Community Safety Resources for Bay Area Residents

We provide free legal help to victims and survivors of hate-motivated violence or cross-community violence in San Francisco and Alameda Counties. We help community members navigate the legal system and provide support in our clients’ preferred language to recover from harm and feel safer. This includes but is not limited to:

• Understanding the decisions made by the District Attorney’s office and getting clear information about the status of your case
• Evaluating your options to meet specific needs, such as how to afford your expenses or how to prevent the person who harmed you from contacting you
• Learning what the criminal legal system can and cannot do to help you after a violent incident, and what other services you can use to reach your goals
• Ensuring you are heard by government officials who have a responsibility in your case, including acknowledging when hate or bias played a role in what happened

We provide consultations for victims, survivors, and their family members who:

• Have experienced hate-motivated or cross-community violence and
• Either reside in or have suffered harm in San Francisco or Alameda Counties

ALC holds its free legal clinic for victims and survivors of violence the second Wednesday of every month. Consultations for our clinic are scheduled by our team in advance and are currently taking place over Zoom. If you prefer another arrangement, let us know. For example, we may be able to schedule an in-person consultation at our offices or another private location.

During the consultation, an attorney will listen to your account of the harm you or your loved one experienced. You will then have the opportunity to discuss what goals you have regarding healing, safety, and accountability.

At the end of the consultation, the lawyer will discuss concrete next steps. These steps may include connecting you with resources from trusted partner organizations or proposing the possibility of limited legal services, at which point ALC will perform follow-up tasks that we agree on together. For some clients, this has meant following up with the police or the District Attorney’s office on delays or unclear aspects of their case. Other forms of support may include helping you apply for financial resources or connecting you with counseling in your language. Our priority is to center the needs and well-being of our clients so that they can recover from harm and feel safer.

ALC commits to providing legal help in our clients’ preferred languages. For languages and dialects not spoken by our staff, we work with professional interpreters and translators to cover over 200 languages and dialects free of charge. We will identify any interpretation needs before the clinic consultation. The languages most commonly requested by our clients are Arabic, Cantonese, Farsi, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, Spanish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

Our clinic for survivors and victims does not handle time-sensitive emergencies. We can often provide referrals to other organizations that are able to provide representation for different types of cases, but this takes time.

We generally do not take on clients for full-scope representation. But, if we determine it is appropriate to do so, we may enter into a limited-scope representation, such as providing a limited set of services related to the case.

We do not negotiate divorces or child custody arrangements.

A hate crime is an incident directed against a person or property that is motivated in whole or in part by the victim’s race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, and in some cases, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Such an incident can include physical violence, verbal attacks, and attacks on property.

A hate incident is an action or behavior motivated by hate but legally protected under the First Amendment. These can include name-calling, insults, displaying hate materials in someone’s own property, showing hate material without causing property damage, or distribution of materials with hate messages in public places.

Hate incidents are not crimes, so the resources and services available for those who only experienced hate incidents may be more limited.

No, being a victim of a hate specific crime is not a requirement. There are many services/resources available for victims of other violent crimes. ALC and several other organizations can assist victims of crime not motivated by hate. 

To get free legal advice as a survivor of violence and learn more about services in the Bay Area, please call the Asian Law Caucus at 415-896-1701.

• If you are being physically attacked or if you feel threatened by someone, call 911.
• If you reported the crime to the police, the police officer should have given you the business card that includes their name and contact information. Check if the officer wrote down the case number of the police report on the business card. This information will help you obtain a police report in the future or ask for updates about the case more easily. If you did not get a business card or any other information and you want to obtain a police report, reach out to us at (415) 415-896-1701.
• Seek medical and mental health care. Keep receipts or invoices related to the treatment you received because of your injuries.
• Document the incident. Write down what happened, language used, and if appropriate, take pictures.
• If you are in a non-urgent situation, and have concerns about your immigration status, reach out to an immigration attorney for advice on how reporting the crime may involve your immigration case. If you need a referral for free immigration services, call us at 415-896-1701.
• If you are no longer in an emergency situation, and you wish to help efforts to gather data around hate crimes in California, consider reporting the crime to the Civil Rights Department’s CA v. Hate Resource Line and Network.

It is a common misconception that a victim of a crime can press criminal charges against the perpetrator.  As a victim of a crime, you can only choose to report the crime to the police. From there, it is up to the police to investigate, and then it is up to the District Attorney (DA) to choose to prosecute based on what the police did with the investigation.

You have legal rights as soon as you become a victim of a crime, or as soon as the crime is committed. These rights are meant to protect your safety and privacy, as well as ensure your meaningful participation in the criminal proceedings against the perpetrator.

You can find a list of these rights and translations in 22 different languages here. Please note that these rights only apply if there is a criminal violation, and not in a civil or family law case.

To get free legal advice as a survivor of violence and learn more about services in the Bay Area, please call the Asian Law Caucus at 415-896-1701.

