Title: New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century, Strategies for Implementation--Tools for Action Guide Series: Training Manual Author: Office for Victims of Crime Published: February 2000 Subject: Victims' Rights, Victim Services, Victims of Crime 146 pages 287,000 bytes ---------------------------- Figures, charts, forms, and tables are not included in this ASCII plain-text file. To view this document in its entirety, download the Adobe Acrobat graphic file available from this Web site or order a print copy from Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center at 800-627-6872. ---------------------------- New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century Strategies for Implementation Tools for Action Guide "New Directions is a sound compass that will help hold the course true in the years of work to come. The recommendations offer to all a starting point for discussion about how best to apply them within individual communities to meet local needs." Excerpted from: VISION: A Focus on Victims' Issues, "Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century," Office of the Attorney General, Austin, Texas, Vol. 1. No. 3, (Fall 1998). New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century is a comprehensive report on victims' rights and services that chronicles the extraordinary accomplishments of the victims' rights discipline and outlines what we, as a society and global community, should strive to achieve for crime victims in the 21st century. The document contains 250 recommendations targeted to almost every profession that comes in contact with crime victims, from criminal and juvenile justice practitioners, to the victim assistance, health care, mental health, legal, educational, faith, news media, and business communities. It also contains scores of "promising practices" that are transforming victim services in America today. This important report is the first comprehensive plan regarding how the Nation should respond to crime victims since the Final Report of the President's Task Force on Victims of Crime was published in 1982. New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century was published to foster a dialogue across the Nation for developing strategies to provide justice and healing for crime victims in the new millennium. New Directions urges every person in America who interacts with crime victims--from police officers to prosecutors, from judges to corrections officials, from members of the clergy to business leaders--to join this dialogue and implement the programs and reforms that make sense for their own communities. As a Nation, we have seen the doors of justice gradually open for some. New Directions offers recommendations and ideas for providing victims' rights and services for all. ---------------------------- U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs 810 Seventh Street NW. Washington, DC 20531 Janet Reno Attorney General Daniel Marcus Acting Associate Attorney General Laurie Robinson Assistant Attorney General Noel Brennan Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kathryn M. Turman Director, Office for Victims of Crime Office of Justice Programs World Wide Web Home Page www.ojp.usdoj.gov Office for Victims of Crime World Wide Web Home Page www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ For grant and funding information contact U.S. Department of Justice Response Center 1-800-421-6770 OVC Resource Center 1-800-627-6872 OVC Resource Center Home Page www.ncjrs.gov This Implementation Guide was developed by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The Office for Victims of Crime is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Not all points of views expressed in this Implementation Guide represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice. ---------------------------- NCJ 179558 February 2000 ---------------------------- Overview of Guide & New Directions Resources An Overview of Guide New Directions: Strategies for Implementation--Tools for Action Guide The Strategies for Implementation--Tools for Action Guide provides valuable resources for implementing the recommendations, ideas, and promising practices contained in New Directions. The section on Global Strategies for Implementation suggests approaches for justice system agencies, victim service providers, allied professionals, public policymakers, and interested citizens to consider when beginning the challenging task of implementing the many innovative programs, policies, and recommendations highlighted in New Directions on the local, State, Tribal, national, and international levels. The section on Suggested Events To Promote New Directions identifies key first steps that can be undertaken to launch implementation efforts such as creating a statewide task force, sponsoring a community forum, and dedicating a conference plenary session. The Tools for Public Speaking section includes a sample speech and suggested talking points that can be used when making presentations about New Directions. The section entitled Camera-Ready Resources provides useful overheads formatted for reproduction to enhance speaker presentations, and camera-ready public awareness pocket cards that can be reproduced and distributed as handouts at a variety of professional training and community education events. The section entitled Getting the Word Out About New Directions contains a variety of tools to increase public awareness, including a sample opinion/ editorial column, press release, and newsletter article. Sample letters encouraging criminal justice agencies, allied professional associations, and public officials to take decisive action to implement New Directions are also provided in this section. While New Directions contains nearly 450 pages of information, it can seem overwhelming to some first-time readers. Therefore, an Index is provided in this Guide for easy access to information contained in New Directions. In addition, the section entitled Master List of New Directions Recommendations provides a comprehensive overview of recommendations contained in each of New Directions' 18 chapters, formatted by chapter for distribution. Also included is a videotape and accompanying discussion guide about New Directions. The Office for Victims of Crime supported the development of the New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century videotape to serve as an introduction and overview of New Directions. The videotape will be distributed widely and as a result, the final section of this Guide provides suggested discussion questions for a variety of viewing audiences. Contents New Directions: Strategies for Implementation--Tools for Action Guide Master List of New Directions Recommendations o Chapter 1: Victims' Rights o Chapter 2: Law Enforcement o Chapter 3: Prosecution o Chapter 4: Judiciary o Chapter 5: Corrections o Chapter 6: Victim Assistance o Chapter 7: Health Care o Chapter 8: Mental Health o Chapter 9: Legal o Chapter 10: Education o Chapter 11: Faith o Chapter 12: Business o Chapter 13: News Media o Chapter 14: Compensation o Chapter 15: Restitution o Chapter 16: Civil Remedies o Chapter 17: Child Victims o Chapter 18: International New Directions Index o Supplement to New Directions--A 16-page index housing key information, ideas, and recommendations contained in New Directions. Global Strategies for Implementation o New Directions Five Global Challenges for the Field o Initiatives Underway in Response to New Directions o Strategies and Ideas for Implementing New Directions o Legislative Strategies o What Victim Service Providers Can Do o A Checklist for Implementing New Directions Overview of Guide & New Directions Resources o Contents o Acknowledgments o New Directions Resources o Evaluation and Action Form Camera-Ready Resources o Public Awareness Pocket Cards o Community Forum Announcement Flyer o Overheads Formatted for Speaker Presentation Getting the Word Out About New Directions o Sample Press Release o Sample Newsletter Article o Sample Opinion/Editorial Column o Sample Letter to Criminal Justice Associations o Sample Letter to Allied Professional Associations o Sample Letter to Public Officials Tools for Public Speaking o Sample Speech o Suggested Talking Points Suggested Events To Promote New Directions o Launching a Task Force o Sponsoring a Community Forum o Conducting a Conference Plenary Session Viewing and Discussing the New Directions Videotape o Overview of New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century videotape and suggested discussion questions. ---------------------------- New Directions Resources Available from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime In addition to the New Directions Report, a variety of informative New Directions-related resources have been developed to assist professionals and volunteers working on the State and national levels to implement the recommendations and promising practices identified in New Directions. The report and its companion resources are described below and are available from the Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center (OVCRC), a component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century A comprehensive report about victims' rights and services that chronicles the extraordinary accomplishments in this field and outlines what we, as a society and global community, should strive to achieve for crime victims in the 21st century. (NCJ 170600), 441 pp. Mailing fee: $6 per report for First Class Postage; $4 per report for Book Rate Postage. New Directions: Strategies for Implementation--Tools for Action Guide The Strategies for Implementation--Tools for Action Guide, in conjunction with the New Directions Report and its companion videotape, is intended to explain the goals and concepts behind New Directions and to provide tools for implementing its recommendations. (NCJ 179558), 100 pp. Up to five Implementation Guides are available free of charge. For orders of six or more, please call OVCRC to obtain mailing fees. New Directions Videotape Remarks by Kathryn M. Turman, Director, Office for Victims of Crime, are included on this videotape produced specifically to highlight the global challenges for comprehensive victim services in the 21st century presented in the New Directions Report. (NCJ 178283), 18 minutes. Up to five videotapes are available free of charge. For orders of six or more, please call OVCRC to obtain mailing fees. New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century Bulletins Individual chapters of New Directions have been reprinted to target specific professional communities and issues. Up to five bulletins are available free of charge. For orders of six or more, please call OVCRC to obtain mailing fees. To obtain copies of the resources listed above, contact OVCRC at (800) 627-6872 or write to NCJRS, User Services, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD, 20849-6000. Please note that while New Directions and its companion resources are available free of charge, a mailing fee for some resources may be imposed. New Directions Resources (with the exception of the video) are also available online by accessing OVC's World Wide Web site: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc. ---------------------------- Titles of Bulletins and Order Numbers: o New Directions Bulletin 1 of 19: Executive Summary (NCJ 172811) o New Directions Bulletin 2 of 19: Victims' Rights (NCJ 172812) o New Directions Bulletin 3 of 19: Law Enforcement (NCJ 172813) o New Directions Bulletin 4 of 19: Prosecution (NCJ 172814) o New Directions Bulletin 5 of 19: Judiciary (NCJ 172815) o New Directions Bulletin 6 of 19: Corrections (NCJ 172816) o New Directions Bulletin 7 of 19: Victim Assistance Community (NCJ 172817) o New Directions Bulletin 8 of 19: Health Care Community (NCJ 172818) o New Directions Bulletin 9 of 19: Mental Health Community (NCJ 172819) o New Directions Bulletin 10 of 19: Legal Community (NCJ 172820) o New Directions Bulletin 11 of 19: Education Community (NCJ 172821) o New Directions Bulletin 12 of 19: Faith Community (NCJ 172822) o New Directions Bulletin 13 of 19: Business Community (NCJ 172823) o New Directions Bulletin 14 of 19: News Media Community (NCJ 172824) o New Directions Bulletin 15 of 19: Crime Victims' Compensation (NCJ 172829) o New Directions Bulletin 16 of 19: Restitution (NCJ 172825) o New Directions Bulletin 17 of 19: Civil Remedies (NCJ 172826) o New Directions Bulletin 18 of 19: Child Victims (NCJ 172827) o New Directions Bulletin 19 of 19: International Perspective (NCJ 172828) ---------------------------- Evaluation and Action Form New Directions: Strategies for Implementation--Tools for Action Guide Thank you for taking the time to complete this form. Your comments will be very useful to the Office for Victims of Crime in two ways: first, in determining the types of resources most useful to the field, and second, in tracking the impact of New Directions by finding out about the implementation efforts undertaken on the local, State, Tribal, and national level. 1. What section/elements of this New Directions Implementation Guide did you find most useful? Least useful? 2. How do you plan to use the Implementation Guide? 3. What efforts are currently underway in your community/State/Tribe/ organization/agency to implement the many ideas and recommendations contained in New Directions? 4. What future efforts do you think are needed to implement New Directions in your community/State/Tribe/nationally? Please Return this Evaluation Form to: Laura Federline, Program Specialist, Office of the Director, U.S. Department of Justice, 810 Seventh Street, NW., Washington, DC, 20531 ---------------------------- New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century Acknowledgments Special appreciation is extended to Carolyn Hightower, Deputy Director, U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, for her vision and support during all phases of the development of the Strategies for Implementation-- Tools for Action Guide. Sincere gratitude is also extended to Laura Federline, Program Specialist, Office of the Director, Office for Victims of Crime, for inspiring commitment and creativity of project staff in her role as Project Monitor. The following individuals are recognized for their hard work and dedication to the completion of the Guide: Implementation Guide Project Director and Co-Author Christine N. Edmunds, Victim Services and Criminal Justice Consultant, Washington, DC Implementation Guide Co-Author Ellen K. Alexander, Victim Services Consultant, Oakton, VA Implementation Guide Contributors/Editors David Beatty, National Public Policy Advocate, Ashburn, VA Anne K. Seymour, Public Safety Consultant, Washington, DC U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime Pam Leupen, Publication Program Manager Theodosia Craig, Writer/Editor, Publication Unit Debra Christenberry, Writer/Editor, Publication Unit Graphic Design Randy and Rose Fletcher, Exarte Design, Inc., Arlington, VA Index EEI Communications, Alexandria, VA New Directions Videotape Robin Smith, President, Video/Action Fund, Washington, DC Wendy Kelly, WLK Graphics, Springfield, VA ---------------------------- Global Strategies for Implementation This section is designed to provide ideas and strategies for implementing New Directions recommendations from the field on the local, State, Tribal, and national levels. While specific implementation strategies have not been developed for the international community, many of the strategies suggested below can be adapted to improve victims' rights and services throughout the world. This section contains the following information: ---------------------------- New Directions Five Global Challenges for the Field An At a Glance one-page overview of New Directions five global challenges for the field is provided. The global challenges serve as a summary of the five key areas of focus for the 250 recommendations presented in New Directions. The global challenges are formatted into a one-page overview sheet to ease reproduction for handouts at community forums and State task force meetings, or for inclusion in training materials. Initiatives Underway in Response to New Directions States and communities across the Nation have found many uses for New Directions. These initial efforts--including using New Directions as a planning tool and incorporating its comprehensive information into training curricula--are highlighted in this section to spur similar efforts on the local, State, Tribal, and national level. Suggested Strategies and Ideas for Implementing New Directions There are countless strategies to implement the ideas, recommendations, and promising practices contained in New Directions. The strategies presented in this section include using New Directions to: enhance victims' rights; strengthen policies, procedures and protocol; establish seamless rights across the justice system; promote public awareness; and expand education and training efforts. Other ideas include creating New Directions Advisory Committees to help guide implementation efforts and as a tool for public policy change. New Directions Five Global Challenges for the Field More than 1,000 individuals from across the Nation contributed to the development of New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century. In the course of compiling the hundreds of recommendations from the field and in listening to the voices of crime victims, their advocates, and allied professionals who work with crime victims throughout the Nation, certain key challenges emerged. The following five guiding global challenges for responding to victims of crime form the core of the hundreds of ideas and 250 recommendations contained in New Directions. 1. To enact and enforce consistent, fundamental rights for crime victims in Federal, State, juvenile, military, and Tribal justice systems, and administrative proceedings. 2. To provide crime victims with access to comprehensive, quality services regardless of the nature of their victimization, age, race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, capability, or geographic location. 3. To integrate crime victims' issues into all levels of the Nation's educational system to ensure that justice and allied professionals and other service providers receive comprehensive training on victims' issues as part of their academic education and continuing training in the field. 4. To support, improve, and replicate promising practices in victims' rights and services built upon sound research, advanced technology, and multidisciplinary partnerships. 5. To ensure that the voices of crime victims play a central role in the Nation's response to violence and those victimized by crime. ---------------------------- Initiatives Underway in Response to New Directions New Directions is being used to enhance victims' rights and services across the Nation. The Office for Victims of Crime has received input from victim service providers and allied professionals across the Nation on how they are using New Directions to chart the future of victims' rights and services. The following overview provides some examples of the broad range of implementation efforts across the Nation to respond to the recommendations set forth in New Directions, and to utilize the vast resources contained within its pages: o Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) will include a book review of New Directions in its special Millennium MADD ADVOCATE publication in January 2000. This special article, being sent to each of MADD's 500 chapters nationwide, provides an overview of the five global challenges of New Directions and encourages MADD's membership to take an activist role in implementing the recommendations--including the Report's first recommendation: the passage of a Federal constitutional amendment. o The National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) has highlighted New Directions at its annual North American Victim Assistance Conferences in both 1998 and 1999 by dedicating special New Directions plenary sessions. Leaders from the field debated and discussed the importance of this historic document, and challenged NOVA's membership to take decisive action to implement New Directions recommendations in their States and local communities. o The National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards (NACVCB) conducted a special plenary session and breakout discussions on New Directions at their annual national conference in the fall of 1998. Discussions focused on reviewing the recommendations for crime victim compensation and discussing priorities for State program policy or legislative change. In addition, NACVCB also featured New Directions in the Association's national newsletter to its membership. o New Directions has already found a home in the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board's recently revised law enforcement statewide training curriculum to include information contained in the Law Enforcement chapter of New Directions. o Based upon many of the recommendations in New Directions, the Victim Services 2000 project in Medina, Ohio, a comprehensive, communitywide victim assistance initiative, has prioritized its missions and goals for victim services in the 21st century and has expanded its advisory board to include nontraditional victim service providers. o Recognizing the wealth of information contained within New Directions, the Senior and Disabled Services Division of the Abuse Prevention Program in Salem, Oregon, has encouraged elder-issue multidisciplinary teams across the State to use New Directions as the central resource tool in defining and enhancing victim services to their elder client populations. o The Wisconsin Department of Justice Training and Standards Bureau has placed several New Directions training recommendations before its Advisory Board for adoption into its current training curriculum. o The South Bay Regional Public Safety Training Consortium in San Jose, California, has found New Directions to be a useful, comprehensive resource tool in curriculum development and in drafting speeches and press releases to increase public awareness about victim-related issues. o The University of Texas at Austin and the Texas School of Social Work have applied the information contained in New Directions in two important ways to enhance the training of professionals who will come into contact with crime victims. First, in response to New Directions, both the University of Texas at Austin and NASW/Texas School of Social Work have included findings from New Directions in their respective educational curricula. Second, New Directions has been utilized as the primary resource guide for defining both schools' planning objectives, especially in the areas of education and mental health. o Many agencies, organizations, and academic institutions are utilizing New Directions in curricula development. For example, the National Victim Assistance Academy relied extensively on the research, recommendations, and promising practices cited throughout New Directions in its comprehensive update of the Academy text in 1999. With the ability to access the contents of New Directions via the Internet, inclusion of this state-of-the-art information is readily available for academicians, policymakers, researchers, curriculum developers, and writers. o The Texas Office of the Attorney General has assumed a primary role in implementing New Directions recommendations statewide. The Attorney General's State agency Task Force on Victim Services has adopted the field's recommendations set forth in Chapter Six of New Directions (Victim Assistance) as its road map for defining and implementing statewide victim services. Additionally, the Attorney General's Office is distributing New Directions statewide at State coalitions, conferences and other criminal justice working groups as the model for victim assistance in the 21st century. o The State of Vermont is using New Directions to enact change and promote the need for comprehensive victim services statewide. First, hundreds of copies of New Directions have been distributed to criminal justice agencies statewide with a strong endorsement from the Vermont Victim Services 2000 initiative, a comprehensive, communitywide victim assistance project, to review, adopt, and replicate recommendations and strategies drawn from New Directions. Policymakers around the State have been sent copies of New Directions Bulletins to heighten their awareness of the need for the criminal and juvenile justice community to better respond to crime victims. Vermont Victim Services 2000 also has used New Directions as its primary planning tool to draft the Vermont Plan for Comprehensive Services to Victims of Crime. o Strategies and recommendations found in the New Directions chapter on the Business Community are being used by Victim Services Agency in New York City to form critical partnerships between private business and public/private organizations to increase community efforts to assist crime victims. o The Department of Criminology at California State University-Fresno is using New Directions as a textbook for its course on public policy and victims' rights in its Victims Services Summer Institute Certificate Program. o New Directions is being offered by many victim services trainers across the Nation as a comprehensive, state-of-the-art, free resource for many diverse audiences. ---------------------------- Strategies and Ideas for Implementing New Directions Across Our Nation's Justice Systems Enhancing Victims' Rights: Federal, State, Tribal, and local justice agencies can turn to New Directions for useful information about current victims' rights