Trauma-informed justice

A system that protects instead of revictimizing
“Healing cannot happen at the margins of the law”

The context — impunity as the norm

Sexual violence is the least reported violent crime there is. Of every 1,000 people who commit it, 995 will never see a prison cell.

For a child, reporting is only the beginning. She is asked to repeat the worst thing that ever happened to her, again and again, to adults who doubt her. She is blamed. She is pressed to withdraw. Handled badly, the process becomes a second harm — and most children who start it do not finish.

In one of our own studies, more than 80% of children living through sexual violence did not know that what was happening to them was a crime.

What the model produces

Sustained across more than 900 cases. Prosecuting offenders becomes the norm rather than the exception — which removes them from the community and protects children who were never our clients.

2%

national conviction rate before

95%

in the cases we litigate

How it works

Free legal representation

A team of specialist lawyers, at no cost, guaranteeing due process

Psychological accompaniment

One team, working together — the child is never passed between offices

What we seek: make the crime visible · bring aggressors swiftly to justice · restore children’s rights · strengthen the State’s duty of due diligence.

Handled properly, the process lets a child exercise her rights and have her voice heard, validated and respected — as the leading actor in her own case, not a passive witness.

How healing works alongside it →

The case before the Inter-American Court

Angulo Losada v. Bolivia · January 19, 2023

Our founder’s own case, twenty years after it began. The ruling sets new jurisprudence that expands due diligence standards for how states respond to child sexual violence, imposes stricter standards on criminal legislation for sex crimes against children, mandates structural changes supporting national prevention, and requires specialized training for state officials.

Directly binding on Bolivia — and controlling jurisprudence for 23 other OAS member states.

A ruling only changes lives if someone builds the capacity to implement it

Donate Get involved

How we transfer justice

To organizations

We accompany their legal teams with the protocols proven in our own courtrooms

To survivor activists

Through Movimiento de Valientes LATAM — tools to demand their rights and shape public policy

To governments

Training for judges, prosecutors, police and forensic doctors — plus legal reform

What has already changed: in Bolivia, an accused man can no longer face a child across a courtroom. Statutes of limitations removed. Rape provisions redefined around the absence of consent. An inter-institutional protocol with the District Attorney of Cochabamba, including the reopening of Gesell chambers.

Are you facing a legal process?

You do not have to go through it alone. Get help → · RAINN 1-800-656-HOPE

Proven every day at our pilot in Bolivia · ← Healing · Prevention →