Giving Compass' Take:

· Eli Hager at The Marshall Project interviews survivor Patricia Wenskunas about her assault and experience with California's justice system. In Wenskunas' story, she survived a horribly violent crime only to be failed by her justice system when her attacker was given leniency. 

· How can states better provide justice for victims? What can be done to ensure victims of violent crimes feel secure after their attacks? 

· Here is what a truly 'just' criminal justice system would look like.

"I was made to feel like a second-class victim."

It was an April morning when my personal trainer came into my home in Irvine, California, to take a look at the treadmill I’d been planning to sell.

Then he gave me this pill, this little yellow “weight loss” pill, and a chocolate drink.

“What is this?” I asked. “There’s something blue in the drink.”

He was like, “Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s probably something in the cup…”

I don’t remember much of the next half hour, but do remember vividly what I felt next: I was undressed and in my son’s bed. I couldn’t get words out of my mouth. I felt like I was under anesthesia.

On that night in 2002, my personal trainer did not murder me. There was also no evidence that he raped me. He didn’t steal anything of value from my house, nor were any drugs found in my system other than allergy medication.

Because of all these things, the prosecutor in my case didn’t pursue the most serious charges against my assailant, and the judge made me feel like some kind of second-class victim.

I remember, at one point, the DA showing me a blown-up picture of a bloody knife (from one of his murder cases) and saying, “You should take your son to the pumpkin patch. You should go live your life. You survived. I have other cases in which the victims were murdered, and they’re no longer here.”

Read the full story about Patricia Wenskunas' experience with the justice system by Eli Hager at The Marshall Project.