laws to determine whether they are adhering to existing legislative mandates. Chapter 1 provides an extensive overview of victims' rights in America and provides 25 recommendations for creating more comprehensive and consistent rights for crime victims. Strengthening Policies, Procedures, and Protocol: New Directions provides critical information about model policies, programs, and protocol to address crime victims rights and concerns in every critical component of the justice system--law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, and corrections. Federal, State, Tribal, and local justice agencies can review the recommendations contained in New Directions to determine their relevance to existing agency or departmental policies, procedures, and protocol. New Directions contains specific chapters addressing Law Enforcement (Chapter 2); Prosecution (Chapter 3); Judiciary (Chapter 4); and Corrections (Chapter 5). Establishing Seamless Implementation of Rights Across the Justice System: New Directions emphasizes that the seamless implementation of victims' rights needs to occur across all stages of the justice system. For example, for crime victims to receive restitution, law enforcement officers must advise them of the importance of documenting all losses; the prosecutor must request restitution; the judge must order restitution; and court administrators, institutional, or community corrections agencies must collect restitution. Model programs for restitution and countless other victims' rights initiatives are cited throughout New Directions for replication by victim service providers and allied professionals. Promoting Criminal Justice Professionals' Awareness of New Directions: Each chapter of New Directions has been published as an individual bulletin and is available through the Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center. (See the Overview of Guide & New Directions Resources section for information about how to obtain free copies of these bulletins.) In addition, the section entitled Master List of Recommendations in this Implementation Guide provides a comprehensive list of recommendations for each chapter, including law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, and corrections, which can serve as stand-alone handouts or can be distributed with the bulletins. Examples of criminal justice-related bulletins are listed below: o Police training academies can distribute a copy of the New Directions Law Enforcement Bulletin to every sheriff and police chief in their State to increase the law enforcement community's awareness of victims' issues. o Statewide prosecutor associations can distribute a copy of the New Directions Prosecution Bulletin to every prosecutor in their State to increase the prosecution community's awareness of their roles and responsibilities in implementing victims' rights and services. o State judicial training coordinators can distribute a copy of the New Directions Judiciary Bulletin to every judicial officer and court administrator as a helpful reference guide. o State correctional associations (institutions, probation, parole, jails) can provide a copy of the New Directions Corrections Bulletin to every correctional agency in their jurisdiction. A letter that encourages agencies to take a leadership role in implementing New Directions recommendations should be included as an introduction to the New Directions Bulletin. A sample letter is provided in the Implementation Guide section entitled Getting the Word Out About New Directions. Expanding Education and Training Efforts The following ideas provide excellent examples about how the New Directions recommendations can be used to expand education and training programs for criminal and juvenile justice personnel nationwide. Law Enforcement Community o State Police Training Commission members and county-based police academy training personnel can convene a meeting to discuss strategies to incorporate victim-specific New Directions training recommendations into existing basic and advanced law enforcement training programs and curricula. o State training academies can designate an individual to oversee the development of curricula to ensure that local academies are provided current resources for curricula about victims' rights and services. o All law enforcement agencies can initiate in-house victims' issues training programs for newly hired personnel, as well as continuing education programs for existing staff who interact with crime victims. Prosecution Community o Every statewide prosecutor training conference can follow the lead of the National District Attorneys Association and conduct a victims' rights and services training track at annual State conferences. o State prosecutors associations can designate an individual to oversee the development of curricula to ensure that local and State training programs are provided up-to-date training resources about victims' rights and services. o Continuing legal education for prosecutors who interact with crime victims should include annual mandatory victim-related training. o The development of in-house victims' issues training programs for newly hired personnel and continuing education programs for existing staff who interact with crime victims are important. Judicial Community o On the national level, organizations representing the interests of the Nation's judiciary, such as the State Justice Institute, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and The National Judicial College have conducted numerous training programs on victims' rights and services. These training programs can incorporate recommendations contained in New Directions into their existing and planned curricula. o Every State judicial training agency can follow the lead of the California Judicial College by requiring mandatory training about victims' rights issues for new judges. o State judicial training coordinators can take a leadership role in developing victims' rights and services training programs for judges throughout their States. At a minimum, a victims' rights and issues training track should be incorporated into annual State judicial training conferences. o Continuing legal education for judges should include mandatory annual victim issues-related training. o Judges can develop victims' issues training programs for newly hired personnel and continuing education programs for existing court administrative staff who interact with crime victims. o At the State level, judicial organizations can create a Benchbook to be distributed to all judicial members on victims' rights. Corrections Community o State correctional associations can follow the lead of numerous national correctional associations and conduct victims' issues training tracks and programs at State and local level training events--including probation, parole, jails, and institutional corrections. These training programs should incorporate recommendations contained in New Directions into their existing and future curricula. o Corrections officials can develop victims' issues training programs for newly hired personnel and continuing education programs for existing corrections, parole, and probation staff who interact with crime victims. Creating New Directions Advisory Committees Following the lead of national and State agencies and associations, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, judges, and corrections and paroling authorities can create victim advisory committees to guide appropriate revisions to departmental policies based on the New Directions recommendations. Similarly, existing victim advisory committees can incorporate New Directions into their annual strategic plans, goals, and objectives. Law Enforcement Community On the national level, organizations such as the National Sheriffs' Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police have established victims' issues committees. Such committees can take a leadership role in reviewing New Directions recommendations, and setting priorities for the Nation's law enforcement agencies on key areas for implementation. Additionally, accreditation agencies and committees, such as the Commission on the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) can further advance victims' rights and services by reviewing their current victim service accreditation standards and incorporating recommendations contained in New Directions that are currently not included in their accreditation standards. State Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police Associations, as well as Tribal and local law enforcement agencies, can place New Directions on their meeting agendas to discuss adopting New Directions recommendations. Prosecution Community On the national, State, and Tribal levels, organizations representing prosecutors, such as the National District Attorneys Association, can establish a crime victims' issues committee. Once established, a committee can take a leadership role in reviewing New Directions recommendations and setting priorities for implementation of New Directions nationwide. Judicial Community On the national, State, and Tribal levels, the implementation of New Directions recommendations for the judiciary can be placed on the agendas of judicial leadership organizations such as the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators. Each chief justice can appoint members of the judiciary within their jurisdiction to serve on a victims' issues task force or working group to assess the judiciary's role in implementing New Directions recommendations. Consideration could also be given to amending Codes of Judicial Conduct to reflect the fact that crime victims play a pivotal role in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. Corrections Community On the national level, organizations representing the interests of corrections, such as the American Correctional Association, the American Probation and Parole Association, the Association of State Correctional Administrators, and the Association of Paroling Authorities, International have taken a leadership role in advancing the rights and services for crime victims. Each association has established a crime victims committee. Throughout the 1990s these associations have worked diligently to include crime victims' issues as part of their national agendas. In addition, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has established a crime victims working group to develop a long-range plan to help the Bureau better address victims needs. These organizations can further expand their leadership role in victims' rights by establishing priorities for the Nation's correctional communities and by supporting the implementation of New Directions recommendations in State and local correctional agencies. Each State and regional correctional association should consider following the lead of national correctional associations by establishing crime victims' issues committees to focus on setting priorities relevant to the recommendations set forth for Corrections in Chapter 5 of New Directions. ---------------------------- Legislative Strategies To Implement New Directions Some of the recommendations from the field contained in New Directions may require amendments to existing State statutes or new legislative initiatives to enact certain rights for crime victims. The legislative strategies listed below provide just a few suggestions for using New Directions as a tool for public policy development, and as a reference point for entering the legislative arena. Creation of a Legislative Agenda: New Directions can be used as a basis for assessing the strength and scope of current victims' rights within a State. By comparing a State's current legislative scheme with the comprehensive rights described in New Directions, policymakers and victims' rights advocates can assess gaps in existing laws. Through this process, New Directions provides a reliable basis for developing a public policy agenda. The first chapter of New Directions, entitled New Directions in Victims' Rights, provides a detailed review of comprehensive, innovative victims' rights laws that have been enacted across the Nation. This chapter has been published as an individual bulletin and can be distributed to policymakers. (For information about how to order copies of this bulletin, see the section entitled Overview of Guide & New Directions Resources.) Information for Elected Officials: New Directions can serve as an entry point for requesting time with State House/Senate Judiciary Committee members to discuss the need for lawmakers to review existing victims' rights laws for enhancements or modifications based upon recommendations found within New Directions. (A sample letter to public officials is included in the section entitled Getting the Word Out About New Directions in this Implementation Guide.) Reference Tool for Public Policy Debates: New Directions can also serve as a quick reference in public policy debates. For example, most victims' rights laws described in New Directions contain endnote citations to the specific number and names of States that have enacted such laws. Development of Model Legislation: New Directions contains many examples of model statutes that have been enacted across the Nation to delineate and enhance victims' rights, with specific examples in both the text and endnotes. The States cited as models can serve as mentors to spur similar policy changes in other States in the drafting and enactment of similar legislation. Establishment of Victims' Rights Policy Coalitions: New Directions can serve as the basis for creating victims' rights policy coalitions composed of a broad membership of victim activists, victim advocates, justice system representatives, and allied professionals who share a common interest of implementing the recommendations set forth in New Directions to enhance victims' rights. Coalitions can be formed to pass single legislative measures, or can become ongoing coalitions of crime victims, victim advocates, and justice officials as an undeniable force in all criminal and juvenile justice-related policy to the benefit of each constituency. Once established, such coalitions could expand their efforts beyond legislation to play a role in assessing and promoting implementation of victims' rights laws statewide. Legislative Actions Within Professional Associations: Many local, State, and national associations with an interest in victim assistance and justice processes sponsor either public policy or victim issues committees. New Directions can be utilized as a guide for identifying legislative priorities and gaps in existing laws that should be filled to promote victim justice. What Victim Service Providers Can Do To Assist in Nationwide Implementation of New Directions Collaborate with Justice Agencies to: o Identify upcoming State and local criminal justice- and allied professional-related training events and conferences, and notify conference organizers of the availability of presenters to conduct a New Directions workshop or training session. Include relevant sections of the New Directions Implementation Guide to emphasize the importance of including a New Directions workshop or training session as part of the conference agenda. Collaborate with State Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Administrator to: o Consider hosting a meeting of community VOCA grant subrecipients to review and develop implementation strategies for New Directions as the State develops or revises its plan for distribution of Federal VOCA funding at the State level. Collaborate with the Health Community to: o Request time on local hospitals' Board of Director's monthly or quarterly meeting agendas to outline the critical role that health care providers play in the continuum of victim services, and stress adoption of New Directions recommendations within the health care community. Collaborate with the Mental Health Community to: o Request that members of the mental health community (State or county mental health associations) explore key mental health issues raised in New Directions, such as issues concerning confidentiality. Encourage mental health associations to incorporate the New Directions Chapter 8 on the Mental Health Community into their professional continuing education programs. (For information about how to order copies of the Mental Health Community Bulletin, see the section entitled Overview of Guide & New Directions Resources.) Collaborate with the Business Community to: o Request presentation time during the chamber of commerce and community civic organizations' monthly meetings to discuss the importance of the business community in addressing violence, and adopting New Directions recommendations for the establishment of uniform policies and procedures in preventing and responding to workplace violence and victimization. o Ask the business community to provide, where appropriate, financial sponsorship of some of the activities listed in this Implementation Guide. For example, the business community can be approached to help sponsor a community forum. (See the section of this Guide entitled Suggested Events To Promote New Directions.) Collaborate with the Faith Community to: o Arrange a meeting with members of the community's Interfaith Council to discuss the adoption and implementation of New Directions recommendations within the faith community's overall missions and goals. Collaborate with the Education Community to: o Reserve space on local county boards of education and local college and university Departments of Criminal Justice advisory boards' monthly meeting agendas to discuss the important need to implement New Directions recommendations for the education community. Collaborate with the Legal Community to: o Host a New Directions informational forum on Law Day (May 1) for members of the State or county bar association to highlight the key role that attorneys in the private sector play in enhancing victims' legal options. Collaborate with the News Media to: o Sponsor a morning breakfast for members of the local news media to increase their awareness of victims' needs to be treated with sensitivity and dignity, as well as the important role the media play in increasing the community's understanding of violence and victimization based on recommendations contained in New Directions. o Arrange a meeting with local newspaper editorial boards to discuss New Directions recommendations for community involvement in meeting the needs of crime victims in the wake of community violence. (See the section of this Implementation Guide entitled Getting the Word Out About New Directions for a sample opinion/editorial column.) o Contact local cable access channels and propose a program format that highlights crime in the community, the need for supportive victim services, and how the community can better respond to crime victims and crime prevention based on recommendations found in New Directions. ---------------------------- Comprehensive Victims' Rights and Services A Checklist for Implementing New Directions in Your Community Crime victims need dignified and compassionate treatment, sustained financial and emotional support, and enforceable rights throughout the justice process. Criminal and juvenile justice agencies, victim service providers, crime victim compensation programs, and allied professionals in the health, mental health, education, faith, legal, business, and media communities can work together to ensure that crime victims receive the following rights and services: Emergency Aid o On-scene crisis intervention o 24-hour crisis hotline o Sensitive death notification o Information on victims rights and services o Referrals for emergency financial aid o Emergency transportation o Accompaniment to hospital for rape examination o Referrals for emergency shelter o Referrals for short- and long-term counseling o Local emergency fund to aid victims o Assistance with emergency compensation claim o Information and assistance on security options o Emergency restraining or protection orders o Information and assistance on recovery of stolen property o Information and assistance on document replacement o Child care services o Crime scene cleanup o Interpreter services Counseling and Advocacy o Crisis intervention services o Short-term counseling o Long-term counseling o Access and referrals to self-help support groups o Group counseling o Community crisis response o Access to counseling during criminal and juvenile justice adjudications o Intervention with employers, creditors, and landlords o Intervention with public agencies Investigation o Regular updates on status of investigation o Notification of suspect arrest o Basic information on the criminal justice system o Compensation claim filing and processing assistance o Referrals for short- and long-term counseling o Interpreter services o Protection from intimidation and harassment o Notification of pretrial release of accused o Input into bail/bond release decisions Prosecution o Orientation to the criminal justice system o Regular updates on status of case o Accompaniment to court o Witness alert/on-call technology 24 hours per day o Safe and secure waiting areas o Employer intervention services o Notification of plea negotiations o Victim consultation in plea decisions o Assistance in recovery of property held as evidence o Information on restitution o Restitution routinely requested or an explanation in writing o Landlord/creditor intervention o Interpreter services o Transportation/parking assistance o Child care services Sentencing o Notification of right to submit a victim impact statement o Victim impact information in presentence investigation report o Victim impact statement-written o Victim impact statement-oral o Victim statement of opinion o Audio- or videotaped victim impact statement o Notice of sentence Post-disposition o Information/notification of appeal o Collection of restitution o Restitution payment as condition of probation or parole o Notification of parole hearing o Victim impact statement at parole-written o Victim impact statement at parole-oral o Audio- or videotaped victim impact statement at parole o Notification of violation of parole/probation o Notification of revocation of parole/probation o Notification of application for clemency, pardon, or commutation o Notification of escape and capture o Notification of custody location o Name of probation officer or other supervised community release officer o Notice of execution date in death penalty cases o Advance notification of release ---------------------------- New Directions Index This section contains an index of New Directions to help readers find the comprehensive information presented in the report. The index includes references to: key victims' rights laws and public policy initiatives; significant historical developments in victims' rights and services; more than 200 promising practices in serving crime victims; and the report's 250 recommendations from the field. New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century Index A AAFPRS. See American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery ABA. See American Bar Association ABA Center on Children and the Law, 385 Abduction, international parental child, 421-422 Aboriginal sentencing circle, 103 Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services, 158-159 ACOG. See American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Acute traumatic stress disorder, 220 ADA. See Americans with Disabilities Act Administrative proceedings and victims' rights, 32-33 Adolescents. See Children; Youth ADT Security Services, 297 Adult Protective Services, 167 Advocacy centers, xxi, 79-80, 207, 390, 394-395 Advocacy for Women and Kids in Emergencies, 163, 202 Advocacy programs, 269 Advocates o assistance to victims, 24 o court-appointed advocates for children, 391 ADWAS. See Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services Aetna, Inc., 302 Aetna Life & Casualty, 253 AFSCME's Women's Rights Department, 302 AG Guidelines. See Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance Alabama o children's advocacy center, 79 o Crime Victims Compensation Commission, 332 o domestic violence training program, 205 Allegheny Research Institute, 270 Allied professionals, initiatives of, xxii-xxiii AMA. See American Medical Association American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 207 American Bar Association, 249, 253, 259, 385 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 202, 205 American Correctional Association, 8, 121 American Medical Association, 202 American Probation and Parole Association, 8 American Psychological Association, 220 Americans with Disabilities Act, 159-160, 189, 308-309 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 5, 20, 331 Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia, 166 APABA. See Asian Pacific American Bar Association Argentina victim assistance program, 416 Arizona Community Domestic Violence Awareness Center, 100 Arkansas victim compensation program, 333 Arson, 172 Asian Pacific American Bar Association, 252 Asset Investigative Advocates, 174 Athletes Helping Kids campaign, 298 Atlanta Victim-Witness Assistance Program, 156 At-risk victims o identifying high-risk youth, 393, 403-404 o panic devices for, 49 Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance, 4, 50, 75, 154 Attorneys. See also Legal profession o civil remedies, 374-375 o Coalition of Victim Attorneys and Consultants, 251, 374 o education in victims' rights, 111, 258-260 o Lawyers for Children, 253 Australia drunk driving laws, 416 Automated victim notification system, 49 AWAKE. See Advocacy for Women and Kids in Emergencies AYUDA, 157, 251 B Bank of America, 296 Bank robberies