Why Criminals LOVE California | Patricia Wenskunas

The victims and survivors, we don't hear their stories much. So many victims and survivors are scared to speak out. I have four rape victims through our organization right now that won't even go into law enforcement to report the crime. Some of the district attorneys that they are actually public defenders, they are actually advocating for the criminals, versus their job should be advocating for the victims, right? In our communities and a lot of the elected officials, they actually call the offenders and criminals victims and survivors. You were working on making it tougher, and it's gotten a lot softer on criminals, right? Victim, a survivor, or a community member shouldn't have to change how we feel, how we live. Why can't we put that onto the offender? Why is our elected officials not standing up and saying, no, you have a right to wear a fancy watch. You have a right to drive your car without being victimized or traumatized. That's called public safety and communities coming together. My guest today is Patricia Venzcones, founder and CEO of Crime Survivors. As a survivor of violent crime herself, she's been advocating for victim rights for almost two decades in California and helped the passage of California's Marcy's Law that gives 17 rights to the victims. Why is California prioritizing the right of offenders over victims? How does it impact the daily life of Californians? Let's find out in today's episode. I'm Siamak Korami. Welcome to California Insider. Thank you so much for having me today. We want to talk to you about California and criminals. It seems like over time, California has become more relaxed on crime. The laws are becoming more relaxed on crime, and we're giving criminals a second chance. Is there an impact? Well, there's a great impact. I mean, I got into this movement on April 4th of 2002, and I have to be honest with you, things have changed drastically. I got into it to make it a better system for victims and survivors, and it's actually worse in 2022. And seeing the treatment that offenders and criminals are getting over what victims and survivors should be getting, it's madness. Can you explain this side of it? Because we don't hear much about this in the media, like the victims and survivors. We don't hear their stories much. Right. And you know, that's sad, because I really do wish that victims and survivors would share their stories. So many victims and survivors are scared to speak out because of new laws like AB 109, Prop 47, Prop 57, all these laws that coddle criminals and offenders, but they don't support victims and survivors. You know, we had Marcy's Law passed in 2008 here in the state of California, which gave victims rights under Marcy's Law. But unfortunately, victims are not getting all of their rights right now, and that's sad. And then when you think about victims not wanting to come forward because they're afraid of being re-victimized, or they're actually being re-victimized by a system that's supposed to protect them, that's supposed to provide justice in their cases, and they're not getting it. Victims are being re-victimized. They're being trampled all over, while on the other side, the offenders and criminals are getting all of their rights. They're actually getting more rights than the victims and survivors are. And the offenders are provided with legal, they're provided with food, they're provided with laptops, they're provided with all of these things that victims are not even given. Can you explain to us some examples of victims that you have come across that their lives have changed and they're scared of coming forward? I think especially domestic violence victims. They're afraid because, you know, I just worked with a domestic violence victim and she called to tell me that there was a dollar bail. The bail was set at a dollar. And she's like, he's going to get out, he's going to come back and kill me. What am I supposed to do now? She has to relocate. She has to register with the Safe at Home program. She has to work with advocates. She has to work with our organization. She has to be able to fear for her life while this individual is getting out on a dollar and he just goes back to his life, whether he's working, whether he's doing whatever he wants in the community to assault or re-victimize, whether it's her, her children, or somebody else. That's very dangerous. When you think about a rape victim that has to go through the rape kit, that has to go through every trauma that they do, and then the offender is getting out. I have four rape victims through our organization right now that won't even go into law enforcement to report the crime. Why? It's not that they're afraid of law enforcement. They're desperately afraid that that individual witnessing and seeing everything they see in the media, that that individual is going to get out, may not be charged, and they have to go through all that process for what? To suffer even more for their families, for their friendships, for everything to go through that. Many of them don't want to do that because then again, they're feeling re-victimized through the system that's supposed to protect them. Can you explain this? How would it work if somebody was a victim and then what is the process for the criminal justice system now of rape, for example? Right. Well, typically, I mean, it just depends on what the crime was and because the laws change, depends on what the law is. I