliance is doing in Puerto Rico is crucial, setting a precedent for broader reforms across Latin American communities in the U.S. and beyond. Justice anywhere strengthens justice everywhere, ensuring that no one is left without a path forward.”

Let’s Act Now

When I first started this journey, I was encouraged by many to speak up for survivors of sexual violence. However, I soon became aware that, due to inadequate victims’ rights laws, many such victims feel invisible, and find that their right to justice exists more in theory than in practice. We know that true justice is “blind”, but this does not mean that victims of these crimes should go unseen. The question before us is, how much longer can we afford to look away, before taking action? At Vivo Alliance, we believe survivors should not have to wait any more to be seen, and to receive the justice and dignity they deserve.