and victim assistance programs, 174-175 Bias Crime Unit, 173 Bias crimes and victim assistance programs, 171-173 BJA. See Bureau of Justice Assistance Brazil victim assistance program, 416 Brazos County Rape Crisis Center, 176 Bureau of Justice Assistance, 160 Burned Church Coalition, 172 Business community o accommodating victims who suffer disabling injuries, 308-309 o corporate contributions to victims and victim services, 296-299 o crime prevention measures, 310 o domestic violence impact on the workplace, 301-303, 305-307 o employee assistance programs, 302, 306-307 o psychological counseling for victims, 304-305 o recommendations from the field, 303-310 o reporting violent crime, 309 o responsibilities to crime victims, 295-296, 303-305 o sexual assault awareness, 307 o training on workplace violence, 303-304 o workplace victimization, 307-310 o workplace violence, 299-301 C California o California Youth Authority, 129 o Center for Child Protection, 204-205 o Children's advocacy center, 80 o Children's Court, 102 o Children's Hospital Center for Child Protection, 159 o Community Domestic Violence Resource Network, 55 o Crime Victims Legal Clinic, 250-251 o drunk driving prosecution programs, 81 o family violence councils, 100 o Gang Victim Services, 157 o gang violence programs, 56, 171 o Impact of Crime on Victims program, 129 o interview center for investigating child sexual abuse cases, 79 o Loved Ones of Homicide Victims, 166 o multicultural victim assistance program, 157 o Rape Treatment Center, 232, 270 o Royal Family Kids Camps, 285 o Teens on Target program, 208 o Victim and Witness Coordinating Council, 179 o Victim Assistance Academy, 270 o Victim Offender Reconciliation Program, 286 o Violence Prevention Task Force, 206 o Women's Resource Center, 269 California State University-Fresno, victim services program of study, 271 Campaign Against Family Violence, 202 Campus Outreach Services, 273 Campus Security Act, 268 Campus Sexual Assault Victims Bill of Rights, 33, 268 Canada o Aboriginal sentencing circle, 103 o victim assistance program, 416 Carrington Victims' Litigation Project, 251, 374 Catholic Charities, 284 Caught in the Crossfire project, 171 CCP. See Center for Child Protection Cellular phone companies, 297 Center for Child Protection, 204-205 Center for Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, 285 Center for the Vulnerable Child, 206-207 Center on Children and the Law, 385 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, 385 Child Development-Community Policing Program, 51, 233 Child Pornography Prevention Act, 386-387 Child Sexual Exploitation: Improving Investigations and Protecting Victims--A Blueprint for Action, 421 Children. See also Youth o abuse prevention programs, 393, 404 o advocacy centers, xxi, 79-80, 207, 390, 394-395 o alternatives to live in-court testimony, 402 o categorizing child victimization data, 398 o challenging children's capacity to testify, 400-401 o child pornography, 386-387 o child protection social workers, 285 o Children's Bill of Rights, 32 o Children's Court, 102 o Children's Hospital Center for Child Protection, 159 o Children's Legal Advocacy Coalition, 253 o clergy's responsibilities to report child abuse, 286-287, 290 o commercial sexual exploitation of children, 421 o computer exploitation, 404 o court proceedings in victimization cases, 400-402 o "court school" programs, 396-397 o court-appointed special advocates, 391, 402 o Crimes Against Children Program, 49 o cycle of violence, 226-227, 238, 384, 387 o death review teams, 390-391 o effects of witnessing violence, 214, 389, 395 o endangerment from drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs, 406-407 o Federal Agency Task Force for Missing and Exploited Children, 52 o Federal legislative initiatives, 385-388 o funding research, 404-405 o health insurance provider responsibilities in o victimization cases, 407-408 o hearsay laws, 399-400 o homicide by abuse, 390-391 o impact of victimization, 384, 387-389 o international parental child abduction, 421-422 o intervention programs, 393, 402-403 o interview center for investigating sexual abuse cases, 79 o juvenile court child protection system, 392 o meeting the requirements of the National Child Protection Act, 397-398 o mental health care, 227-228, 239 o multidisciplinary approaches for abuse and neglect cases, 79, 390 o national programs, 385-387 o Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, 100 o privacy of victim records, 399 o recommendations from the field, 394-408 o removing custody from abusive parents, 406 o reporting child abuse, 395-396 o repressed memories, 229-230 o runaway youth, 393 o Safe Kids/Safe Streets program, 392-393 o schools' responsibilities in identifying missing and exploited children, 275 o sexual abuse, xxi, 79, 159, 284, 383, 421 o "sleeper effects" of abuse, 405 o State legislation, 387-388 o State Missing Children's Clearinghouses, 396 o testifying in court, 398-399 o training for cases involving missing and exploited children, 392 o truancy prosecution programs, 81 o vertical prosecution for child abuse cases, 90 o victimization statistics, 385 -- as victims, xviii-xix Children's Bill of Rights, 32 Children's Justice Act, 386 Children's Legal Advocacy Coalition, 253 Children's Trust Funds, 393 Christian Society for the Healing of Dissociative Disorders, 285 Chronic victimization, 226-227, 238 Church burnings, 172 Churches. See Faith community Civil Justice Case Law Database, 252 Civil Legal Remedies for Crime Victims, 378 Civil remedies o attorney networks, 374-377 o expert consultants, 377 o legislative changes, 375 o providing information to victims, 374-375 o recommendations from the field, 376-378 o restitution orders, 361, 368-369 o statutes of limitations, 378 o training for victim service providers, 378 o victims' rights, 373-374, 376-377 CLAC. See Children's Legal Advocacy Coalition Clinton, Bill o Antiterrorism Act, 5 o Victims' rights constitutional amendment, 6 Coalition of Victim Attorneys and Consultants, 251, 374 Code of ethics for victim assistance programs, 185-186 Codes of Conduct for United States Judges, 113-114 Codes of Judicial Conduct, 113-114 College students. See also Educational community o disciplinary hearings, 32-33 Colleges. See Educational community Colorado o Victim Services 2000, 155-156 o Victims' Compensation and Assistance Coordinating Committee, 30 o Victims' Rights Act, 30 Colorado/Oklahoma Resource Council, 285-286 Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, 57-58, 64 Commission on Domestic Violence, 253-254, 259 Communication service companies, 297 Community corrections. See Parole; Probation Community impact statements, 28, 101 Community notification of release, 126-127, 142-143 Community programs o community criminal justice partnerships, xxi o Community Crisis Response programs, 156 o Community Domestic Violence Awareness Center, 100 o Community Domestic Violence Resource Network, 55 o Community Law Center, 255 o Community Policing to Combat Domestic Violence program, 55 o court programs, xxii o mental health centers, 243 o policing programs, xxii, 53, 55-56, 59 o prosecution programs, xxii, 79-81, 85 Compensation for victims o advisory boards, 344-345 o benefit criteria, 331-332 o for catastrophic physical injury, 340-341 o community outreach, 343-344 o effects of universal health care, 350 o eligibility requirements, 329-330, 339-340 o emergency awards, 332-333, 337 o for Federal victims, 330 o first compensation programs, 325 o funding programs, 335-336, 347-348 o impact of VOCA, 327 o international programs, 419-420 o meeting mental health needs of victims, 338-339 o multidisciplinary approaches, 345 o the Office for Victims of Crime mentoring program, 334-335 o President's Task Force issues, 326-327 o processing claims, 337 o program evaluation, 348 o public awareness, 333-334 o recent trends, 327-329 o recommendations from the field, 336-351 o State programs, 325-326, 349-350 o statutory reporting requirements, 341-342 o time restrictions on filing claims, 342-343 o transportation costs, 351 o using technology for claims processing, 334, 348-349 o victim advocacy, 346 o victim assistance programs, 351 o for victims of crimes occurring in other countries, 330-331, 350-351 o VOCA program requirements, 327 Complex PTSD, 224 Complex trauma therapy, 225 Compliance enforcement programs, 29-31 Computers. See Internet; Technology Concerns of Police Survivors, 65, 150 Confidentiality issues. See also Privacy issues o The Confidentiality of Communications Between Sexual Assault or Domestic Violence Victims and their Counselors, 228 o faith community responsibilities, 286-287 o in the health care system, 213 o mental health care and, 228-229 Confronting a Culture of Violence--A Catholic Framework for Action, 284 Connecticut o Child Development-Community Policing Program, 51 o Child Study Center, 233 o Lawyers for Children, 253 o reduction of crimes against the elderly, 52 Continuances, prosecution's responsibility regarding, 88-89 Contributions from corporations, 296-299 Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 8 Coping with the Iraq/Kuwait Crisis: A Handbook, 420 COPS. See Court-Ordered Payment System; Office of Community Oriented o Policing Services C.O.P.S. See Concerns of Police Survivors CORC. See Colorado/Oklahoma Resource Council Corporate donations, 296-299 Corrections system o correctional staff education and training, 139-140 o educating offenders on the impact of crime on o victims, 129, 141 o mission statements, 133 o providing separate waiting areas for victims, 138-139 o recommendations for parole, 119-120 o recommendations from the field, 131-143 o response to crime victims, 123-131 o restorative justice, 131 o role of victims, 120-123 o victim advisory committees, 132 o victim assistance, 133 o victimization of correctional staff, 130, 140-141 o victim-offender dialogue program, 130, 141-142 o violations of conditions of supervision, 129, 142 Council for Court Excellence, 92 Counseling o HIV testing and, 27-28 o psychological counseling for victims, 234-238, 304-305 Countrywide Moving and Storage, 297 Court-Ordered Payment System, 360-361 Courts. See also Judicial system o community court programs, xxii o juvenile court child protection system, 392 o notice of proceedings to victims, 12-14 o providing separate waiting areas for victims, 113 o reorienting, 115 o restructuring, 101-103 o special advocates for children, 391, 402 o unreasonable delay of proceedings, 21, 88-89 o victims' right to attend proceedings, 15 Courts of the Navajo Nation, 32. See also Tribal court systems COVAC. See Coalition of Victim Attorneys and Consultants Cox Broadcasting Corporation v. Cohn, 317 Crime Act of 1994, xix Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, 5, 386 Crime Victim Recovery Project, 232 Crime Victim Restitution: An Analysis of Approaches, 356 Crime Victims and the Media, 319 Crime Victims Compensation Commission, 332 Crime Victims Fund, 35, 151, 152 Crime Victims Legal Clinic, 250-251 Crime Victims Protection Act, 317-318 Crimes Against Children Program, 49 The Criminal Justice Response to Rape, 160 Criminal justice system, overview of, xi-xiii Crisis reaction to victimization, 220 Crisis response teams, xxi-xxii, 156, 186, 292, 420 Crow Tribal Council, 32 Cultural diversity o guidelines for health care providers, 212-213 o in mental health counseling, 225-226, 237-238 o responsibilities of legal community, 260 o victim assistance challenges, 157-158, 179-180 CVLP. See Carrington Victims' Litigation Project Cycle of violence, 226-227, 238, 384, 387 The Cycle of Violence, 387 D Dailey and Associates, 298 Deafness. See Victims with disabilities assistance programs Death at School, 267 Death notifications o Death Notification: Breaking the Bad News with Concern for the Professional and Compassion for the Survivor, 53 o health care professionals, 215-216 o law enforcement protocols, 53-54, 62, 169 Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, 416-418 Delaware o victim financial assistance, 332 Department of Housing and Urban Development witness relocation program, 77 DESNOS. See Diagnosis of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified Diagnosis of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified, 224 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 220 Dialogue programs, 130, 141-142, 286 Disciplinary hearings and victims' rights, 32-33 District of Columbia o AYUDA, 157, 251 o community prosecution program, 80 o One Voice, 375 o Operation Crackdown, 255 DNA People's Legal Services, Inc., 250 DOJ. See U.S. Department of Justice Domestic Abuse Code, 32 Domestic violence o Community Domestic Violence Awareness Center, 100 o Community Domestic Violence Resource Network, 55 o counseling for victims, 51 o Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Antistalking Legislation, 160 o Domestic Violence Advocacy Project, 254 o Domestic Violence and Health Care: Initiatives for the New Millennium, 204 o Domestic Violence Intervention Division, 50-51 o Domestic Violence Law Clinic, 254 o elderly victims, 167 o family violence councils, 100 o health care system programs, 202 o impact on the workplace, 301-303, 305-307 o international programs, 416 o Kenosha Domestic Abuse Intervention Program, 78 o National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 162 o National Domestic Violence Hotline, 161, 187-188 o National Network to End Domestic Violence, 162 o "no drop" policies, 91 o by police officers, 66-67 o programs for victims with special needs, 78 o vertical prosecution, 90 o victim assistance programs, 161-163 Driving under the influence. See also Mothers Against Drunk Driving o child endangerment, 406-407 o international programs, 416 o legislation, 169 o prosecution programs, 81 o victim assistance programs, 168-170 Drug crimes and community impact statements, 101 Drunk driving. See Driving under the influence DUI. See Driving under the influence E EAP. See Employee assistance programs Earn-It Program, 358 Education Development Center, 269 Educational community o college and university campus crime, 267-269, 275-277 o crime in schools, 263-265 o crime prevention strategies, 271-275 o crisis response protocols, 279 o education about victimization, 269-271, 274 o gang activity in schools, 264, 267 o identifying missing and exploited children, 275 o recommendations from the field, 273-279 o resources on victim rights, 279 o sexual assault awareness and prevention programs, 275-277 o training professionals on crime issues, 278 o victim assistance programs in schools, 265-267, 273-274 o victims' rights concerning disciplinary hearings, 278-279 Educational programs o for attorneys on victims' rights, 111, 258-260 o for clergy, 288-289 o for correctional staff, 139-140 o for health care professionals, 203-206, 209-211 o for judges and court personnel on victims' rights, 104-106 o for law students on victims' rights and sensitivity training, 91-92 o mental health care, 231-233 o for mental health care professionals, 237-238 o for offenders on the impact of crime on victims, 129 o on responding to hate and bias crimes, 173 o training education professionals on crime issues, 278 o victim sensitivity for the news media, 319 o victim service providers, 178-179, 182-183 o for victims' rights professionals, 34-35 Elderly victims o community criminal justice partnerships, xxi o domestic abuse, 167 o fraud, 167 o Seniors and Law Enforcement Officers Together Council, 52 o special prosecutors for elder exploitation and neglect, 78 o Triad programs, xxi, 52, 168 o victim assistance programs, 167-168 o Victim-Witness Assistance Program, 79 Emergency medical care compensation programs for victims, 203 Employee assistance programs, 302 Employment, victims' protection against discrimination in, 25-26 Episcopalian Church, 287 Ethnicity. See Cultural diversity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 287 Exodus Center for Life, 285 F Faith community o clergy misconduct, 291 o community crisis response, 292 o confidentiality issues, 286-287, 290 o educating congregations about crime, 291 o educational programs for clergy, 288-289 o multidisciplinary efforts, 285-286 o recommendations from the field, 287-292 o reporting crime to law enforcement, 286-287, 290 o victim assistance programs, 283-285, 287, 289-290 o victim-offender dialogue programs, 286 False Claims Act, 35 False memory syndrome, 229 Family violence. See also Domestic violence o councils, 100 o court, 102 o Family Violence Prevention Fund, 204 o health care system programs, 202 Family Violence Prevention Fund, 204 "Fast track" policies, 88-89 FBI. See Federal Bureau of Investigation Federal Agency Task Force for Missing and Exploited Children, 52 Federal Antistalking Law, 5 Federal Bureau of Investigation o crime victim interactions, 50 o victim assistance training, 58 o Victim-Witness brochure, 50 Federal Bureau of Prisons victim awareness classes, 129 Federal Gun Control Act, 66 Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, 58 Federal Protection for Battered Immigrant Women, 426-427 Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 35-36 Federal Resources on Missing and Exploited Children: A Directory for Law Enforcement and Other Public and Private Agencies, 52 Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 89 Federal Victims' Rights Constitutional Amendment o opposition to, 10-11 o Presidential endorsement, 6 o proposal, 5-6 o recommendation, 9-12 o rights to be included, x o supported by Attorney General, 10-11 Final Report, President's Task Force on Victims of Crime, ix, xix, 3-4, 98 A Final Summary Report, 160 Financial recovery. See also Fraud o crime victim compensation, 325-351 o overview, xvii-xviii FLETC. See Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Florida o Crime Victims Protection Act, 317-318 o Crimes Against Children Program, 49 o domestic violence program, 177 o domestic violence unit, 51 o Interagency Workgroup on the Impact of Domestic Violence on the o Workplace, 302 o special prosecutors for elder exploitation and neglect, 78 o victim service center, 155 o Victim Services Practitioner Designation Training Program, 178 o Victim Services Unit, 269 Florida Star v. B.J.F., 317 Focus on the Future: A Systems Approach to Prosecution and Victim Assistance, 83, 92 Fort Peck Assiniboine Tribe, 267 France o victim assistance program, 416 Fraud o elderly victims, 167 o victim assistance programs, 173-174 Funding of victim assistance services, 35-37 Furnace Street Mission, 284 FVPF. See Family Violence Prevention Fund G GANG. See Group Against Neighborhood Graffiti Gang Victim Services, xxiii, 157 Gang violence o community policing programs, 56 o counseling and prevention programs, 208-209 o in schools, 264, 267 o support and intervention program, 284 o victim assistance programs, 171 Gatekeepers Elder Assistance Referral System, 168 Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, 250 GEARS. See Gatekeepers Elder Assistance Referral System George Washington University Law Center, 254 Georgia o Children's Legal Advocacy Coalition, 253 Global challenges, viii Globe Communications Corp., 317 Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, 399 Group Against Neighborhood Graffiti, 56 Guide for Policymakers, 418 Guidelines Governing Restitution to Victims of Criminal Conduct, 356 Gundersen Lutheran Crime Victim Services and Victim Resource Center, 207 Gunshot victims, counseling and prevention programs for, 208-209, 213-214 H Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, 422 Handbook on Justice for Victims, 418 Harassment. See Intimidation and victims' rights Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress, 204, 233 Hate Crime Statistics Act, 172 Hate crimes, victim assistance programs for, 171-173 Head Start, 393, 402-403 "Healing Hearts/Mending Minds," 269-270 Health care system o compensation for emergency medical care, 203 o confidentiality and privacy needs of victims, 213 o costs to system, 199 o death notifications by health care professionals, 215-216 o discrimination against victims of crime by insurance companies, 215, 239 o effects of universal health care on victim o compensation, 350 o family violence programs, 202 o gang violence victim programs, 208-209 o gunshot victim programs, 208-209, 213-214 o impact of reform on mental health care, 229 o multidisciplinary approaches, 206-207 o neuropsychological evaluations, 216 o professional education and training, 203-206, 211 o providing response staff for crisis counseling, 211 o recommendations for hospitals, 200-201 o recommendations from the field, 209-216 o screening patients for abuse indicators, 210 o Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, 164-165, 201, 203, 212 o sexual assault programs, 202-203 o staff victimization, 214 o treating children who witness violence, 214 o using technology to provide services to underserved victims, 215 Health insurance. See Insurance companies Healthy Start, 393 Hearsay laws, 399-400 Helping Victims and Witnesses in the Juvenile Justice System, 8 Higher Education Center Against Violence and Abuse, 270-271 HIP (domestic violence education program), 205 HIV infection o high risk youth, 393 o sexual assault victims' right to anonymous testing, 212 o victim testing rights, 26-28 Homeless youth, 393, 403-404 Homicide by abuse, 390-391 Homicide survivors, victim assistance programs for, 165-166 Hospitals o recommendations for, 200-201 o response staff for crisis counseling, 211 Hotlines o National Domestic Violence Hotline, 161, 187-188 o sexual abuse hotline, 298 House Select Committee on Aging, 167 HUD. See Department of Housing and Urban Development I ICAN. See Interagency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect Idaho o community policing programs, 56 Illinois o panic devices for at-risk victims, 49 o programs for victims with special needs, 79 o Violent Injury Prevention Center, 209 Impact of Crime on Victims program, 129 Impact statements. See Community impact statements; Victim impact statements Indian Tribes. See Tribal court systems Individuals with disabilities. See also Victims with disabilities o assistance programs o victim assistance programs, 189 Institutional corrections. See Corrections system Insurance companies o discrimination against victims of crime, 215, 239 o responsibilities for payment in child victimization cases, 407-408 Interagency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, 391 International Crime [Victimization] Survey, 415 International issues o collaboration on victims issues, 417 o commercial sexual exploitation of children, 421 o compensation for victims of crimes occurring in other countries, 330-331, 350-351 o compensation programs, 419-420 o crisis response, 420 o implementation of the Federal Protection for Battered Immigrant Women, 426-427 o International Crime [Victimization] Survey, 415 o parental child abduction, 421-422 o plan of action for responding to U.S. citizens o victimized abroad, 425-426 o reciprocity in compensation and assistance programs, 424 o recommendations from the field, 422-427 o standards for addressing criminal cases, 424 o standards of victim assistance, 423 o support group for terrorism victims, 426 o technical assistance and training capacity, 423 o terrorism, 420 o tourist assistance programs, 425 o United Nations initiatives, 417-418 o U.S. role in victim assistance, 422 o victim assistance programs, xix, 416 o victim assistance research, 424 o victim care corps, 425 o victimization of tourists, 419 International Victim Compensation Program Directory, 330, 419 Internet. See also Technology o computer exploitation of children, 404 o notification of release for victims, 14 Interviewing techniques, 65 Intimidation and victims' rights, 18-19, 63-64, 76-77, 84-85, 125-126, 135 IOC program. See Impact of Crime on Victims program Iowa o software system for victim compensation claims processing, 334 Issue coding, 260 J Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexual Violent Offender o Registration Act, 5, 126, 386 Jails. See Corrections system Journalists. See News media Judicial system o alternatives to live in-court testimony for children, 402 o assignments to specialized courts, 114 o challenging children's capacity to testify, 400-401 o children testifying in court, 398-399 o Codes of Judicial Conduct, 113-114 o concerns about implementing victims' rights, 99 o court proceedings for child victimization cases, 400-402 o "court school" programs for children, 396-397 o current system, 116 o education for judges and court personnel, 104-106 o encouraging judicial leadership, 99-100 o judges' role in ensuring victims' rights, 97-98, 104, 106-115 o juvenile court child protection system, 392 o plea agreements, 108-109 o pressures on the court system, 116 o pretrial release orders, 107 o providing separate waiting areas for victims, 113 o recommendations from the field, 103-115 o reorienting courts, 115 o restructuring courts, 101-103 o special advocates for children, 391, 402 Juvenile court child protection system, 392 Juvenile Law Committee, 253 Juvenile offenders o justice system overview, xi-xiii o Report and Recommendations on Victims of Juvenile Offenders, 121 o restitution orders, 8, 23 K Kaiser Permanente, 296, 302 Kentucky o automated victim notification system, 49 Kentucky v. Stincer, 401 Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, 272 KidStART, 209 Koop, C. Everett, 199 L Lautenberg Amendment, 66 Law enforcement o community criminal justice partnerships, xxi o community policing, xxii, 53, 55-56, 59 o crime reporting by the faith community, 286-287 o criminal conduct by officers, 66-67 o crisis intervention for family members of injured or killed personnel, 65-66 o death