mean, I'm not a lawyer or law enforcement, so I can't really exactly say for every single case, but as a survivor myself, as somebody that helps victims day in and day out, basically what would happen is what we suggest is all victims do report to law enforcement, no matter what the situation and circumstance is because what their crime matters, what happened to them matters, their voice matters. And so once they report it to law enforcement, law enforcement then does their investigation to determine whether a crime occurred or didn't occur. And then they determine what the charges are working directly with the district attorney's office. And then the district attorney's office would charge that crime, right? That individual would be arrested from law enforcement and depending on what the crime is, whether there's bail, no bail, a dollar bail. And in this climate, sadly, a lot of these cases don't even have bail anymore. And some individuals are supporting a no bail policy. The people want to keep bail. And why do we want to keep bail, especially victims and survivors? Because if that person is incarcerated and they have to put up a bail, they're more likely to be able to attend their court hearings. They're more likely to not commit another crime. They're more likely to show up to trials and be held accountable for their crime. Where if they don't have a bail, they're more likely to go back and re-victimize that victim again or re-victimize somebody else in the system. Now, within our legal system, if the case doesn't go through, if there's a plea deal made, the victim, of course, has to be able to have rights through that process. They can give a victim impact statement. They qualify for restitution. They qualify through a lot of stuff through CalVCB, the Victim Comp Program, whether it's up to $3,200 for relocation, crime scene cleanup, funeral and burial costs, many other things like counseling and therapy. There's help and support out there for the victims and survivors. Great organizations like Crime Survivors, the Victim Assistance Program, CalVCB, the shelters, but there is a lot more support for the offenders and the criminals. How is that? They still go to jail, right? A lot of them, can you explain that? Yeah, a lot of them are arrested. They're charged with a crime. They go to jail, but they chose that. The victim and the survivor didn't choose to wake up one morning and say, I want to be victimized today. I want to go through this process. It was no fault of theirs to be victimized and traumatized, but a criminal and offender, whether they wake up in the morning, whatever they choose to do, they victimize, traumatize, not only the victim and the survivor, but the family members, the friends, the community. So they should be arrested and charged with a crime. They should be held accountable. There should be justice for the victims, for our communities, for public safety, right? And when you don't hold someone accountable, they're gonna go on and re-victimize someone. I always say, if somebody steals a piece of bubblegum as a child and they get away with it, they're gonna go on and steal maybe a magazine, a book, a video. They're gonna steal a car. They're gonna steal a TV. They're gonna break into other people's homes because there's never been accountability or consequence. So if we hold individuals accountable for their crime, they won't re-victimize somebody else. And that victim and survivor can be able to get the resources and support that they need to not only break the cycles of victimization and trauma, but to be able to have hope for healing, to be able to have advocacy, to be able to get their voice back, to be able to survive and thrive within our communities. So you mentioned when you started, you were working on making it tougher. Is that what you were doing? And it's gotten a lot softer on criminals, right? Yeah, I really do think so. Because on April 4th of 2002, my personal trainer came into my house, drugged me, wrapped my face and head in Saran Wrap, beat me black and blue. He was charged with deliberate premeditated attempted murder, burglary in the first degree, assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threats. And through our legal system, he served approximately 120 days. Shocking, right? And I could never understand it. I never will understand it. But when I think about the system and how it worked back then, and then where I'm at today, almost 20 years later, started the organization Crime Survivors to be able to bring awareness, prevention, advocacy and healing to all victims and survivors of crime. And then to witness and see, even in 2008, when Marcy's Law passed, I had the hope that it was going to be better to maybe balance the scales of justice. You know, I believe in rehabilitation too. I believe in second chances and 77 chances, even as a survivor and a leader of an organization. I believe in that. I believe we need a better system. But I also believe in accountability and justice. And I do believe, I don't believe in rehabilitation for two crimes. And that's intentional murder and molestation of a child. I don't believe in rehabilitation. I think that those two crimes are completely off the table. But everybody else, I do believe in rehabilitation. But I think that if you're going to help the offenders and criminals, that you should equally help the victims and survivors. Provide accountability, provide justice, and provide every single resource that you're giving to