There are three available ways for survivors of hate crimes to receive some financial support.

1. California Victim Compensation Board (CalVCB) 
   Victims of crime can ask the CalVCB to reimburse them for expenses they were forced to pay because of the crime. The CalVCB does not provide a lump sum of money to victims of crime. You will need to provide a receipt or invoice showing what type of expense you paid for. You will then receive a check to reimburse you for that cost. The most CalVCB can reimburse a victim for is $70,000. 
   
   There are strict eligibility requirements for this program. If you would like to get a consultation on your eligibility for CalVCB and assistance in applying, please call the Asian Law Caucus at 415-896-1701. 
   
2. Restitution if the perpetrator of the crime is convicted in court 
   California law requires every person convicted of a crime to pay a restitution fine to cover crime-related expenses incurred by the victim. 
   
   This can include past losses, like medical bills from crime-related injuries or income loss from missing work due to the crime. But the restitution order can also include future losses, like continued mental health treatment to recover from the trauma of the crime.
   
   The prosecutor working on the criminal case against the perpetrator can request a restitution order for you, but you must work with the DA to calculate the dollar amount. 
   
   Note that the perpetrator might not have any money or assets, so it is possible to not receive any financial restitution even if the judge orders it. 
   
3. Civil case to recover damages 
   If you experienced physical and/or emotional harm from the crime, there is a way to sue the perpetrator in civil court for monetary damages. It is difficult to find attorneys who do this work for free. You will likely need to hire a private attorney who specializes in personal injury and pay for their services. You will also need to have extensive documentation and evidence of the losses you suffered from the crime. 
   
   For help finding a private attorney, contact your local bar association.

If the police or the DA show intention to pursue a criminal case against the person that has harmed you, the safest course of action is to not discuss the case with anyone besides your attorney, if you choose to hire one. As the victim of the crime, your testimony will likely be crucial to the criminal case. The perpetrator’s defense attorney will try to undermine your credibility by looking for any statement you made in the past that contradicts your testimony.

If the DA tells you there will be a criminal case, especially if there will be a trial, we highly recommend that you hire your own attorney, who can represent your interests during the criminal proceedings.

Healthcare Services

• San Francisco – Community Youth Center  
  Community Youth Center (CYC) conducts community outreach and provides victim wrap-around services to individuals and families in San Francisco to support them in their recovery. Call the Intake Counselor Line at (415) 775-2636
• Oakland – Asian Health Services 
  AHS’s “Community Healing Unit” provides culturally sensitive counseling and healthcare services to individuals and families impacted by hate, crime, and community violence in Alameda County. Call the Community Healing Unit at (510) 735-3940
  
• Santa Clara County – Asian Americans for Community Involvement 
  Call the Community Health Center at (408) 975-2730
  

Legal Services

• Asian Law Caucus (ALC)  - (415) 896-1701
  We provide free legal help to victims and survivors of hate-motivated violence or cross-community violence in San Francisco and Alameda Counties.
• Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach (APILO) - (415) 567-6255
  APILO provides survivors of hate crimes consultations and referrals to attorneys who may be able to help with survivors’ legal claims. 
  
• Step Forward Foundation - (408) 915-8698 
  Step Forward Foundation provides legal consultations for survivors of hate crimes who are in Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey County. 
  
• For help finding a private attorney , contact the bar association in your area:
  San Francisco Bar Association: (415) 989-1616 
  Alameda County Bar Association: (510) 302-2222 and Press Option 4 
  Contra Costa County Bar Association: (925) 825-5700
  Solano County Bar Association: (707) 422-5087 
  Santa Clara County Bar Association: (669) 302-7803

California Victim Compensation Support

• Victim Services Division (San Francisco)
  If the crime happened in San Francisco, and you reported the crime to the police, you can get assistance from the Victim Services Division of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. The Victim Services Division can help you find resources, and help you apply and get quickly approved for the California Victim Compensation Program. 
  
  E-mail victimservices@sfgov.org and include the police report number. If you don’t know the police report number, you can just include your full name in the email.
• Victim-Witness Assistance Division (Alameda County)
  Phone: (510) 272-6180
  Email: askvw-da@acgov.org
  

Social Services

• Family Justice Centers (multiple counties)
  The Family Justice Center is a one stop community support center with several agencies and programs for individuals who have experienced violent crimes. You can visit the locations below or look for a Family Justice Center near you.
  
  Locations in the Bay Area: 
  Alameda County Family Justice Center (Oakland) 
  470 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612
  (510) 267-8800 
  Ask.FJC@acgov.org 
  
  Contra Costa Family Justice Center – Central (Concord) 
  2151 Salvio Street, Concord, CA 94519
  (925) 521-6366 
  
  Solano Family Justice Center (Fairfield)  
  604 Empire Street, Fairfield, CA 94533
  (707) 784-7635