notifications, 53-54, 62, 169 o multidisciplinary team approaches, 50-52 o procedures for response to crime victims, 68-69 o protecting victims from intimidation, 63-64 o providing information to victims in writing, 61 o recommendations from the field, 59-67 o return of property to victims and witnesses, 67 o role in responding to crime victims, 47-50, 59-60 o standards of service for victim and witness assistance, 56-57, 61 o training, 57-59, 64-65 o training program on responding to hate and bias crimes, 173 o victim notification of investigation status, 63 Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, 47 Law students. See also Attorneys o victims' rights and sensitivity training, 91-92 Lawsuits. See Civil remedies Lawyers. See Attorneys; Legal profession Lawyers for Children, 253 LCAV. See Legal Community Against Violence LEAA. See Law Enforcement Assistance Administration Leadership Through Education and Advocacy for the Deaf, 159 Legal Community Against Violence, 254-255 Legal Initiative for Freedom and Empowerment, 253 Legal profession o ABA Center on Children and the Law, 385 o assisting victims of violence and abuse, 252-255 o community assistance, 255, 257 o continuing education, 258-260 o cultural diversity issues, 260 o multidisciplinary approaches, 256-257 o providing informational materials, 256 o recommendations from the field, 255-260 o role in ensuring crime victims' rights, 249-252, 255-258 o victim-related issue codes or indices, 260 o victims' issues committees, 258 Lehigh University, 268 Litigation. See Civil remedies Liz Claiborne, Inc., 302 Los Angeles County Domestic Violence Council, 78 Loved Ones of Homicide Victims, 166 M MADD. See Mothers Against Drunk Driving Maine o board of parole mission statement, 124 Managed care providers' responsibility for payment in child victimization cases, 407-408 Mandamus, applications for, 28 Mandatory Victim Restitution Act, 20, 356 Marshalls Inc., 297 Maryland o Community Law Center, 255 o death notification protocols, 53 Massachusetts o community policing programs, 56 o Earn-It Program, 358 o panic devices for at-risk victims, 49 o Violent Prevention Club, 209 Media. See News media Mediation/dialogue programs, 130, 141-142, 286 Medical community. See Health care system Megan's Law, 5, 126, 142-143, 387 Mental health care o acute traumatic stress disorder, 220, 223 o for children and adolescents, 227-228, 239 o chronic victimization, 226-227, 238 o community mental health centers, 243 o community service programs, 240-241 o compensation programs, 338-339 o confidentiality issues, 228-229 o crime-related psychological trauma, 219-224 o crimes perpetrated by acquaintances, 227 o crisis reaction to victimization, 220, 222-223 o cycle of violence, 226-227, 238, 384, 387 o education programs for professionals, 237-238 o ethnic identification, 225-226 o impact of child victimization, 388-389 o impact of health care reform, 229 o innovative programs, 230-233 o interventions, 224-225, 238 o long-term trauma, 223-224 o multidisciplinary approaches, 242 o posttraumatic stress disorder, 220, 223-224 o recommendations for, 220 o recommendations from the field, 234-243 o recovered memories, 229-230 o referral systems, 242 o repeat victimization, 226-227, 238 o research studies, 231-233 o secondary victims of crime, 241 o short-term trauma, 222-223 o victim activism, 234 o victim counseling, 224-225, 234-236, 238 o victim support groups, 233-234, 240 Midwest LEAD Institute, 159 Military justice proceedings and victims' rights, 31 Minnesota o Coalition for Battered Women, 162 o domestic violence education program, 205 o Higher Education Center Against Violence and Abuse, 270-271 o Office of the Crime Victims' Ombudsman, 30 Mintz Levin Domestic Violence Project, 303 Missing and Exploited Children Training and Technical Assistance Program, 392 Missing Children's Assistance Act, 385 Missing Children's Clearinghouses, 396 Mississippi o Exodus Center for Life, 285 Missouri o Crime Victim Recovery Project, 232 o Midwest Leadership Through Education and Advocacy for the Deaf, 159 o truancy prosecution programs, 81 MLI. See Midwest LEAD Institute "Mobo cop" substations, 48 Model Domestic Violence Code, 161 Montana o Gatekeepers Elder Assistance Referral System, 168 Morita Therapy, 238 Mothers Against Drunk Driving o creation of, 150, 169 o death notification protocols, 53 o formation of National Victims' Constitutional Amendment Network, 5-6 National Youth Summit on Underage Drinking, 272 o requirements of chapters, 182 o support to schools, 267 o victim support, 234 Multidisciplinary team approaches o for child abuse and neglect cases, 390 o faith community programs, 285-286 o in health care settings, 206-207 o law enforcement, 50-52 o between legal profession and community service providers, 256-257 o in mental health care, 242 o prosecutors participation in child abuse cases, 79, 85-86 o victim assistance programs, 187 o victim compensation, 345 N NACC. See National Association of Counsel for Children NACVCB. See National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards National Association of Counsel for Children, 251 National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards, 326 National Bias Crimes Training for Law Enforcement and Victim Assistance Professionals, 173 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 150, 385, 396, 422 National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse, 385-386 National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, 385 National Center on Child Fatality Review, 391 National Child Protection Act, 386, 397-398 National Church Arson Task Force, 172 National Coalition Against Domestic Violence o creation of, 149-150, 202 o free medical services for domestic abuse victims, 207 o function of, 162 National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 149-150, 164 National Conference of the Judiciary on the Rights of Victims of Crime, 98 National Crime Victimization Survey, 163 National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, 207, 231 National Crime Victims Rights Week, 154 National Day of Concern About Young People and Gun Violence, 272-273 National Domestic Violence Hotline, 161, 187-188 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 299 National Institute of Education, 263 National Institute of Justice, 58, 160, 387-388 National Juvenile Action Plan, 8 National Network to End Domestic Violence, 162 National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers, 390 National Organization for Victim Assistance o creation of, 149, 153 o crisis response teams, xxi-xxii, 156 o formation of National Victims' Constitutional Amendment Network, 5-6 o model program standards, 182 o school-based programs, 269 o training mental health providers, 233 National School Safety Center, 265 National Victim Assistance Academy, 178 National Victim Center [National Center for Victims of Crime] o creation of, 150 o function of, 153 o study of implementation of victim rights laws, 11-12 National Victim Services Survey of Adult and Juvenile Correctional Agencies and Paroling Authorities, 125 National Victims' Constitutional Amendment Network, 5-6 National Women's Study, 314 National Workplace Resource Center on Domestic Violence, 301 National Youth Summit on Underage Drinking, 272 Native Americans. See Tribal court systems Navajo Justice Day, 100 Navajo Nation. See also Tribal court systems o DNA People's Legal Services, Inc., 250 o peacemaking system, 102 o Uniform Sentencing Policy, 32 NCADV. See National Coalition Against Domestic Violence NCASA. See National Coalition Against Sexual Assault NCVC. See National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center Needs assessments and victim assistance programs, 175-176, 180-181 Neighborhood District Attorney program, 81 Neighbors Who Care, 284 Neuropsychological evaluations, 216 Nevada o Victim Witness Assistance Center, 77 New Jersey o Bias Crime Unit, 173 o Rise Above It program, 272 New Mexico o software system for victim compensation claims processing, 334 New York o Children's Advocacy Center, 207 o crimes victimizing the community, 101 o domestic violence counseling, 51 o Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, 250 o Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, 100 o Project L.I.F.E., 253 o United Federation of Teachers, 266 -- victim advocacy program, 269 -- Victim Services, 166, 176-177, 205-206, 232-233, 266, 270 -- Youth Empowerment Association, 165 New Zealand o domestic violence program, 416 o juvenile justice system, 103 News media o coverage of sexual assault victims, 314-315 o debriefing protocols, 320 o educating victim service providers, 319 o guidelines for journalists, 315-319 o guidelines for victims, 189-191 o legislation to protect crime victim identity, 317-318, 320 o privacy issues, 313 o recommendations from the field, 318-320 o role in public safety, 313 NIJ. See National Institute of Justice NNEDV. See National Network to End Domestic Violence "No drop" policies, 91 No More Violence--Reclaiming Our Communities project, 252 "No-contact" provisions, 107 Nolo contendere pleas, 76, 87 Notification of release. See Release notification NOVA. See National Organization for Victim Assistance NSSC. See National School Safety Center NVAA. See National Victim Assistance Academy NVC. See National Victim Center NVCAN. See National Victims' Constitutional Amendment Network O OCVO. See Office of the Crime Victims' Ombudsman Office for Victims of Crime o compensation mentoring program, 334-335 o death notification protocols, 53 o educational programs for correctional staff, 140 o function of, 151-152 o funding of mental health services for crime victims, 221 o victim assistance program for individuals with disabilities, 160 Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 55-56 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 8, 390 Office of the Crime Victims' Ombudsman, 30 Ohio o Furnace Street Mission, 284 OJJDP. See Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Oklahoma o sexual assault program, 52 Ombudsman programs, 29-31 On-call system, 89-90 One Voice, 375 Operation Crackdown, 255 Operation Safe Home, 77 Oregon o board of parole mission statement, 124 o community prosecution program, 80 OVC. See Office for Victims of Crime P Parents o international parental child abduction, 421-422 o removing custody from abusive parents, 406 o truancy prosecution programs, 81 Parents of Murdered Children, 150, 166, 234 Parole. See also Corrections system o board of parole mission statements, 124 o role of victims, 122-123 o Task Force recommendations, 119-120 o violations of conditions of supervision, 129, 142 Partnerships. See also Multidisciplinary team approaches o community policing programs, 53, 55-56 o law enforcement, 50-52 PEARLS. See People Empowered About Real Life Situations Pennsylvania o Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia, 166 o programs for victims with special needs, 78 Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 399 People Empowered About Real Life Situations, 266 Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, 100 Plea agreements o consultation with victims of juvenile offenders, 7 o judges' responsibilities, 108-109 o victims' right to consultation, 15-17, 76, 87 Polaroid Corporation, 297, 301 Police departments. See Law enforcement A Policymakers Guide to Hate Crime, 160 POMC. See Parents of Murdered Children Pornography, 386-387 Posttrauma counseling/therapy, 225 Posttraumatic stress disorder, 220, 223-224, 388-389 President's Child Safety Partnership, 265 President's Task Force on Victims of Crime, 3-6, 13, 97-98, 150, 220, 326-327 Pretrial release o "no-contact" provision, 107 o victims' rights to attend hearings, 17-18 Prevalence and Consequences of Child Victimization, 388 Prisons. See Corrections system Privacy issues. See also Confidentiality issues o child victim records, 399 o legislation to protect crime victim identity, 317-318 o news media and, 313 Pro Se Divorce Clinic for Domestic Violence Victims, 252 Probation. See also Corrections system o role of victims, 122-123 Professional athletes, 298 Project L.I.F.E., 253 Project to Develop a Model Anti-Stalking Code for the States, 160, 170 Project Ujima, 208-209 Promising practices, purpose of, xxi Promising Practices and Strategies for Victim Services in Corrections project, 140, 357 Promising Strategies and Practices for Professional Education grants, 270 Promising Strategies for Victim Services in Probation and Parole, 140 Prosecution o community programs, xxii, 79-81, 85 o "fast track" policies, 88-89 o increasing victim participation, 75-76, 86-88 o multidisciplinary approach to investigating child abuse cases, 79, 85-86 o "no drop" policies for domestic violence cases, 91 o notifying victims of case status, 82-83, 87 o programs for victims with special needs, 78-79 o prosecutors' response to crime victims, 73-75 o prosecutors' role in crime prevention, 81 o protecting victims and witnesses from intimidation, 76-77, 84-85 o recommendations from the field, 82-92 o return of property to victims, 92 o special prosecution units, 77-78 o use of technology, 89-90 o vertical prosecution, 90 o victims' rights and sensitivity training for law students, 91-92 o victim-witness assistance units, 83 Protection for Battered Immigrant Women, 426-427 PTSD. See Posttraumatic stress disorder Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program, 65-66 R Racketeering, 35-36 RAINN. See Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network Rape. See also Sexual assault o crisis programs, 149 o Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, 164 o Rape in America: A Report to the Nation, 314 o Rape Treatment Center, 232, 270 Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, 164 Recovered memories, 229-230 Recovering Your Stolen Property: How to Get it Back Once the Police Find It, 92 Referral systems for mental health care, 242 Regional Seminar Series on Developing Antistalking Codes, 160 Release notification o automated system, 49 o community notification, 126-127, 142-143 o victims' rights, 13-14, 124-125, 133-135 Religion. See Faith community Relocation programs, 77 Remove Intoxicated Drivers, 169 Reno, Janet o Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 8 o support for federal victims' rights constitutional amendment, 10-11 Repeat victimization, 226-227, 238 Report and Recommendations on Victims of Juvenile Offenders, 121 Research studies o funding research, 404-405 o mental health care, 231-233, 236 o victim assistance research, 424 Resource Guidelines: Improving Court Practices in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases, 392 Responding to Workplace Violence and Staff Victimization, 140 Restitution o automated systems, 360-361, 366-367 o bond forfeiture, 362 o civil remedies, 361, 368-369 o collection in institutions, 362, 368 o community restitution, 362-363 o coordinated interagency collection, 359-361, 364-365 o correctional agencies' role, 128, 136-137 o determining offender's ability to pay, 366 o documenting losses, 366 o enforcing statutes, 363, 364 o extending sentences for failure to comply, 368 o judges' responsibilities, 112-113 o juvenile offenders and, 23 o legislation affecting, 356 o managing cases, 368 o military justice proceedings and, 31 o models for implementing statutes, 358-359 o obstacles to managing a successful program, 357-358 o priority of payments, 367 o private collection agencies, 363 o recidivism, 357 o recommendations from the field, 364-369 o State requirements, 356-357 o victims' rights, 19-20, 355, 365, 369 "Reverse Miranda" cards, 61, 68 RICO. See Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act RID. See Remove Intoxicated Drivers Rise Above It program, 272 Royal Family Kids Camps, 285 Runaway youth, 393, 403-404 Rural areas using technology to provide services, 215 Ryke R.O.S.E. Foundation, 297 S SADD. See Students Against Drunk Driving Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, 265 Safe Harbor program, 266 Safe Kids/Safe Streets program, 392-393 SALT Council. See Seniors and Law Enforcement Officers Together Council Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Council's Children's Bill of Rights, 32 San Francisco General Hospital Violence Prevention Task Force, 206 SANE. See Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Santa Monica-UCLA Rape Treatment Center, 33 Save Our Sons and Daughters, 166 School Crime: A National Crime Victimization Survey Report, 263 School Resource Officers programs, 266 Schools. See Educational community Seattle Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services, xxiii Secondary victims of crime, 241 Security on Campus, Inc., 150, 268 Seniors. See Elderly victims Seniors and Law Enforcement Officers Together Council, 52 Sentencing o truth in sentencing reforms, 25, 31 o victims' rights to attend proceedings, 17 Serving Crime Victims and Witnesses, 177-178 Sexual abuse. See also Sexual assault o children as victims, 383 o children's advocacy centers, xxi o commercial sexual exploitation of children, 421 o hotline, 298 o interview center for investigating cases involving children, 79 o sex tourism, 421 o victim assistance program for children with disabilities,159 Sexual assault. See also Rape; Sexual abuse o awareness and prevention programs in schools, 275-277 o awareness in the workplace, 307 o health care system programs, 202-203 o HIV testing, 212 o impact of child victimization, 388-389 o National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 164 o news media coverage, 314-315 o Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, 164-165, 201, 203, 212 o standardized rape examination kit, 164 o vertical prosecution, 90 o victim assistance programs, 163-165 o victim input, 88 o victim support program, 52 Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners, 164-165, 201, 203, 212 Sexual Assault on Campus, 273 Sexual offenders o community notification of release, 126-127, 142-143 o disciplinary hearings, 32-33 o HIV testing, 26-28 SFGH. See San Francisco General Hospital Shamans, 226 Sioux Tribe, 267 "Sleeper effects" of abuse, 405 Social workers, 285 Society of Traumatic Stress Studies, 221 SOSAD. See Save Our Sons and Daughters South Africa o domestic violence education, 416 South Carolina o Burned Church Coalition, 172 o National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, 207, 231 o Office of the Crime Victims' Ombudsman, 30 Special needs victims. See Victims with disabilities assistance programs Special prosecution units, 77-78 SRO. See School Resource Officers programs St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 315-317 Stalking o State legislation, 4 o victim assistance programs, 170 Standards for Law Enforcement Agencies, 57, 60 STAR-DUI, 81 State v. Globe Communications Corp., 317 Statement of Recommended Judicial Practices, 98 States. See also individual States by name o child abuse legislation, 387, 388 o crime victims' bills of rights, 151 o restitution requirements, 356-357 o State Missing Children's Clearinghouses, 396 o victim compensation programs, 325-326, 349-350 o victims' rights statutes, 3-4, 25 Stephanie Roper Committee, 166 Stuart House, 80 Student Right to Know Campus Security Act of 1990, 33 Students. See also Educational community o disciplinary hearings, 32-33 Students Against Drunk Driving, 169 Support groups, 233-234, 240, 426 Support services and victims' rights, 21-22 Suppressed memories, 229-230 T Tariq Khamisa Foundation, 171, 266 Task Force on Adolescent Assault Victim Needs, 208 TCC. See Teens, Crime, and the Community Teamwork Insuring Elder Support, 168 Technology o automated restitution systems, 360-361 o automated victim information and notification system, 90 o to benefit crime victims, xxii o prosecution's use, 89-90 o providing services to underserved victims, 215 o use in victim assistance programs, 176-177, 188 o victim compensation claims processing, 334, 348-349 o for victim notification by correctional agencies, 135-136 o voice response technology for victim notification, 14 Teens, Crime, and the Community, 272 Teens on Target program, 171, 208 Telemedicine, xxii Television programs, 298-299 Tender Loving Care, 166 Tennessee o Victim Intervention Program, 50-51 o Victims to Victory, 284 Terrorism o Antiterrorism Act, 5 o Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 20, 331 o victim assistance, 416, 420, 426 Texas o Brazos County Rape Crisis Center, 176 o death notification protocols, 53 o family violence court, 102 o "Mobo cop" substations, 48 o Tender Loving Care, 166 o Victim Services 2000, 155-156 o victim-offender dialogue program, 130 TIES. See Teamwork Insuring Elder Support Title II of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, 20 TNT. See Teens on Target program Tourists o assistance programs, 425 o victimization of, 419 Training. See also Educational programs o educating professionals on victims' rights, 34-35 o law enforcement, 57-59, 64-65 Trauma and Recovery, 230 Triad programs, xxi, 52, 168 Tribal court systems o DNA People's Legal Services, Inc., 250 o Navajo Justice Day, 100 o peacemaking system, 102 o Uniform Sentencing Policy, 32 o victims' rights, 31-32 Truth in sentencing, 25, 31 U Underserved victims o programs for, xxiii o using technology to provide services, 215 Uniform Code of Military Justice, 31 Uniform Sentencing Policy, 32 United Federation of Teachers, 266 United Nations' initiatives addressing crime victim needs, 417-418 United States Catholic Conference, 284 Universities. See Educational community University of Arizona Domestic Violence Law Clinic, 254 U.S. Department of Justice o Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 8 o Office for Victims of Crime, 151-152 o victim assistance pilot programs, 149 o Violence Against Women Grants Office, 152, 161 U.S. Department of the Navy, Corrections and Programs Division impact-of-crime classes, 129 V VALOR. See Victims' Assistance Legal Organization VAWA. See Violence Against Women Act VAWGO. See Violence Against Women Grants Office Vermont o victim financial assistance, 332-333 Vertical impact statements, 17-18 Vertical prosecution, 90 Victim activism, 234 Victim and Witness Coordinating Council, 179 Victim and Witness Protection Act, 3 o restitution orders, 356 o statement of purpose, 4 Victim Assistance Academy, 270 Victims' Assistance Legal Organization, 150, 270, 359 Victim assistance programs o bank robbery victims, 174-175 o code of ethics, 185-186 o community response to crime victims, 155-156, 181-182 o continuing education, 178-179, 182-183 o developing statewide crisis response teams, 186 o development of, 149 o domestic violence victims, 161-163 o drunk driving victims, 168-170 o elderly victims, 167-168 o enactment of state crime victims' bills of rights, 151 o establishing comprehensive services, 181, 192-193 o evaluating effectiveness of, 184-185 o expanding services, 154-155 o faith-based, 283-285 o fraud victims, 173-174 o funding, 35-37 o gang violence victims, 171 o guidelines for victims in dealing with the media, 189-191 o hate and bias crime victims, 171-173 o homicide survivors, 165-166 o impact of the Office for Victims of Crime, 151-152 o impact of the Victims of Crime Act, 151-152 o international programs, 416 o law enforcement standards, 56-57, 61 o law enforcement's role, 47-50, 59-60 o model program elements, 150-151 o multidisciplinary team approaches, 50-52, 187 o National Domestic Violence Hotline, 161, 187-188 o National Organization for Victim Assistance, 153 o National Victim Center, 153 o needs assessments, 175-176, 180-181 o overview, xiii-xvii o program standards, 177-178, 183 o public awareness, 154, 184 o recommendations from the field, 179-190 o respecting cultural diversity, 157-158, 179-180 o responding to specific victim populations, 160-161 o school-based, 265-267 o services, 153-154 o sexual assault victims, 163-165 o stalking victims, 170 o use of technology, 176-177, 188 o using excess funds from victim compensation, 351 o victims with disabilities, 158-160, 189 o Violence Against Women Grants Office, 152 o white collar crime victims, 173-174 Victim Assistance Provider's Code of Ethics, 185-186 Victim impact awareness, 129, 141 Victim impact statements o judges' responsibilities, 107-108 o legislation impacting, 5 o at parole hearings, 127-128, 137-139 o State initiatives, 3 o vertical impact statements, 17-18 o victims of juvenile offenders, 7, 22-23 Victim Intervention Program, 50-51 Victim Offender Reconciliation Program, 286 Victim ombudsman programs, 29-31 Victim Resource Center, 30-31 Victim service centers, xxiii Victim Services, 150, 166, 176-177, 205-206, 232-233, 266, 270 Victim Services 2000, 155-156, 181 Victim Services Practitioner Designation Training Program, 178 Victim Services Unit, 269 Victim support groups, 233-234, 240 Victim Support Program, 266-267 "Victim-assisted" investigations, 55 Victim-offender dialogue programs, 130, 141-142, 286 Victims' Assistance Legal Organization, 178 Victims Committee, 8 Victims of Child Abuse Act, 386 Victims of Crime Act o funding victim assistance services, 36-37, 47 o impact on mental health services for crime victims, 221 o impact on victim assistance programs, 151-152 o victim compensation and, 327 Victims of Gang Violence: A New Frontier in Victim Services, 208, 214 Victims' rights. See also Victim impact statements o administrative proceedings, 32-33 o advocate assistance, 24 o attending pretrial release hearings, 17-18 o attending public court proceedings, 12-14, 106-107 o beginnings of change, 3 o community impact statements, 28 o compliance enforcement programs, 29-31 o concerns about implementing, 99 o consultation on case decisions, 15-17, 75-76, 86-88, 108-109 o corrections system role, 