offenders and criminals, to the victims and to the survivors, to balance the scales of justice. Now, we've been trying really hard in the last decade to actually give people second chance. But the statistics are showing about 46% of people that get out, that committed crimes, they go through recidivism again after three years and they get reconvicted. What are your thoughts on that? I think a lot of that has to do with the laws that have changed, like AB 109, Prop 47, Prop 57, because they also changed what they were sentenced to. So possibly somebody that was sentenced to 10 years ended up getting off on two years, three years. So I think by changing their sentencing, by changing these laws, and saying not like Proposition 57, saying that crimes are no longer violent, and they're no longer felonies, and now they're misdemeanors. Some like rape and domestic violence. You know, there's armed robbery, things like that. Right. Well, look at what's happening right now. Attempted murder is nonviolent. Correct. Nonviolent. And look what's happening. When people are able to go into stores and just load up their carts and walk out of the stores with $850 worth of merchandise, $900 worth of merchandise, and not be charged, and have no accountability, no consequences. And these store owners are hurting, which brings us back to, we're paying more costs, right? We're paying higher costs. I always say for ice cream, whether it's hygiene items, whether it's diapers, whether it's wipes, whatever else it is for children that we're helping, we're paying way more. We're paying way more for gasoline. And why do we think that that all attributes to crime? That all attributes to going back and victimizing, not only victims and survivors of violent crime. To me, it's actually victimizing our community members, our families, our children. It affects education. It affects, it crosses all boundaries. Doesn't matter the income level. It doesn't matter your culture. Doesn't matter your nationality. It doesn't matter any of that kind of stuff. Right now, it's crossing all boundaries. You've been working on this in Sacramento as well for the last couple of decades. A lot of the leaders, you mentioned the zero bail or $1 bail. A lot of the leaders in the community in California are pushing for in this direction. Why do you think they're doing it? I have no idea why they're doing it. I wish I knew. I wish I could sit down with more of them to really get behind it. For some reason, whatever the reason is, I mean, I think a lot of it has to do with George Soros, to be honest with you. I think George Soros has put a tremendous amount of money. Actually, he even put over $30 million towards an organization that stole our name. And they now have their own organization called Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice. Wow. They worked on having that organization to get AB 109, Prop 47, Prop 57 passed. They don't believe in jails. They don't believe incarceration. They don't believe in prison. And to the extent in our communities and a lot of the elected officials, they actually call the offenders and criminals victims and survivors. So there has been mixed messaging out there in our communities so that society, community members don't know, well, you said they're a victim or a survivor. Is it an innocent victim or survivor? We've actually even had to rename what we call our victims and survivors. So I say innocent victims and survivors. Now, we shouldn't have to say that. But when you refer to an offender or a criminal, to a victim or a survivor, like many of our elected officials do, because they're basically saying, well, that person was a victim as a child or that person was a victim as an adult, but they didn't get help or support. So that means now they're a victim of society. And to me, that's just completely messed up. Let's just leave our terminology and our wording correct and make sure that victims and survivors have a voice. And to our elected officials, I call on all of them to support victims and survivors instead of always supporting and giving second chances to the offenders and criminals. Think of it in one way. Victims and survivors, what second chance did they get to not be a victim? So can you explain this organization? So another organization came in your name and it's called For Justice. Crime Survivors For Safety and Justice. They also go by many other names. And it's great for them to do the work they're doing. I'm not saying that offenders and criminals shouldn't have rights or shouldn't have help or support. I do believe they should have help and support. But I think when you get into the mixed messaging of sorts and confusing society, confusing elected officials, confusing everybody, I think it really messes up everything and especially for the victims and survivors. So they pretended to be the voice for the crime survivors. Correct. But they are advocating for? Offenders and criminals. This is similar to some of the district attorneys that they are actually public defenders and they are getting elected and then they are actually advocating for the criminals versus their job should be advocating for the victims, right? Correct. And that's another thing that George Soros has spent a tremendous amount of money to be able to go in and try to get district attorneys elected that will be able to change. And they're more of public defenders in all honesty than they are district attorneys. They support more of the offenders, the