About

Jane Piper is a rape survivor living in London, Ontario, Canada. She has worked as an actor, a comic, an events producer, a teacher and a rental agent and through her time working in these various fields she has been an outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual assault and shared her story of violence with diverse audiences in both Canada and the US.

Jane lived in Los Angeles for years pursuing her acting and comedy career but in August 2003, she was brutally beaten and raped by a stranger in Brentwood, California. The life she had lived changed immeasurably that afternoon. She began a new life of healing and rebuilding from the trauma. Almost immediately, not wanting to be silent, Jane chose to speak out about what she had experienced. She discovered that few people spoke openly about the experience of rape and Jane was determined to change that. She began sharing her story: first with friends and then publicly.

The First Few Years After The Assault, Jane Speaks Out and Is Published

In the first years after her assault, Jane was invited to be a featured speaker at the annual fundraiser for the Rape Foundation and the Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center and she had two stories published in the books: “Raising Humanity: Birthing our Global Family” by Rhobbin Alexis and “Conscious Women, Conscious Careers” by Darlene Montgomery.

Survivors & Artists For Abolishing Violence Nonprofit

In 2006, Jane started a nonprofit organization called Survivors & Artists for Abolishing Violence, obtaining fiscal sponsorship from Community Partners in Los Angeles. For many years Jane struggled with her healing, having good days pushing her forward and bad days setting her back.

In 2007 it was discovered that her injuries from the assault were far more severe than previously diagnosed and Jane needed urgent cervical disc fusion to protect her spinal cord from being severed by the ruptured discs. This led Jane to realize she was not ready to focus on her organization and was forced to let it go.

Her Assailant Finally In Custody Pleads Guilty

In the winter of 2012, after having finally taken the step to start over and moving back to Canada, Jane was contacted by LA Police Department and informed that there had been a DNA match.  Her assailant was finally in custody. Jane would spend the next two years in talks with prosecutors and travelling back to LA for court appearances. In September 2014, the man who raped Jane pleaded guilty and Jane spoke out at the sentencing hearing.

Jane Forgives Rapist and Media Coverage Goes Viral

Jane wanted to make a statement and come out publicly as a rape survivor. With the assistance of her friend Karen Pomer, she invited the media to the sentencing hearing. Jane urged them to use her name, contrary to the norm where victims are not identified to respect confidentiality. In her victim impact statement, Jane spoke directly to the man who raped her. She told him of all the ways he destroyed her life and then she forgave him. The footage went viral and a story about Jane was published on the front page of the LA Times. Many media sources followed suit.

Investigation Discovery Network Airs Program Telling Jane’s Story Worldwide

Learning of Jane’s story in 2016, producers from the Investigation Discovery network approached Jane to do an episode of one of their programs. Investigation Discovery has aired House of Horrors: Kidnapped all over the world and Jane continues to receive messages from around the globe from people sharing their own stories of assault and survival.

Exploring Restorative Justice, Jane Does Surrogate Victim Offender Dialogue at Valley State Prison

In 2018, Jane began talking with a restorative justice facilitator at the Ahimsa Collective in Berkeley, California about a possible Victim Offender Dialogue with the man who raped her. She has begun the process of writing him letters in prison and hopes he will one day be ready to be fully accountable and sit down with her to talk.

In the meantime, in December 2019, Jane did a surrogate Victim Offender Dialogue at Valley State Prison in California and shared her story with a roomful of violent offenders. Seeing the power of the work they are all doing to improve themselves and take accountability for their crimes, Jane knew she needed to continue this work of sharing her story. She now is committed to doing this with all populations, looking forward to speaking to other survivors and people in prison as well as high school and college students. Jane is a firm believer in the power of sharing one’s story and intends to continue this work far and wide in an attempt to start a larger conversation about violence and do her part to work towards ending it