132-143 o educating professionals, 34-35 o employer discrimination, 25-26 o enforcement of rights, 29 o explanation of rights and services, 23-24 o Federal initiatives, 4-5 o Federal Victims' Rights Constitutional Amendment proposal, 5-6, 9-12 o funding services, 35-37 o HIV testing, 26-28 o implementing legislation, 109-110 o judges' role, 97-98, 104, 106-115 o law enforcement responsibilities, 50 o military justice proceedings, 31 o monitoring compliance of laws, 33-34 o notice of public court proceedings, 12-14 o notice of release, 13-14, 124-125, 133-135 o notification of investigation status, 63 o notification of prosecution status, 82-83 o overview, ix-xi o prosecution victim-witness assistance units, 83 o prosecution's use of technology, 89-90 o prosecutors' role, 73-75 o reasonable protection from harassment and o intimidation, 18-19, 63-64, 76-77, 84-85, 125-126, 135 o recommendations from the field, 8-37 o restitution orders, 19-20, 23, 112-113, 128, 136-137 o return of property, 67, 92 o State initiatives, 3-4 o State statutes, 25 o support services, 21-22 o training for law students, 91-92 o Tribal court systems, 31-32 o truth in sentencing reforms, 25 o unreasonable delay of proceedings, 21, 88-89 o victims' bills of rights, 3, 151 o victims of juvenile offenders, 4, 6-8, 22-23 Victims' Rights Act, 30 Victims' Rights and Restitution Act of 1990, 5 Victims' Rights and the Media, 190 Victims' Rights Clarification Act, 5 Victims to Victory, 284 Victims with disabilities assistance programs, xxiii, 78-79, 158-160, 189 Victim-witness assistance units, 83 Victim-Witness Coordinator, 174-175 Violence Against Women Act, 100, 151-152, 161, 228, 375, 426 Violence Against Women Grants Office, 152, 161, 228 Violence Impact Forum, 266 Violence Prevention Task Force, 206 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, 5, 27, 55, 356 Violent Injury Prevention Center, 209 Violent Prevention Club, 209 VOCA. See Victims of Crime Act VOCA Victim Compensation Final Program Guidelines, 329 VRA. See Victims' Rights Act VRC. See Victim Resource Center VSP. See Victim Support Program VWPA. See Victim and Witness Protection Act W Walk in the Light--A Pastoral Response to Child Sexual Abuse, 284 Warner Bros. Television, 296 Washington o automated restitution system, 361 o Center for Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence, 285 o emergency assistance for crime victims, 49-50 o Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress, 204, 233 When I Call for Help--A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against Women, 284 When Will They Ever Learn? Educating to End Domestic Violence, 259 White collar crime, victim assistance programs for, 173-174 Wisconsin o community prosecution program, 80 o Gundersen Lutheran Crime Victim Services and Victim Resource Center, 207 o Kenosha Domestic Abuse Intervention Program, 78 o Project Ujima, 208-209 o Victim Resource Center, 30-31 Witnesses o Atlanta Victim-Witness Assistance Program, 156 o Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance, 4, 50, 75, 154 o Helping Victims and Witnesses in the Juvenile Justice System, 8 o law enforcement standards for assistance, 56-57 o prosecution victim-witness assistance units, 83 o protecting victims and witnesses from intimidation, 76-77 o reasonable protection from harassment and intimidation, 84-85, 125-126 o relocation programs, 77 o return of property to victims and witnesses, 67 o Serving Crime Victims and Witnesses, 177-178 o standards of service for victim and witness assistance, 61 o Victim and Witness Coordinating Council, 179 o Victim and Witness Protection Act, 3, 4, 356 o Victim-Witness Assistance Program, 79 o Victim-Witness Coordinator, 174-175 WomanKind, 202 Women's Resource Center, 269 WOMEN'S WORK campaign, 302 Workplace violence, 299-304, 307-310 Y Youth o gang violence victim programs, 208-209 o gunshot victim programs, 208-209 o homeless youth, 393, 403-404 o identifying high-risk youth, 393, 403-404 o mental health care, 227-228, 239 o National Youth Summit on Underage Drinking, 272 o runaway youth, 393, 403-404 o Teens, Crime, and the Community, 272 o Teens on Target program, 171, 208 Youth Empowerment Association, 165 Youth Firearms Violence program, 55 ---------------------------- Master List of New Directions Recommendations This section contains the recommendations set forth in New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century. The recommendations contained in each of New Directions' 18 chapters have been formatted as stand-alone documents that can be replicated for public awareness, education, and advocacy efforts. A detailed explanation of every recommendation can be found in the New Directions Report. The recommendations contained in this section are as follows: Chapter 1: Victims' Rights Chapter 2: Law Enforcement Chapter 3: Prosecution Chapter 4: Judiciary Chapter 5: Corrections Chapter 6: Victim Assistance Chapter 7: Health Care Chapter 8: Mental Health Chapter 9: Legal Chapter 10: Education Chapter 11: Faith Chapter 12: Business Chapter 13: News Media Chapter 14: Compensation Chapter 15: Restitution Chapter 16: Civil Remedies Chapter 17: Child Victims Chapter 18: International Chapter 1: Recommendations for Victims' Rights The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- The enactment of the Nation's first State Bill of Rights for crime victims in 1980 ushered in an era of dramatic progress for victims' rights. Since that time, State actions in legislating rights for crime victims within the criminal and juvenile justice systems have been remarkable. Laws extending rights to victims of Federal crimes have also been passed by Congress. Despite this record of success, too many crime victims are still being denied fundamental rights in the Federal, State, Tribal, and military justice systems. Many victims' rights laws are not being implemented, and few jurisdictions require proof of compliance from justice agencies mandated to carry out these important rights. To enhance victims' rights implementation efforts and improve legislative compliance across all justice systems, the following recommendations are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. The U.S. Constitution should be amended to guarantee fundamental rights for victims of crime. Constitutionally protected rights should include the right to notice of public court proceedings and to attend them; to make a statement to the court about bail, sentencing, and accepting a plea; to be told about, to attend, and to speak at parole hearings; to notice when the defendant or convict escapes, is released, or dies; to an order of restitution from the convicted offender; to a disposition free from unreasonable delay; to consideration for the safety of the victim in determining any release from custody; to notice of these rights; and to standing to enforce them. 2. Crime victims should have the right to notice of public court proceedings, including pretrial release hearings, plea agreements, sentencing, appeals, and appropriate postconviction release proceedings such as probation and parole hearings. Victims should also have the right to notice of any significant change in the status of defendants and to receive timely notice, upon request, of inmates' temporary or permanent release, or inmates' escape or death. 3. Federal and State laws should be strengthened to ensure that victims have the right to be present throughout all public court proceedings. 4. Prosecutors should provide victims an opportunity for meaningful consultation prior to major case decisions such as dismissal, reduction of charges, or acceptance of plea agreements. Judges should not accept plea agreements without first asking prosecutors on the record if they have consulted the victim, and judges should take the views of the victim into account before making a final sentencing decision. Special procedures should be developed for cases involving multiple crime victims, such as acts of mass violence, massive antitrust or telemarketing cases, where consultation may be difficult. 5. Crime victims should have the right to be heard in major court proceedings including pretrial release hearings, bail hearings, at sentencing, and before the disposition of plea agreements, probation, parole, and commutation. Input should be permitted through both oral and submission of written, videotaped, or audiotaped statements. 6. Victims and witnesses of crime should have the right to reasonable protection, including protection from intimidation. The safety of victims and witnesses should be considered in determining whether offenders should be released from custody prior to completing their full sentence. 7. Orders of full restitution for crime victims should be mandatory. Restitution orders should be automatically entered as civil judgments at the end of the offender's supervisory period if not paid. Alternatively, legislation could be enacted giving judges and paroling authorities jurisdiction for enforcing restitution orders until they are fully paid. 8. Victims should have the right to disposition of proceedings free from unreasonable delay. 9. All crime victims should have the right to a full range of services and support to help them recover physically, psychologically, and in practical ways from the effects of crime, whether or not they report the crime or become involved in related criminal prosecutions or juvenile adjudications. 10. Crime victims should have fundamental rights that are enforced in all juvenile justice proceedings. 11. All criminal and juvenile justice agencies, including courts, as well as victim assistance programs, should help ensure that victims receive information about their rights in a form they understand. 12. Victims of crime should receive assistance in exercising their participatory rights. Advocates should be available to explain rights to victims, help them to exercise those rights and, when necessary, serve as their representatives in court and other key justice processes when victims are underage or incapacitated or if representation is otherwise appropriate. 13. States should review their victims' rights statutes and constitutional amendments to determine if fundamental rights are extended to all crime victims. 14. States that have not already done so should adopt truth in sentencing reforms to ensure that victims know how long offenders will actually be incarcerated. 15. Federal and State laws should prohibit employers from taking adverse action against victims who must miss work to participate in the criminal or juvenile justice process. 16. In cases where there is good cause to believe that bodily fluids were exchanged, victims should have the right to be tested and to have the accused or convicted offender tested at appropriate times for the HIV virus and sexually transmitted diseases. State statutes should require these tests be conducted by specially trained personnel who can advise victims of the reliability, limitations, and significance of the test, as well as HIV treatment options. In addition, laws should specify the agency that will pay for HIV testing and pre- and posttest counseling, as well as treatment for any victims who test positive. 17. State and Federal laws should allow and criminal and juvenile justice agencies should facilitate community impact statements as a means for members of a neighborhood or community that has been impacted by crime to have input into sentencing. 18. Victims should have standing to enforce their rights, and sanctions should be applied to criminal and juvenile justice professionals who deny victims their fundamental rights. 19. States and the Federal Government should create compliance enforcement programs, sometimes referred to as victim ombudsman programs, to help facilitate the implementation of victims' rights. 20. Federal crime victims' rights should apply in military proceedings. 21. Indian tribes should review their legislation, policies, and court systems to enhance the fundamental rights of Native American victims. 22. Victims of crime should have rights at administrative proceedings, including the right to have a person of their choice accompany them to the proceedings, the right to input regarding the sanction, and the right to notification of the sanction. 23. Criminal and juvenile justice agencies should establish a means of monitoring their own compliance with crime victims' rights laws and require public documentation showing that victims were provided their rights or indicating an appropriate reason why they were not. In addition, independent audits should be conducted of State and Federal agency compliance with victims' rights laws. 24. Introductory and continuing education for all criminal and juvenile justice professionals should address victims rights, needs, and services, and incorporate involvement from crime victims themselves. 25. New funding mechanisms must be developed to support the expansion and implementation of victims' rights and services nationwide. ---------------------------- Chapter 2: Recommendations for Law Enforcement The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- The significance of law enforcement's role in responding to crime victims cannot be overemphasized. The way that victims are treated by dispatchers, the first officers arriving at the scene of the crime, and detectives investigating the case shapes their expectations of how they will be treated throughout the justice process, and their overall opinions of justice officials. It is therefore critical that every law enforcement professional who interacts with crime victims, either in person or over the telephone, knows how to respond in a sensitive and effective manner. Because the range of services provided by law enforcement agencies across the Nation varies significantly, the following recommendations for the law enforcement community are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Law enforcement agencies should adopt a community policing philosophy that is both victim and crime prevention oriented. 2. Law enforcement agencies should provide a basic level of support to crime victims through establishing victim assistance programs within their agencies and through community partnerships to ensure that victims have access to emergency services, counseling, financial assistance, information and referrals, and community programs. 3. Law enforcement agencies should establish policies for the provision of fundamental victims rights and services and procedures for their implementation. These policies and procedures should be disseminated in writing throughout the agency. 4. Compliance with victims' rights policies and procedures should be included as a standard in officers performance appraisals. 5. During their initial contact with law enforcement officers, victims of crime should receive verbal and written information about victims rights and services. Law enforcement personnel should be required to follow up with victims because many individuals are unable to comprehend assistance and compensation information in the aftermath of being severely traumatized. 6. All law enforcement agencies should adopt written policies and procedures and implement training programs for conducting sensitive and culturally appropriate death notification. 7. State, Federal, military, and Tribal law enforcement agencies must implement victims rights laws and ensure that victims are regularly notified of the status of the investigation, including arrests, pretrial release of suspects, and case closings. 8. Law enforcement should place a high priority on protecting victims and witnesses from intimidation and physical harm after they report a crime. Law enforcement agencies that operate jails or any temporary custody facilities should, upon request of the victim, immediately notify the victim of a defendants pretrial release. 9. All law enforcement personnel, from dispatchers through management, should receive initial and ongoing training about the impact of crime and how to respond sensitively and effectively to victims. 10. Police departments should develop specialized responses for family members of officers killed in the line of duty and protocols for responding to injured officers. 11. Law enforcement agencies should establish special protocols to ensure victim participation and confidence in the system when an officer is accused of a criminal offense. 12. Procedures for the swift return of property to victims and witnesses should be developed at the Federal, State, and local levels to serve as models for law enforcement agencies nationwide. Emergency funds should be made available to victims to replace essential items. Laws providing victims the right to have their property returned within a reasonable period of time should be enacted in all States and on the Federal level. ---------------------------- Chapter 3: Recommendations for Prosecution The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- One of the most important and basic rights of victims during the prosecution stage is the right to participate. Victims' satisfaction with prosecutors and the criminal or juvenile justice system increases dramatically if they are invited to participate in the decisionmaking process. Heightened sensitivity to the needs of crime victims by prosecutors and their staff has resulted in increased victim participation in criminal and juvenile justice processes. To ensure that victims continue to participate in the prosecution of cases, the following recommendations for prosecutors and their professional staff are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Prosecutors' offices should notify victims in a timely manner of the date, time, and location of the following: charging of defendant, pretrial hearings, plea negotiations, the trial, all schedule changes, and the sentencing hearing. Timely notification, orally or in writing, of advanced scheduling should be provided in relevant languages. Statutes should require prosecutors to verify notifications with documentation in case files or through another mechanism. 2. Prosecutors should establish victim/witness assistance units to ensure that victims of crime receive at least a basic level of service, including information, notification, consultation, and participation. Prosecutors' offices should develop and incorporate into performance evaluations written definitions of the roles and responsibilities of prosecuting attorneys, victim/witness professionals, and other relevant staff and volunteers. 3. Prosecutors should use the full range of measures at their disposal to ensure that victims and witnesses are protected from intimidation and harassment. These measures include ensuring that victims are informed about safety precautions, advising the court of victims fears and concerns about safety prior to any bail or bond proceedings, automatically requesting no-contact orders and enforcing them if violated, and utilizing witness relocation programs and technology to help protect victims. 4. Prosecutors should address criminal and juvenile justice problems that afflict their communities by exploring the establishment of community prosecution programs as an adjunct to traditional prosecution. Prosecutors should recognize the important role that they can play in reducing crime and should use the authority of their office to support effective crime prevention strategies tailored to the cultures and language needs of their communities. 5. Prosecutors should play a central role in establishing multidisciplinary efforts to respond to crime. 6. Prosecutors should advocate for the rights of victims to have their views heard by judges on bail decisions, continuances, plea bargains, dismissals, sentencing, and restitution. Policies and procedures should be put into place in all prosecutors' offices to ensure that victims are informed in a timely manner of these crucial rights in forms of communication they understand. 7. Prosecutors should make every effort, if the victim has provided a current address or telephone number, to consult the victim on the terms of any negotiated plea, including the acceptance of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere. 8. In all cases, particularly those involving sexual assault, the prosecuting attorney should confer with the victim or survivors before deciding not to file charges or before deciding to seek dismissal of charges already filed. 9. Prosecutors should establish policies to fast track the prosecution of sexual assault, domestic violence, elderly and child abuse, and other particularly sensitive cases to shorten the length of time from arrest to disposition. Prosecutors should encourage judges to give top priority to these cases on the trial docket and should try to ensure that the case goes to trial when initially scheduled. 10. Prosecutors' offices should use technology to enhance the implementation of victims' rights. 11. Prosecutors should adopt vertical prosecution for domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse cases. 12. Prosecutors should work closely with victim service providers and victims of domestic violence to establish appropriate prosecution policies and support research to assess the effectiveness of proceeding without victim testimony in domestic violence cases. 13. Victims' rights and sensitivity education should be provided to all law students as part of their basic education in law school and to all prosecutors during their initial orientation and throughout their careers. 14. Prosecutors' offices should establish procedures to ensure the prompt return of victims' property, absent the need for it as actual evidence in court. ---------------------------- Chapter 4: Recommendations for the Judiciary The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Judges play a crucial role in the day-to-day implementation of victims' rights. Judges, after all, control the courtroom and make rulings that will affect the court's observance of victims' rights to be present, notified, and heard. As respected leaders, judges can and should be catalysts for coordinating the delivery of services to both victims and offenders. Judges are uniquely situated to bring together institutions within a community that can address the wide range of problems that bring offenders and the people they victimize to the justice system. As such, the following recommendations for the judiciary are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. The voices and concerns of crime victims should be recognized and institutionalized within the justice system. Judges should advise victims of their rights as routinely as they advise defendants of their rights. 2. Judges and all court personnel at all levels of the court system must receive initial and continuing education on the law concerning victims rights, the impact of crime on victims and their families, and how the judiciary can implement the spirit as well as the letter of these rights. This education must include training on the special needs of some victim populations such as victims with disabilities and non-English speaking individuals. 3. Judges should facilitate the rights of crime victims and their families to be present at court proceedings unless the defendant proves that their presence would interfere with the defendants right to a fair trial. 4. Judges should consider victim and community safety in any prerelease or postrelease decision. As part of any pretrial release order, including bail, bond, or personal recognizance, judges should include a no-contact provision stating that the accused or defendant shall not harass, intimidate, threaten, or commit physical violence against the victim or victim's family. 5. Before imposing a sentence, judges should permit the victim, the victim's representative, or, when appropriate, representatives of the community to present a victim impact statement. 6. Judges should facilitate the input of crime victims into plea agreements and resulting sentences, and they should request that prosecuting attorneys demonstrate that reasonable efforts were made to confer with the victim. 7. As leaders within the justice system, judges must ensure that victims' rights legislation is fully implemented. 8. Judges should play a leadership role in ensuring that police, prosecutors, defense counsel, judges, and court administrators receive joint training so that all have a comprehensive picture of what happens to a victim as he or she navigates through the criminal justice system. 9. Judges have a responsibility to manage their cases and calendars to make victim involvement as feasible as possible. Modern technology should be used to give victims greater access to the justice system and should include multilingual services at no cost to victims. 10. Judges should order restitution from offenders to help compensate victims for the harm they have suffered. If extraordinary and compelling reasons make restitution impractical or inappropriate, judges should explain in writing and on the record why they did not order it. 11. Judges should play a leadership role in ensuring that separate and secure waiting areas are available in all courthouses for prosecution and defense witnesses to minimize the contact of victims with defendants, their relatives, and friends before, during, and after court proceedings. 12. Codes of Judicial Conduct should be amended to reflect the fact that crime victims play a pivotal role in the criminal justice system. 13. Judicial assignments to specialized courts or family law or juvenile courts should be based on experience and interest, not on lack of seniority or punishment. 