criminals, the release, the not charging of crimes and not supporting victims and survivors. It's outrageous to see all these years later to see how victims and survivors are treated. And don't get me wrong, there's incredible amount of elected officials out there that support victims and survivors. There's a tremendous amount of non-profits, government agencies, individuals that are truly helping the real victims and the survivors. But on the other side of it, there's an awful lot of money being put to helping the offenders and the criminals. But I also see that the tides are changing, which is really happy to be able to witness and see. It always sways back, right? One way or the other. I wish it wouldn't sway so far left or so far right and it would just come into the middle so that we could balance the scales, to be honest with you. But unfortunately it sways back and forth. But now I think that people are witnessing and seeing. They're realizing the victimization. They're realizing the trauma in their communities. They can't even go to the grocery store or park their cars and feel like they're safe. They can't wear jewelry. They can't drive their fancy cars in Los Angeles. Well, the chief police said don't wear watches and don't drive nice cars. Right. And how sad is that? But that's been happening for decades for victims and survivors that people have not even realized. Victims are being told for years, well, were you victimized? Were you wearing a short skirt showing a lot of cleavage? Oh, were you murdered? Were you in a bad neighborhood? Oh, your husband hit you or punched you. Did you not do what he said? Or if you're a victim of a crime, you should relocate out of state so that he can't find you. Or you should change your hair color. You should do all these things. Well, a victim, a survivor or a community member shouldn't have to change how we feel, how we live. Why can't we put that onto the offender? Why are they victimizing victims in the community? Why are they doing what they're doing? Why is our elected officials not standing up and saying, no, you have a right to wear a fancy watch. You have a right to drive your car without being victimized or traumatized. That's called public safety and communities coming together. Now, our elected officials, you mentioned some of this money coming in from the Soros side. And then there is also probably some messaging and activism. How much pressure that's bringing to these elected officials? Well, it brings a tremendous amount. It brings a tremendous amount because if they don't do certain things, they won't be elected. They won't get the votes, right? And so I don't know. I'm not trying to accuse anybody from doing anything behind the scenes or anything like that because most of it's in front of all of us. So we see it all day in and day out. But I think that if they don't do certain things, they will not get elected. And so they have to follow that guideline. Certain parties do certain things. Everybody does something different. To me, victimization and trauma is not one way or the other. It's not Republican. It's not Democrat. It's not independent. I don't care one way or the other what party you vote for or you don't vote for. What I want to do is call on all of our elected officials. I want to call on all of our community members, all of our corporations and businesses to step up and say, we want to help victims and survivors. If you believe in rehabilitation, that's great. Help offenders and help criminals and help our children to be able to get out of that cycle, to break the cycles in families because that is also possible. But you have to start it at a young age and you have to get into the family and help the whole family unit, not just one individual. So if someone is incarcerated and put in jail or prison, then please step up and help those families. But don't forget the victims and survivors because they need it. They're living a life sentence. If you think about it, a victim never goes back to the person they used to be. Now they can be a better person. They can live a healthy, happy life. I was victimized, but I'm not a victim. I'm a survivor. I'm a thriver. I'm a mother. I'm a grandmother. I'm a community leader. I'm a woman. I'm somebody so much more than happened to me, but I want to make sure that victims know that and I want our community to step up and be there for victims. Now you mentioned the pendulum is swinging to the other side. We had an 80 year old that actually take a shotgun and chase the people out that came to steal from him. Is this swinging to the side where people have to make these things happen? Or do you think that the leaders of the state and the city council and supervisors, county supervisors are starting to think about it too? You know, when I saw that come across the media, it actually made me smile. It made me very happy that somebody was able to, and especially in their 80s, that they were able to protect their store, their belongings, their life themselves. But it could have went really bad, right? It could have went to where the 80 year old was murdered and killed. Thankfully, that person was be able to be armed, protect themselves and protect them surroundings of which we all have a right to. We have a second amendment right, which I totally believe in. And I'm proud of to say that. And I do think that we have that right to protect ourselves. But I think our elected officials need to step up and take action because we want