Help Address Crime Victim Exploitation In Social Media

After years of watching true crime and even participating as a content creator, I began to develop an acute and often-startling awareness of the exploitation of crime victims that can sometimes occur on social media. Working as an attorney for over 2 decades with various people and entities- from victims, municipal and government agencies, to both non profit and for profit organizations, led me to have a greater understanding of the need to research and address these issues, as well as a need to advocate and spread awareness of crime victim abuses in social media.

For the past two years, I’ve been researching and studying how social media, especially true crime, can harm crime victims, using a multi-disciplinary approach. In addition to legal research, I’ve also studied the matter from a psychological, sociological, historical and practical perspective. In committing to this project, I’ve also pursued a journalism certification to further understand and appreciate traditional journalistic ethics and the role of investigative reporters. I believe it’s possible to tell stories in social media - primarily, true crime stories and often those involving missing persons - in a way that also supports and respects dignity and privacy of victims.

In order to now begin to address these issues on a larger scale and to formalize my efforts to assist crime victims, research, increase awareness and advocate, I am developing a non-profit. To defray the start-up costs, which include the formation/filing fees and basic start up operation costs, I have set up this GoFundMe.

I appreciate your help with making this long term project a reality.

Thank you!