14. Judges must take a leadership role in conceptualizing and advocating that the justice system encompass not only traditional adjudication and punishment but also holistic problem solving and treatment for victims as well as offenders. Principles of restorative community justice and therapeutic jurisprudence should be incorporated into court systems with due regard for differing cultures and ethnic groups. ---------------------------- Chapter 5: Recommendations for Corrections The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Over the past decade, the basic philosophy of correctional agencies has undergone radical change. Traditionally, correctional agencies viewed their role as limited to offender management, supervision, and rehabilitation. Today, serving crime victims is also widely accepted as an important part of their mission. Increasingly, correctional agencies are recognizing that victims are important clients who need diverse and vital services. There is, however, a need for greater consistency between correctional agencies nationwide in program services, departmental policies and procedures, and compliance with victim-related laws. To better address this lack of continuity between correctional agencies, the following recommendations are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Adult and juvenile correctional agencies should open channels of communication with the community and with crime victims. As a first step, every State department of corrections and paroling authority should establish a victim advisory committee that includes victims and service providers to guide and support victim-related policies, programs, and services. 2. Correctional agencies should designate staff to provide information, assistance, and referrals to victims of crime. 3. Mission statements guiding adult and juvenile correctional agencies and paroling authorities should recognize victims as an important constituency and address victims rights and services. 4. Correctional agencies should notify victims, upon their request, of any change in the status of offenders, including clemency or pardon, that would allow them to have access to the community or the victims. 5. Correctional agencies should place a high priority on ensuring the protection of victims from inmate intimidation, threats, or physical or other harm from offenders under their supervision. 6. Correctional agencies should make information about offender status and victims rights accessible to crime victims through multilingual, toll-free numbers, and printed materials. 7. Correctional agencies should collect and distribute restitution payments consistent with the court's order to ensure that victims receive fair compensation from offenders who are incarcerated or released on probation or parole. Wage-earning opportunities for inmates, wards, and parolees owing restitution should be increased. Restitution and other compensatory sanctions must be enforced, including requiring the timely payment of restitution as an automatic, essential condition of probation and parole. Paroling authorities should have the authority to both order restitution and incorporate a judicial restitution order as a condition of parole. Statutes should be amended to provide that any damages awarded to offenders from civil suits brought against correctional institutions be applied first to any outstanding restitution or civil judgments. 8. Victims should have input into all decisions affecting the release of adult and juvenile offenders. Input can be provided through oral statements; written, audio- or videotaped victim impact statements; and video teleconferences of postconviction hearings. Victim impact statements should be included in all presentence reports for adult and juvenile offenders. 9. Special consideration should be given to the needs of victims who participate in parole proceedings, especially when these proceedings are conducted within prisons. Correctional facilities should provide victims with an orientation to the proceedings and separate waiting areas away from the offender's family and friends. 10. Information regarding the rights and needs of crime victims should be incorporated into education for correctional staff at all levels, including administrative and line staff. When possible, interdisciplinary training programs should be conducted with other victim service providers. All agency staff and parole board members should be educated on the impact of victimization and victim services as part of their job orientation and in ongoing inservice training. This training should include issues of cultural sensitivity. 11. Each correctional agency should establish written policies and procedures for responding to correctional staff who are victimized on or off the job, as well as for responding to critical incidents within correctional institutions. Correctional agencies should provide training on the impact of crime for staff and supervisory personnel, beginning with basic academy training. 12. To increase offender awareness of the consequences of their actions on victims lives, correctional agencies for both adult and juvenile offenders should use victim impact panels and conduct courses about the effects of crime on peoples lives. 13. Victim-offender dialogue programs that ensure voluntary victim involvement, protect and support victims, and use highly trained facilitators and mediators should be available for victims upon their request. 14. Crime victims should be notified of any violation of the conditions of an offender's probation or parole and should be allowed to provide input prior to or during the probation or parole violation hearing. 15. When a sex offender is released, uniform community notification practices should be developed and implemented to promote public awareness and provide consistent protection for citizens from State to State. ---------------------------- Chapter 6: Recommendations for the Victim Assistance Community The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- As the victim assistance field has grown, so has its awareness of the complex needs of crime victims and the demand for coordinated multidisciplinary responses to meet their most salient needs. There is an increasing understanding that services must be tailored to meet the needs of both traditionally served victims as well as those victims newly identified as "underserved"--diverse cultural populations, victims with disabilities, victims of gang violence, and victims of white-collar crime and fraud, to name a few. Communities around the country are working toward the goal of integrated victim service delivery systems where quality services are available and accessible to all crime victims. To facilitate these goals, the following recommendations for the victim assistance community are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Victim assistance providers should encourage victim involvement in the development and implementation of all programs and services they provide, including public awareness, education, and violence prevention programs. 2. Victim assistance programs and services should be designed to reach diverse constituencies. All policymakers, program administrators, and staff should be knowledgeable and skilled in serving diverse cultural and ethnic groups. 3. Victim service providers should join criminal and juvenile justice and allied professionals to conduct needs assessments in their communities to identify underserved victim population groups and to determine the types of services that should be available for these groups. 4. Victim service providers should work with allied professionals, other victim service providers, and leaders in their community to ensure that a comprehensive network of services and support is available for crime victims. 5. Standards for victim assistance should be developed and instituted to guide those who serve victims in community-based programs as well as across all justice systems. 6. Victim assistance providers must receive basic training and annual continuing education on crime victims' rights and services. 7. A national commission should be established to develop certification and accreditation standards for victim advocacy and assistance. 8. Victim service providers should increase public awareness of their programs and services. 9. Evaluation studies should be conducted to determine if current methods of victim assistance are effective and to identify critical areas in which additional victim intervention and assistance services are needed. 10. There should be a clearly defined code of ethics to bind all victim service providers in the field to designated standards of behavior. 11. Victim assistance providers should expand current statewide networks to build a capacity for addressing communities in crisis. Each State should develop a crisis response team and interact with other disaster planning efforts. 12. Victim service providers should develop interagency response protocols for assisting all crime victims, including child victims, elder abuse victims, and victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. 13. A national hotline that provides 24-hour immediate crisis counseling, information, and referral services for all victims of crime should be established. In addition, every State should establish statewide, toll-free 800 numbers to provide information and referrals for victims of crime. 14. Victim assistance programs should integrate technological advancements into their programs to help better meet the needs of crime victims. 15. Victim assistance programs should comply fully with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure that victims with disabilities can access available services. More programs that focus on serving victims with disabilities must be established. Additional research should be conducted to determine the extent of victimization against people with disabilities and to guide strategies to increase reporting and prevent this type of victimization. Criminal justice professionals and the victim service community must receive additional training in providing outreach and assistance to victims with disabilities. 16. Victim service providers should be trained to assist crime victims who interact with members of the media. ---------------------------- Chapter 7: Recommendations for the Health Care Community The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- The health care, social service, criminal and juvenile justice, and other professional communities must integrate their response to violence if crime victims are to be provided a safety net that functions effectively. Health care professionals are beginning to recognize that they must cooperate with and understand justice and other allied professionals' roles when responding to criminal victimization. Many medical associations and professional organizations have taken a strong and visible role in efforts to reduce violence and create a safer, healthier society. To ensure these important efforts continue, the following recommendations for health care professionals are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. All professional schools that educate future health care professionals, including schools of medicine, nursing, social work, rehabilitation, hospital administration, and public health, should incorporate victim issues into their curricula. 2. All patients should be routinely assessed for indications of domestic abuse or other history of violence, and any signs or symptoms of abuse should be documented in their medical records. 3. Hospitals should establish training programs and protocols for all hospital personnel about the rights and needs of victims of crime. 4. Medical facilities including hospitals and rehabilitation and trauma centers should serve as gateways to assist victims of crime. Response staff should be available in these settings to provide onsite crisis counseling, followup with patients, and serve as links to inhouse and community resources. 5. Victims of sexual assault should be given emergency medical care, forensic examinations, and testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases at no out-of-pocket cost and in a supportive setting. More hospitals should consider establishing Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs to respond sensitively to the needs of sexual assault victims. 6. Cultural competency guidelines should be developed to help health care providers improve screening and intervention services for victims from diverse backgrounds. 7. Medical personnel should be knowledgeable about and have policies in place to ensure that statutory privacy protections are applied to medical records, abuse reporting forms, and medical legal evidence. They should respect the confidentiality and privacy needs of all victims of crime and assist them in dealing with unwanted media attention, especially in cases of sexual assault and assaults on children. 8. Counseling and prevention programs and/or a referral system to such programs should be established in medical facilities that treat violence-related injury, including gunshot victims, to address the broad spectrum of needs of these victims. 9. Protocols for appropriate security and safety procedures should be developed to assist hospital personnel in responding to incidents of gang, family, and other violence that might result in staff victimization. 10. Pediatricians, family practitioners, internists, and other health care professionals treating young children should be educated about the effects on children of witnessing domestic violence and violence in the community. 11. Technology should be utilized to improve medical services for crime victims, especially in underserved and rural areas. 12. Statutes and policies should be adopted to prevent insurance companies from discriminating against victims of crime by denying and/or canceling coverage or by charging higher premiums for such coverage. 13. All health care professionals should be educated about sensitive death notification techniques. 14. Catastrophic physical injury victims, including assault and drunk driving crash survivors with serious injuries, should receive specialized neuropsychological evaluation in health care facilities. ---------------------------- Chapter 8: Recommendations for the Mental Health Community The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Crime-related psychological trauma is a major public health and mental health problem for our Nation. Violent crime puts a large number of Americans at risk for debilitating problems that can limit their ability to live productive, emotionally healthy lives. Due to the sheer number of Americans suffering from crime-related mental health problems, their treatment is one of the most pressing issues. To find workable solutions, the following recommendations for the Nation's mental health professionals are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. The mental health community should develop linkages with crime victim compensation, victim assistance programs, and criminal and juvenile justice agencies to ensure that victims have access to adequate counseling or mental health treatment at each stage of the justice process, from the time the crime occurs through incarceration, pardon, parole, and appeals. Federal and State laws should be amended to ensure that government covers mental health counseling costs for crime victims throughout the criminal justice process and beyond in cases of long-term psychological trauma. 2. Legislation should be enacted in every State and at the Federal level to ensure that designated victim counseling is legally privileged. 3. Research on the mental health consequences of victimization and treatment of crime-related psychological disorders should be expanded. 4. Initial and continuing education programs for mental health professionals should include education on the crisis, short- and long-term trauma issues arising from victimization and appropriate mental health treatment for crime victims and their families, including counseling options available to them. Training also should include information regarding the cultural diversity of victims, stressing the importance of responding with sensitivity to ethnic and cultural differences. 5. Interventions and counseling services should be developed for victims with multiple mental health problems. Special attention should be given to individuals suffering from repeat or chronic victimization and individuals with limited access to financial, social service, and health care resources. 6. Greater emphasis should be placed on mental health treatment for child victims and witnesses, including preventive interventions that focus on reducing the risk of subsequent mental health problems, antisocial and violent behavior, substance abuse, and revictimization. 7. Insurance companies and managed health care companies should provide coverage for targeted mental health treatment for crime victims. 8. Mental health providers should recognize the healing benefits that participation in support groups can provide for many crime victims and provide referrals to these programs when appropriate. 9. Mental health providers should help victims of crime become involved in community service programs when this type of work can assist in the healing process. 10. Mental health professionals should assist in identifying secondary victims of crime and ensure that they receive appropriate counseling and mental health services. 11. Mental health professionals should work with multidisciplinary teams of other trained crisis interveners, including victim service providers, law enforcement officers, emergency medical responders, and clergy, to respond to violent incidents and help communities prepare crisis response protocols. 12. Reciprocal referral systems should be established among victim service providers, crisis interveners, counselors, mental health professionals, and justice practitioners. 13. Community mental health centers should participate in communitywide networks of victim services and crisis response planning, protocols, and services. ---------------------------- Chapter 9: Recommendations for the Legal Community The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Over the past 15 years, attorneys and bar associations have recognized they are important conduits to victim services. They have worked to improve access to the justice system for victims, developed programs that assist them, and explored legal options to provide victims with greater relief, particularly throughout the civil justice process. However, most members of the legal profession serve in positions outside the justice system, but frequently come into contact with crime victims in their work. These attorneys often lack an understanding of the dynamics of victimization or appropriate victim-related referral services. To initiate efforts to address these critical voids in victim support and service within the legal profession, the following recommendations are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. The legal community should expand its commitment of resources to victims to ensure that the barriers to meeting crime victims' needs are removed. 2. Bar associations and members of the legal community should produce and distribute informational materials, including videotapes, to help crime victims understand court proceedings and how to pursue their rights in the justice system. 3. Bar associations and members of the legal community should develop multidisciplinary alliances and networks between attorneys and other service providers within the community to identify and meet the needs of crime victims. 4. Bar associations and members of the legal community should develop information about victims' rights and programs and disseminate it widely in the community. 5. Legal professionals who serve in the criminal, juvenile, and civil justice systems should work with one another and with victim service providers to adequately inform crime victims of all of their legal options, including civil litigation. 6. Attorneys in the private sector who, due to the nature of their practice, have frequent contact with crime victims (for example, personal injury attorneys, insurance attorneys, and premises liability attorneys) should be encouraged to develop or join coalitions of attorneys who serve crime victims in the civil justice process. 7. Bar associations should establish victims issues committees to address issues in the criminal and civil justice systems, and they should ensure that the members of the committees represent victims interests. 8. Bar associations and law schools should offer courses on victims' rights and issues, incorporating multidisciplinary curricula. 9. Bar associations and members of the legal community should ensure adequate representation and involvement of minority, multicultural, and multilingual attorneys in order to respond more effectively to diverse populations victimized by crime. 10. Publishers of case reporters, legal compilations, and treatises should expand their issue coding and indices to include crime victim-related categories. ---------------------------- Chapter 10: Recommendations for the Education Community The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Schools and universities today face serious problems resulting from crime and victimization. For too many students, teachers, and administrators, school is no longer a safe haven. Daily threats to the safety of students and staff, including violent assaults, are commonplace in many communities. Academic institutions also must play an important role in providing educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels on victims' rights and services. Therefore, the following recommendations for the education community are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Schools should establish comprehensive programs to assist students, faculty, and staff who are victimized by crime or who witness violence. These programs should be coordinated closely with local crime victim assistance programs and law enforcement agencies. 2. Schools should incorporate into their core curricula age-appropriate education about the impact of victimization, the availability of victim services, and victim rights information, including basic information about the criminal and juvenile justice systems. 3. Crime prevention strategies should be taught to students in every grade, beginning in preschool, and schools should involve youth as peer educators about victimization and crime prevention. 4. Schools should implement procedures to help identify missing and exploited children who may be enrolled in their educational systems. 5. Age-appropriate sexual assault and dating violence awareness and prevention programs should be a required component of school curricula. Schools should work with law enforcement agencies and rape crisis centers to develop strategies for preventing sexual violence and for assisting victims of such crimes. 6. Colleges and universities should establish comprehensive programs to assist students, faculty members, and staff who are victimized by crime. These programs should be coordinated closely with local crime victim assistance programs. 7. Colleges and universities should offer interdisciplinary credit courses on victim issues and rights in departments that train professionals who interact with crime victims. Victim issues also should be incorporated into professional licensing exams. 8. All college and university campuses should adopt sexual assault and dating violence protocol that include clear definitions of proscribed conduct. These policies should be disseminated to all students, campus staff, and faculty. Campus staff and faculty should be trained in procedures for responding to students who have been sexually assaulted. 9. All school districts, colleges, and universities should design and implement a standardized system for documenting, analyzing, and reporting crimes to law enforcement. 10. Schools, colleges, and universities should develop specialized education and training programs for faculty, administrators, and staff on crime victim issues. 11. Victims should have certain rights in disciplinary hearings involving crimes in schools and on college campuses. These rights should include the right to notice of the hearing, the right to be accompanied to the hearing by a person of their choice, the right to give a victim impact statement before a penalty is assessed, and the right to be informed of the outcome of the hearing. In addition, victims should be protected from irrelevant questions about their past sexual history. 12. School and college campuses should develop crisis response protocols so that they are prepared to respond to major incidents of violence. 13. School and university libraries should incorporate resources on victim rights, victim services, and violence prevention into their collections and information displays. ---------------------------- Chapter 11: Recommendations for the Faith Community The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Tens of millions of Americans call upon clergy and faith community leaders for spiritual guidance, support, and information in times of personal crisis. While the faith community has historically provided prison ministry programs, few religious institutions have developed programs to specifically serve and support victims of crime. However, religious entities and congregations working in conjunction with victim assistance agencies have the capacity to provide important services to crime victims. In an effort to increase awareness about the key role of the faith community in the delivery of comprehensive and sensitive victim support services, the following recommendations are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. The faith community should recognize that the victim is in need of aid, comfort, and spiritual ministry, and faith-based congregations and organizations should provide assistance to victims whenever possible. 