to make sure that our communities know how to protect themselves in many different fashions. But also to know that criminals and offenders are not walking the street to where somebody does have to go get a gun to protect themselves as well. So if our elected officials step up and say, we're gonna make public safety a priority, we're gonna fund law enforcement, of which they're talking about all the time, defunding, defunding, which makes me crazy thinking about that because we actually need to fund our law enforcement more. They're doing an incredible job out there. They're protecting, they're serving, they're sacrificing day in and day out. They support our victims and survivors. I've witnessed special victims bureaus, homicides within sheriff's departments, police departments, truly going above and beyond. I'm here today because of the police department going truly above and beyond, treating me with respect and dignity. And so I ask our elected officials to really step up and fund our law enforcement, give them training, give them services so that victims and survivors are taken care of and so that stores are not broken into day in and day out. Do you think they're gonna do it? Because it looks like in LA County and other counties and it seems like the talk is not about the victims yet. We don't hear that. In the media also, we don't hear about the victims as much. Right, it's unfortunate. Hopefully they'll see this and they'll hear my voice or they'll listen to me and they'll take my calls and be able to change. I think it's gonna take time. I don't think it's gonna, I think a lot more individuals are gonna be murdered. Sadly, I think a lot more families are gonna have to suffer, a lot more children abused, a lot more victims victimized day in and day out. And I really don't like saying this, but until one of them experience it themselves, it won't change because they don't know it. Frankly, I don't want them to know what it feels like to be a victim. I don't want anybody to know what it feels like to be a victim. What I've walked on my journey, I wouldn't want anybody else to ever go through what I did or any of the victims that I help, especially the families of murder, what they have to go through day in and day out. I don't want anybody else to feel that. But unfortunately, until one of them does or they experience it from a loved one, they're not gonna get it. So they're not gonna make the change. They're gonna continue to do what they're doing day in and day out. But yet you see them wanting to defund law enforcement and take away weapons and take away our second amendment right. But if you look at it, they're all having guards that all have weapons. They're all living behind gates that they're protected. And most individuals in our communities, the individuals that we're helping, they don't have an opportunity to live behind a gate. They don't have an opportunity to have a guard that has a weapon to protect and serve them day in and day out. So maybe they should go out into the community and live like the rest of us. And maybe then things would change more. Now, Governor Newsom has allocated some funding for the crime survivors in the new budget. What do you think of that? Yeah, I mean, I think some of it is put to different places. And I really do. I am very grateful and thankful that he just upped the prices for reimbursement for the budget for CalVCB. We've been trying to get that to happen for years and years. It's still nowhere where it needs to be. But listen, we wanna be grateful for that. We don't wanna say all is bad because it's not. There is great things. And when we can be able to provide more financial means to victims and to survivors and to training and to education, I think it's a great thing. So I'm very grateful for that. But I still think that we can do more. I don't wanna be ungrateful and say, listen, we need more, we need more when you just gave us more, but we do need more. And we need to really balance it so that if you're giving a million dollars so the offenders can take art classes and a million dollars so the offenders and criminals can take yoga classes, but we didn't get any yoga class or art class. So if you're giving it to the offenders and criminals, then give it to the victims and survivors as well. Now, one of the things that's happening here, Californians, we are very innovative. We have a lot of diversity here. We are a unique state. But we are told, when you look at the crime stats, if you read LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle and the mainstream media, and if you even sometimes look at the official statistics, the crime is down or it's not a problem. What are your thoughts on that? I think most of the people have no idea. They think that we can film them more now because the social media is available and people can film incidents on their phones before it couldn't. I'm not a big fan of statistics. I think they always come out late. Like usually if you look at like the FBI or law enforcement or you look at different things and it's not to judge them in any means. I think the FBI and law enforcement is incredible. I'm one of their biggest supporters. But I think we don't usually typically know statistics until two or three years later. So it's really hard when we're in the moment. And right now they're saying they're down, but I don't believe that. I don't believe in statistics because I also think that there's a lot of crime that's not reported. I think crime