2. Courses on crime victimization and crime victim assistance should be established in clergy educational institutions and theological seminaries, including both worship and pastoral counseling courses. 3. Continuing education on crime victimization and crime victim assistance should be provided for all clergy and religious leaders, including chaplains in hospitals, police departments, the military, and other individuals within the faith community who may come into contact with victims. 4. Religious institutions at all levels should cooperate with victim assistance agencies and organizations to offer joint services to victims of crime and to disseminate publications on crime victim assistance. 5. The clergy should provide training for victim assistance providers, criminal justice officials, State victim assistance administrators, compensation program directors, and other public officials about the important role they can play in assisting victims. 6. Requiring clergy to report suspected cases of child abuse should be seriously considered by religious institutions and governmental agencies, and appropriate policies should be developed to ensure children are protected. Even in cases involving confidential communications, the clergy should hold the needs of children paramount and recognize their moral responsibility to help and protect child victims. 7. Communities of faith should hold clergy and other religious leaders in positions of trust within their congregations accountable for crimes they commit, including sexual acts against adults and children. Policies and procedures should be developed to ensure that appropriate cases of clergy misconduct are referred to law enforcement agencies. 8. Religious and spiritual leaders should be encouraged to use their pulpits to educate and sensitize their congregations about crime and victimization issues. 9. Religious and spiritual leaders should be willing to serve in leadership roles on community crisis response teams providing services in the aftermath of mass violence and other crimes that have significant impact upon entire communities. ---------------------------- Chapter 12: Recommendations for the Business Community The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Studies clearly indicate that crime has an impact on where people choose to live, work, and shop. Over the past 15 years, employers have recognized that it is good business to offer employees a full spectrum of assistance programs to help them deal with problems, including criminal victimization, that affect job performance and the safety of the workplace. They are beginning to develop efforts to prevent violence in the workplace. When violence strikes, employers now realize that they must deal with both the physical injury and the emotional consequences of trauma. Unfortunately, many barriers still block corporate America's ability and willingness to respond fully and appropriately to crime victims. In an effort to address these barriers, the following recommendations for the business community are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Business leaders should commit resources in addition to money to victim assistance and crime prevention efforts. 2. All managers, supervisors, union officials, shop stewards, and other designated employee representatives should receive training on how workplace violence impacts employees and the company; how to develop and implement policies and procedures to resolve conflicts before they erupt into violence; and how to develop and implement crisis response plans in the aftermath of violence. 3. In cases of serious trauma and multiple victims, employees should be assisted by long-term expert psychological counseling. 4. Counseling for psychological injuries suffered by victims of terrorist attacks in the workplace should be covered by workers compensation and other employer-sponsored insurance. 5. Workplace policies and programs should be responsive to the needs of all crime victims, including victims of domestic violence. 6. Employers and unions should work together to adopt leave and benefit policies that accommodate the needs of victimized employees to go to court, counseling, or a shelter without penalizing them with unexcused absences or dismissal. 7. All managers, supervisors, union officials, and shop stewards should receive training on how to recognize signs of domestic violence in their staff and apply organizational policies and programs to employees or members who are victims of domestic violence. 8. Employee assistance program (EAP) staff, corporate fitness and wellness programs, and workplace health services providers such as occupational nurses and medical directors should receive specialized training in how to deal with employees who have been victimized. 9. All workplaces should educate their employees to increase awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault as societal and workplace issues. Such education will promote compassionate responses to the needs of these victims and will serve to encourage victims to seek services available to them in the workplace and in their community. 10. Research is needed that focuses on the risks and costs of workplace victimization to both the company and the employee. 11. Due to the complex issues and effects of workplace victimization, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to delivering services for these victims must be developed and implemented at the national, State, and local levels. 12. Employers should adopt policies and practices that accommodate crime victims who suffer physical and psychological disabilities as a result of their victimization in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 13. Employers should report all violent crime that occurs on their premises and encourage their employees to do likewise. 14. Workers compensation programs should be combined with employee benefit programs to cover all expenses and lost income employees incur as the result of violent victimization on the job. 15. Employers should develop and implement crime prevention and safety measures to protect their employees, clients, and customers. ---------------------------- Chapter 13: Recommendations for the News Media Community The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- The news media play a significant role in public safety by providing important information about the nature and the extent of crime occurring in communities, and efforts to prevent crime and assist victims. Yet the news media also can have a negative impact on individual lives when victims are thrust, often unwillingly, into the limelight solely because of the crimes committed against them. Inconsistent reporting and insensitivity to a victim's privacy compound the drama of crime and often re-victimize the victim. To increase the news media's awareness of victims' needs for sensitive treatment and respect of privacy, the following recommendations are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. The news media should adopt codes of ethics or guiding principles that clearly delineate policies sensitive to and respectful of crime victims. These guidelines should include policies that discourage the identification of victims of sexual assault and other vulnerable victims, including children, without the victim's consent. 2. News organizations, victims, and victim service providers should sponsor frequent educational forums for journalists on sensitive media coverage of crime and victimization. 3. University departments of journalism should incorporate curricula that teach students about sensitivity to victims in the news media's coverage of crime. 4. Victim service providers should receive education about media relations and how to be a valuable resource for the press. Training and technical assistance for service providers should be made available from professionals in the journalism community. 5. The victim service and mental health professions, in conjunction with media representatives, should develop debriefing protocols to help journalists cope with the trauma and stress of covering crime and victimization. 6. State public policy leaders and media representatives should explore the development of legislation that would appropriately limit general public access to confidential information about sensitive victims. ---------------------------- Chapter 14: Recommendations for Crime Victim Compensation The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Compensation for victims of crime is one of the earliest forms of victim assistance. As of May 1998, victim compensation programs operate in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands to help crime victims deal with some of the financial losses they incur as a result of criminal victimization. Although many compensation programs have sponsored extensive efforts to increase benefits, expand services and public awareness efforts, and eliminate minimum loss requirements, gaps in coverage still remain in some States that must be addressed. In an effort to encourage compensation programs to increase their efforts for outreach and advocacy on behalf of crime victims, and to improve overall operation and efficiency, the following recommendations are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Every State victim compensation program should establish goals to process claims, including emergency awards, in the most expeditious manner possible. 2. States should examine the nature, level, and scope of benefits they provide for mental health treatment to ensure that all victims traumatized by crime receive financial support for adequate and culturally meaningful counseling services or healing practices. To achieve this goal, victim compensation programs should consult with advisory groups composed of mental health experts to develop guidelines for counseling benefits, including appropriate treatment lengths and types of mental health providers, documentation requirements for treatment plans and progress reports, and payment levels. 3. Victim compensation programs should expand the types of victims eligible to receive counseling benefits. 4. Victim compensation programs should increase medical benefits for victims of catastrophic physical injury. 5. Victim compensation programs should eliminate restrictive statutory reporting requirements and permit victims to report the crime within a reasonable period of time and to agencies other than law enforcement. 6. Statutorily mandated time restrictions on filing claims that require crime victims to apply for compensation within one year of the crime should be reevaluated. State compensation programs should consider eliminating filing restrictions or at least extending the time limit to three years, as was done in Texas and Massachusetts. 7. Every victim compensation program should coordinate with victim assistance programs to develop an effective community outreach strategy to increase public awareness about the purpose and availability of crime victim compensation. This strategy should include extensive outreach efforts to ensure that all victims, regardless of their race, culture, or language, have knowledge of and access to compensation program benefits. 8. Victim compensation programs have a responsibility to listen to and address the issues of the victims they serve. All programs should establish advisory boards that include victims. When developing policies for eligibility and benefits, compensation programs should seek the input of victim service groups, and criminal justice and allied professionals. 9. Victim compensation programs should establish multidisciplinary cross-training programs to ensure that victim advocates and allied professionals are fully informed of the scope of compensation programs and that compensation professionals are kept up to date on the services victims need most. 10. Victim advocacy should be institutionalized in victim compensation programs. Every program should include an advocate on staff to help victims access services and resources that are not available from the program. 11. States should maximize a victim's ability to recover losses and cover expenses, and should institute mechanisms for ensuring sufficient funding sources for victim compensation programs. 12. All State compensation programs should evaluate themselves to determine whether: (1) there are barriers to compensation that should be removed, (2) the program's outreach efforts are effective, (3) the services provided are effective, (4) the scope of victims that qualify for compensation is broad enough, (5) claims are processed as efficiently as possible, (6) available benefits for mental health treatment are sufficient, and (7) reasons for denial of compensation claims. 13. Compensation programs should make effective use of advanced technologies such as automated claims management systems and electronic linkages with medical providers, insurance companies, and criminal justice agencies. 14. State compensation programs should work with other State programs that provide funding for victim services to ensure that victims needs are met comprehensively throughout the State. 15. Compensation programs should consider the effects that more universal health care coverage (through expanded public benefits and broader private coverage) might have on their eligibility and benefits structures. 16. Compensation programs throughout the world should agree to compensate victims of crime within their borders regardless of nationality. The U.S. Departments of State and Justice should continue to work together to establish this principle as a basis for coverage in all countries. 17. Compensation programs should consider providing funds to cover transportation costs for victims who must travel across State lines to attend criminal proceedings. 18. Compensation programs should use excess funds to support victim assistance. ---------------------------- Chapter 15: Recommendations for Restitution The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Despite the passage of Federal and State laws, restitution remains one of the most underenforced victims' right within the criminal and juvenile justice systems. Evidence of this is apparent both in decisions to order restitution and in efforts to monitor, collect, and disperse restitution payments to victims. However, national research studies indicate that restitution is a significant factor affecting the satisfaction of victims with the criminal and juvenile justice process. The prevailing belief among victims, service providers, and justice professionals is that restitution is not a punishment or an alternative to fines, sanctions, or interventions with the offender, but a responsibility to hold offenders partially or fully accountable for the financial losses suffered by the victims of their crime. In an effort to further advance this belief, the following recommendations addressing restitution are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Restitution orders should be mandatory and consistent nationwide. Full restitution should include all immediate and expected monetary costs of the crime to victims, including property loss, health and mental health costs, and, when appropriate, compensation for pain and suffering. When a victim cannot be identified to receive restitution, judges should consider ordering payment to national, State, or local victim assistance or compensation programs. Judges should review restitution orders periodically to assess whether the victim has incurred additional costs as a result of the crime and whether the offender is making timely payments. Restitution payment plans should include provisions for immediate payment of full restitution should the offender obtain additional financial assets. 2. A coordinated interagency response throughout the justice system is essential for the effective collection of restitution. 3. Restitution must be a priority for all criminal justice agencies if it is to be implemented successfully. 4. Victims should be informed as early as possible in the justice process of their right to receive restitution from the offender. They should be notified of the disposition of the case, advised of realistic expectations for payment, and provided with information about their rights when offenders fail to pay. 5. At the time of sentencing, courts should have sufficient information about both the victim and the offender to determine the amount of full restitution and a payment schedule. 6. The use of technology can greatly enhance the tracking and payment of restitution orders. Those responsible for monitoring restitution should automate their program. 7. Offenders should be held accountable for restitution payments; State legislation should make restitution payments a priority over other payments due from the offender, including fines, fees, and restitution to entities other than the crime victim; and restitution payments should be collected before fines or penalties. 8. Corrections agencies, including prisons, jails, probation departments, and paroling authorities, should designate one person to be responsible for victim inquiries and contact regarding restitution. 9. A probation or parole officer's proficiency in managing restitution cases should be a component of evaluating his or her job performance. 10. Failure to comply with a restitution order should result in an extended sentence of the offender's community supervision. 11. Civil remedies should be applied on a routine and consistent basis to assist crime victims in collecting restitution. 12. Victims should have the right to petition to amend the payment schedule for restitution, the amount of restitution ordered, and any failure to order restitution. 13. Before the court modifies a payment plan or makes other changes to a restitution order, it should notify the victim and give them an opportunity to be heard on the matter. ---------------------------- Chapter 16: Recommendations for Civil Remedies The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Traditional sources to compensate crime victims often fall considerably short of covering victims' total financial losses related to criminal victimization. Increasingly, more victims are looking to the civil justice system for reparations for the physical, psychological, and financial losses they incur as a result of criminal acts. In the last decade, civil litigation has emerged as a meaningful option for crime victims seeking financial and emotional redress. However, the ability of victims to seek civil remedies has been hampered by a lack of information about their civil justice options. The following recommendations are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Crime victims should be fully informed of their legal rights to pursue civil remedies. 2. State and local networks of civil attorneys who have experience representing crime victims should be expanded. Education and training on civil remedies for victims should be offered to attorneys to increase the pool of qualified lawyers in these networks and to maintain the level of expertise between member attorneys. Nonattorney experts and professionals should participate in this training and network to educate attorneys on victim issues and make their representation more effective. 3. Increased efforts should be made to identify consultants with the expertise to testify on issues relevant to victimization in civil and criminal cases. 4. Civil attorneys should work with victim service providers, law enforcement officials, and prosecutors in their communities to develop an easy-to- understand pamphlet about civil remedies for crime victims. 5. Civil attorneys should provide training to victim service providers on civil remedies for crime victims. 6. Statutes of limitations for civil actions involving child abuse cases should be extended, as has been done in a number of States. States also should examine statutes of limitations for civil actions relating to other criminal acts to determine whether they should be extended to provide a meaningful opportunity for crime victims to obtain needed relief. ---------------------------- Chapter 17: Recommendations for Child Victims The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- Victimization is a serious threat to America's children and youth. Each year in our country, hundreds of children write to the President, First Lady, and the Attorney General about being abused. They ask to be protected. They ask for police officers and judges to intervene. They harbor hope that somebody who is "in charge" will help. Numerous State and Federal laws now exist to protect children from physical and sexual abuse, and to provide an array of rights and services for child victims who participate in the criminal or juvenile justice process. More can be done, however, to protect the rights and improve the treatment of child victims. Therefore, to address the need for increased victim services and rights for our Nation's children who are touched by crime, the following recommendations are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. Communities should establish children's advocacy centers to provide child-friendly locations where abused children can receive the services they need to heal and information for the evaluation and investigation of their cases. To ensure the highest quality of intervention, training should be provided to professionals on conducting forensic interviews, to medical professionals on conducting child abuse examinations, and to mental health professionals on employing abuse-specific treatment approaches. 2. Children who witness violence should be provided the same level of victim assistance and special protections within the criminal and juvenile justice systems as child victims. 3. To ensure child abuse cases are recognized and reported as early as possible, training on the identification and signs of abuse, as well as the impact of child victimization, should be provided to all professionals who come into contact with child victims. 4. There should be an improved governmental response to the problem of missing, abducted, and sexually exploited children. 5. All jurisdictions should establish or support court school programs to help educate child victims and witnesses about the court process and their role within it. 6. States should enact legislation to open access to criminal history records, and they should adopt regulations and policies necessary to meet the requirements of the National Child Protection Act. 7. The Federal Government should examine data collection regarding child victimization to ensure that all crimes against children, from their birth through the age of majority, are uniformly reported, categorized (by age of the child, type of crime, and offender relationship to the child), and analyzed at the State and Federal levels. 8. All States should authorize judges to exclude from the courtroom persons who are not necessary to child-related court proceedings if requested by the victim or the victim's representative or if the court determines that there would be substantial psychological harm if the child were to testify in open court. 9. State laws should be reviewed and amended where necessary to protect the privacy of child victim records including audio- and videotaped interviews. 10. All States and the Federal Government should enact or amend child hearsay rules to govern the admission into evidence of reliable statements made by children under 16 years of age to an adult concerning acts of physical and sexual abuse. 11. Additional court procedures should be implemented to assist in the prosecution of child victimization cases. 12. Courts and prosecutors need to be provided uniform guidance on establishing competency when a child's capacity to testify is challenged. 13. All States should enact statutes requiring speedy criminal trials and civil child protection adjudications for child victims. In addition, all court cases involving child victims, including criminal, juvenile, domestic violence, and domestic relations, should implement speedy trial and appellate provisions and utilize child victim court dockets. In every case involving a child victim, judges should weigh the adverse effect of continuances and delays. 14. All States should consider alternatives to live in-court testimony for children under the age of 18. 15. Specially trained lawyers and court-appointed special advocates should be provided to children in all civil child protection and other abuse-related proceedings. 16. Early intervention programs such as Head Start and Healthy Start programs should be implemented nationwide. The staff of these programs must be trained to recognize the signs of child abuse, how to report abuse to appropriate authorities, and how to provide referrals for victims and their families. 17. Child-serving institutions such as schools, social service, and law enforcement agencies should make diligent efforts to identify troubled youth and refer them to social service or victim assistance programs before they run away from home. Efforts also should be undertaken to identify and assist runaway, thrown-away, and homeless child victims. 18. Child abuse prevention programs that address computer exploitation should be developed and publicized. 19. Federal and State governments should support the significant additional research that is needed to document effective treatments for child victims, especially victims of child sexual and physical abuse and children who witness violence. 