is underreported. And I think... Half of the crime that is violent is going unreported, right? Is that there's some statistics on that, right? Based on some studies. There is. And then you also have to look at COVID. Like during COVID, a lot of things were not reported. So when kids were at home, you know, the number one reporter for child abuse is teachers, right? So they're the number one reporter. So during COVID, so many individuals were studying through their houses, right? They're on iPads, they're on computers, they're not attending classes. So keep in mind, a lot of crime was not even reported. We know a lot of domestic violence, especially, was not reported. It was underreported during COVID. So when those statistics are shown, of course they're gonna show that they're down, right? Because they're not being reported crime. But that does not mean that if it's not reported that it's not happening because it definitely is happening. I know because our statistics went way up during COVID. We got more calls. We got more people in need of help, wanting support. I'll never forget the domestic violence victim that actually called for help. And she was staying with her abuser during the whole COVID thing because he was threatening her that if she went to the hospital, she would catch COVID and she would die. So it was better for her to get punched and hit in the home than it was to go to the hospital to catch COVID and die. So those are realistic statistics that we deal with day in and day out. And I was sitting with a journalist, a veteran journalist that won some awards and she was telling me that crime is down and statistics are saying that crime is down. We made a documentary about crime and we realized that the statistics might not be correct. What are your thoughts for reporters and journalists? And I don't think she was a genuine journalist if she knew that the crime is up, she would definitely want to report on it. Right. What are your thoughts for journalists? Well, I'm always happy to agree to disagree with respect. If that person feels that way, I don't believe it. If they say that crime is down because I'm witnessing it. I'm seeing it in the gutters every single day. I'm hearing from law enforcement. I'm hearing from elected officials. I'm hearing from other media that they're saying like, listen, I'm going on these different crime cases day in and day out. What's happening in our communities? Now there's good and bad everywhere. There's good and bad law enforcement. There's good and bad media. There's good and bad grocery store workers, good and bad fitness workers. There's good and bad everywhere. It doesn't make the whole bad or good, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't come to the table. And for me, if we're going to be in this movement to be able to have our community safe, to have public safety and to help victims and survivors, then we should be at the table together. And I would like to ask the media to call attention to the victims and the survivors. Tell their stories. Even if they don't want to come on camera, still tell their stories, their pain, their hurt. It's really real. And we always go ahead and share the offenders and the criminals and we coddle them way too much. Now you have your story. How did you manage to do what you're doing? I have no idea. I think that a lot of what I'm doing is with faith there is hope. And so for me, my faith has gotten me through everything. And I feel like I don't know even, when I look back and I think, well, how did I start the organization? I mean, I owned my own catering event planning business before I started the organization. So I knew business, but I just felt like a calling. I felt like April 4th of 2002, I made a promise to God with each and every next breath, I would live for community above self. And I feel like I've kept that promise. I feel like I went right into starting a nonprofit that I didn't even know anything about, just applied for our nonprofit status, pulled our community together. And really, I feel like it's not me that can take the credit. I feel like it's the community members. I feel like it's victims and survivors because they need the help and support. And I think that we have been able to be there to help bring awareness, prevention, advocacy, and healing throughout our communities. But I couldn't do it alone. Without God, without our community members, without businesses, corporations, entrepreneurs, without the funding, we couldn't do anything. So I'm nothing without our community, without our board, without our council, our advisory members, our volunteers. It takes a whole team to do what I'm doing. And do you have any other thoughts for our audience? I think the first and foremost thing that I'd want everybody to know is to get involved and for victims and survivors to know that they're not alone. Reach out to the community, get involved with a nonprofit organization, and just to know that your voice matters. Public safety matters. Trust your law enforcement. Trust your elected officials, but go visit them and let them know what you want for your communities. Patricia Venzcunes, founder at Crime Survivors, it was great to have you on California Insider. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for watching. Please click the icon on the left to subscribe to our channel. We bring you the most pressing issues California is facing with straightforward and in-depth interviews. See you in the next video.