20. Convictions and substantiated allegations of spousal or child abuse should create a rebuttable presumption against awarding temporary or permanent custody to an offending parent. Parents convicted of child or spousal abuse should not be granted the right to visitation without independent supervision. 21. States should include driving while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs with children in the vehicle as a form of child endangerment. Such drivers should receive enhanced sanctions when criminally convicted, and evidence of driving under the influence should be considered by family and juvenile courts when determining custody and visitation rights in cases affecting the parent-child relationship. 22. Health insurance providers, particularly managed care providers, should ensure that their practices facilitate immediate, specialized assistance for child victims and witnesses of crime. Managed care providers should join multidisciplinary children's advocacy centers or teams and should authorize payments for out-of-plan examinations by specialists in the treatment of child abuse without prior approval. ---------------------------- Chapter 18: Recommendations for International Victim Assistance The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. ---------------------------- The United States is visited by millions of foreign nationals each year, and citizens of the United States travel and live in virtually every part of the world. Yet there is no where in the world that is immune from crime and victimization. According to recent international crime surveys, it is estimated that no more than 10 percent of crime victims worldwide receive assistance from a specialized victim service agency. Crime and victimization have become transnational, and countries must look beyond their national boundaries to share information, technology, and resources to assist victims. To address this critical need, the following recommendations to establish or enhance international victim services are set forth by the field: ---------------------------- 1. The United States should continue to play a leadership role in the area of international victim assistance. 2. International standards of victim assistance and victim rights should be established, including standards for criminal justice and allied professionals who work with crime victims. 3. An international network of information, dissemination, training, and technical assistance on victim rights and assistance should be established. 4. Cross-cultural and multinational research on victimization, violence, and victim assistance should be promoted. 5. International reciprocity in the provision of victim compensation, restitution, and other assistance in cases involving foreign nationals should be promoted. 6. Standards and procedures should be developed to address criminal cases involving foreign crime victims. 7. Communities with large numbers of tourists should establish special programs to assist international tourists who are victims of crime. 8. An international victim care corps under the auspices of the United Nations or an alternative body should be established. 9. The Federal Government should develop a coordinated plan of action to respond to the needs of U.S. citizens who are victimized abroad. The State and Justice Departments should examine whether an ombudsman is needed to ensure effective information and services for these victims. 10. The Federal Government should create a support group for victims of terrorism abroad. 11. The Federal Government should make every effort to fully implement the Federal Protection for Battered Immigrant Women and Child provision of the Violence Against Women Act, including mandatory training for all Immigration and Naturalization Service and asylum officers and others who work with immigrant populations. ---------------------------- Suggested Events To Promote New Directions The overall goal of New Directions is that each of its recommendations be reviewed, and where appropriate, implemented into communities across the Nation to ensure comprehensive and consistent rights and services for crime victims on the Federal, State, Tribal, and local levels. An important goal of New Directions is to provide the opportunity for key stakeholders in victims' rights and services to review its recommendations and, where appropriate and relevant, plan and implement initiatives based upon the recommendations to promote consistent and collaborative victims' rights and services. This section of the Implementation Guide provides readers with three suggested strategies to bring key players throughout all justice systems, allied professions, State and local leaders, crime victims, and community members together to: assess current levels of crime victims' rights and services; identify important crime victim concerns; and establish priorities for implementing the field's recommendations contained in New Directions. These strategies include: o Launching a New Directions State or Community Task Force o Sponsoring a New Directions Community Forum o Conducting a Plenary Session on New Directions at a Training Venue Step-by-step instructions are given for each strategy, including suggestions regarding: planning the event; who should be invited; publicizing the event; and suggested agenda topics. Throughout this Implementation Guide, many additional resource tools are provided that will assist efforts in planning and conducting these suggested events. ---------------------------- Launching A New Directions State or Community Task Force Establishing a New Directions Task Force: The formation of a New Directions State or Community Task Force can be a highly effective and efficient tool to review the current status of a state or community in its provision of victims' rights and services. The information provided about task force development is offered as one vehicle to help bring key stakeholders together to begin to review current program services and victims' rights, and to compare them with the recommendations found within New Directions. In addition, these resources may be appropriate for implementation by individual agency- and discipline-specific organizations or professional groups. New Directions Task Force Goals The following sample goals for a New Directions Task Force provide a framework to begin addressing New Directions' five global challenges for responding to victims of crime well into the next century: o Identify and assess local, State, and regional governmental and nonprofit agencies and programs that currently provide services or support to crime victims to identify gaps in services. o Assess the comprehensiveness of victims' rights laws to determine the need for additional legislation or enhancement of current laws. o Evaluate and address compliance with victims' rights laws on State, Tribal, or local levels and within specific agencies. o Identify current funding opportunities and future funding possibilities. o Identify and assess all available victim assistance-related training programs, including continuing education opportunities, e.g., victim assistance standards and training programs, police academies, colleges and universities, professional associations and organizations, discipline-specific training conferences, etc. o Identify and determine appropriate replication of promising victim assistance practices and strategies highlighted in New Directions. Task Force Membership A New Directions Task Force should include a variety of participants who can bring insight, expertise, and change into their respective agencies, disciplines, or communities. When inviting persons to serve on the Task Force, consideration should be given to including a representative mix of the same professional discipline from local, county, State, and Federal levels. Representatives from Tribal and military communities should be involved where appropriate. In addition, consideration should be given to diversity by gender, culture, and geography. Suggestions for task force members include: o Prosecutors o Law enforcement officials o Prosecution-based victim assistance staff o Probation and parole officials o Judges o Court administrators o Elected State and county officials (Attorney General, State legislator, representative of the Governor, mayor, county commissioner, etc.) o School board officials (State or county superintendent, principal, PTA president, etc.) o Higher education representatives (chair of criminology department, law school professor, university public safety official, etc.) o Nonprofit community assistance programs representatives (domestic violence shelters and programs, adult and child sexual assault rape crisis centers, child advocacy centers, MADD, etc.) o State or local victim compensation program representative(s) o State Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) administrators o Legal community o State and county government agency representatives (Departments of Public Health, Mental Health, Health and Human Services, Aging, Social Security Administration, and Indian Health Services, etc.) o Health care representatives (doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, medical examiners, insurance company representatives, hospital social workers, etc.) o Mental health representatives (psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, etc.) o Business leaders (executive officers or owners of corporations or independently owned businesses, bank presidents, presidents of local business-related civic clubs, such as the Lion's Club, Rotarians, etc.) o Religious and faith community representatives (including members from a variety of denominations) o Chairpersons of current statewide victim or public safety-issue committees and task forces o Citizen/community action groups (neighborhood/community crime prevention programs, TRIAD, American Association of Retired Persons, etc.) o Media representatives (crime reporters, newspaper editors, and radio and television station general mangers, etc.) o Other professional associations representatives (State and county bar, health, mental health care, and educational associations, etc.) New Directions Task Force Organizational Structure One of the most effective methods to organize a New Directions Task Force is to create issue-specific subcommittees to review particular topics and to present their findings and recommendations to the larger Task Force for consideration or adoption. Subcommittee formation allows Task Force members to select issues related to their area of expertise so that substantial contributions can be made in a short period of time. Proposed New Directions Task Force subcommittees may include: Public Awareness and Education Committee: Devises strategies to increase the public's awareness of issues facing crime victims, their rights to services and information, and how to publicize existing programs and services that assist and support victims. Legislative Committee: Tracks State and Federal statutes pertaining to crime victims to alert interested parties of changes that may affect mandated programs and services and reviews the need to introduce new legislation or to modify existing laws based upon New Directions recommendations. (For suggested legislative strategies, please refer to the Global Strategies for Implementation section of this Guide.) Implementation Committee: Devises strategies to implement proposed New Directions Task Force goals and recommendations. Victim Assistance Committee: Tracks emerging trends in the delivery of services to crime victims; reviews current victim assistance programs to identify gaps in service; and develops and implements service programs to meet new or emerging victim assistance needs. (For suggested victim service strategies, please refer to the Global Strategies for Implementation section of this Guide.) Training Committee: Identifies and reviews current victim assistance training programs and curricula, and develops strategies to establish or enhance training and educational opportunities. Compliance Committee: Reviews mechanisms established to ensure compliance with State, Tribal, and Federal victims' rights laws, and where less than adequate, develops strategies to help increase compliance. Releasing Findings of the New Directions Task Force In addition to creating plans of actions, a New Directions Task Force can release final findings and recommendations to members of the criminal and juvenile justice community, public policymakers, and the community to help increase awareness about the devastating financial and emotional impact of crime on victims. New Directions Task Force members can release their findings in the form of an Executive Summary or a news media press release. Below is a list of suggested community or State representatives that should be provided with information about the final findings of the New Directions Task Force: o Local, State, and regional print and broadcast media o Local and State elected officials o Professional associations o State and local bar associations o Allied criminal justice professionals o Governmental agencies with mandates to provide victim assistance services o Nonprofits and other community-based programs that provide direct services to crime victims o Chairs of current statewide victim or public safety-issue committees and task forces o Participants at victim- and justice-related State, Tribal, and local conferences ---------------------------- Sponsoring a New Directions Community Forum Timing of the release of New Directions Task Force findings and recommendations is a critical element that should be explored by organizers of the Task Force so that the findings are well received by both the public and the media. Task Force members may wish to consider releasing their findings and recommendations to coincide with the schedule of one or more victim-related weeks held throughout the year. For example, the release of New Directions Task Force findings and recommendations can be released during National Crime Victims' Rights Week in April or during Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. A Commemorative Calendar with other possible victim/crime-related days, weeks, and months can be found at the end of this section. Historically, community forums have been used to bring together a variety of individuals who share a common interest, issue, or concern. For instance, a community forum using New Directions as its planning guide is one way a community can improve communications among its citizens and city, county, State, Tribal, and military leaders about individual and community crime and victimization. The success of a community forum depends upon collaborative sponsorship that reflects the interests of all key stakeholders in justice. A cross-agency planning committee also will ensure that the workload is shared to implement the New Directions Community Forum. Consider teaming with other allied victim service professionals, business leaders, nonprofit advocacy groups, and other interested community partners to host the forum. The following planning steps address logistical issues that should be considered when planning a New Directions Community Forum. Step One: Incorporating New Directions into the Community Forum o Review the New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century Report, Implementation Guide, and its companion New Directions videotape to determine an appropriate community agenda and central theme for discussion/presentation during the forum. o Once a central theme has been identified, consideration should be given to the replication and distribution of appropriate resources found in this Implementation Guide to increase public awareness of the forum's chosen issue or concern. For example, if the forum is being held to review local law enforcement's response to crime victims, it would be appropriate to copy and distribute the law enforcement pocket cards found in the Camera-Ready Resources section or the law enforcement-specific recommendations found in the Master List of New Directions Recommendations section to all forum attendees. Step Two: Determining the Format All formats should allow for questions from the audience either during or at the conclusion of the presentation. A sample New Directions Community Forum might include: o Moderated Panel Presentations: A panel discussion by community officials, victim service program providers, and crime victims about the community's concerns relevant to crime and victimization, and how New Directions' five global challenges might be incorporated into existing programs and services to improve the community's overall response to crime victims. (A listing of the five global challenges can be found in the Global Strategies for Implementation section of this Guide, along with suggested strategies for action.) o New Directions Task Force Panel: A panel discussion by members of community or statewide New Directions Task Forces to release findings for community implementation of New Directions recommendations. o New Directions Videotape Review: A screening of the 18-minute companion videotape to the New Directions publication, incorporating "stop" and "start" points during the viewing to allow for panel and audience discussion of key points, and how its contents can be applied to enhance the community's awareness of victim-related issues. (Suggested key questions for the videotape discussion can be found in the New Directions Videotape discussion guide.) Note: When selecting a moderator for any of the suggested New Directions Community Forum formats, consideration should be given to selecting someone who is both knowledgeable about victim rights and services, and is comfortable speaking in front of large audiences. Suggested moderators could include: a crime victim, justice system officials, elected officials, or a chairperson of a victim-related task force or advisory group. Step Three: Who Should Be Invited? Community Forum attendees might include: o Crime victims and victim service professionals. o Elected local officials. o Representatives of local print and broadcast media. o Representatives of the criminal justice continuum, i.e., law enforcement, prosecutorial, judicial, corrections, and court administrative representatives. o Citizen action civic groups. o Educators and academia. o Medical and mental health practitioners. o Religious and spiritual leaders. o Representatives from the business community. o Representatives of philanthropic groups. New Directions Community Forum organizers also may wish to consider additional methods to increase participation among community members who may wish to attend. These additional methods may include: o Providing onsite, live participation via the Internet. o Partnering with a local radio talk show to air the forum and allow for viewer listening call-in response. o Asking a local cable access channel to air the forum live and allow for viewer call-in response. o Linking multiple sites together utilizing compressed video or other satellite technologies. Step Four: Selecting a Location to Hold the Community Forum An appropriate location to convene the Community Forum might include a: o School or hospital auditorium. o Municipal or county courthouse. o Local church or synagogue. o Public library. o Courtroom. o Civic auditorium. Step Five: Selecting a Date for the Community Forum Consideration should be given to holding the Community Forum in conjunction with a national public safety and victim awareness commemorative event to increase media attention and garner public support. Sponsors can join local advocacy organizations in a celebration of a victim/criminal justice-related commemorative event. For example, consider co-hosting the forum with local victim assistance programs during National Crime Victims' Rights Week or local domestic violence programs and shelters during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Commemorative weeks and months for 2000 include: ---------------------------- Samples of Some National Crime-Related Commemorative Events April o National Child Abuse Prevention Month o National Sexual Assault Awareness Month o National Crime Victims' Rights Week May o National Law Day o National Correctional Officers Week o National SAFE KIDS Week o National Police Week o National Missing Children's Day August o National Night Out October o Crime Prevention Month o Domestic Violence Awareness Month o American's Safe Schools Week o Annual Week Without Violence o National Red Ribbon Week November o Ninth Annual Speak Out December o National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Month ---------------------------- Step Six: Concluding the New Directions Community Forum When organizing the New Directions Community Forum, consideration should be given to the forum's conclusion, including: o Who will make closing remarks indicating the conclusion of the forum? (Suggested speakers might include the moderator, a criminal justice official, or elected official.) o Will there be a process to continue the study of ongoing concerns or issues, and/or the implementation of solutions made by panel members or members of the general audience to address specific issues or concerns discussed during the forum? Which person or agency will be assigned this responsibility? o How can the sponsors challenge the participants to take individual and collective action to improve victims' rights and services? o How will followup information be shared with the group in the future? o Who will thank panel and audience members for their participation? ---------------------------- Conducting a New Directions Plenary Session This Implementation Guide provides several tools for creating a dynamic conference plenary session to introduce New Directions to a wide variety of audiences. For example, in the Getting the Word Out About New Directions section of the Guide, a sample speech and companion talking points are provided to help speakers prepare a New Directions oral presentation. In the section entitled Camera-Ready Resources, corresponding overhead transparencies can be found to visually augment the speech; these overheads can be used as a group or as individual visual aids to emphasize specific topics for the presentation. Included in this Guide is an 18-minute New Directions videotape, which also serves as a valuable tool to build audience interest in New Directions. To further stimulate discussion about issues highlighted in the video, a companion video discussion guide has been developed and is enclosed in this Guide. Organization of Plenary Session New Directions presents a comprehensive communitywide response to crime victims. A New Directions plenary session brings all key stakeholders to the table to discuss a community's current response to victims' rights and services. New Directions serves as a template for program assessment, planning, and implementation. A panel of speakers can provide a diverse and interesting response to the many recommendations presented in New Directions. One of the most powerful ways of presenting a plenary session about New Directions is to invite a representative from each justice agency in the community to sit on the panel. Each panelist can provide a brief overview of the most important recommendations in New Directions. Crime victims and community victim service providers also should be represented on the panel to ensure that the voices of victims are strongly heard! Suggested Speakers Panel Moderator: Consider a justice system official, elected official, or a chairperson of a victim-related task force or advisory group to serve as the moderator. Five or Six Panelists: Consider justice system officials and allied professionals, victim service providers, and crime victims for panelists. Sample Agenda for Plenary Session o Opening Presentation: Introduce panel and topic. The New Directions sample speech, talking points, and overhead transparencies contained in this Guide provide moderators with the resources they need to plan and conduct the plenary session. o Play New Directions Videotape (Refer to the videotape discussion guide for an overview of the video and pertinent discussion points and questions.) o Ask each panel member to offer a brief reaction to the video and discuss the key recommendations contained in New Directions that affect his or her work/profession/community. Note: It is important to provide speakers with a copy of their pertinent section/ chapter of New Directions in advance in order for the speaker to select salient points and recommendations to focus the discussion. Be sure to limit each speaker to no more than 10 minutes. o Another interesting way to present the plenary session is to have panelists react to each of the five global challenges presented in New Directions. In other words, introduce the first global challenge and then ask the panelists to respond. This provides for a more lively panel presentation because each panelist has several opportunities to react, rather than just one opportunity. (An overview of the five global challenges can be found in two sections of this Guide: Global Strategies for Implementation and Camera-Ready Resources, Overheads.) Audience Interaction: Be sure to save time for questions from the audience. The moderator should ask the members of the panel to repeat the question for clarification. Recording the Session: Many insightful ideas and critical issues can be raised in this type of plenary session that can assist future planning, implementation, and advocacy efforts. It is important to record the session for future reference by the use of videotape, audiotape, or written transcription. When employing any type of recording device it is critical to provide advance notice to all speakers and to receive written approval for the use of such equipment. In addition, at the beginning of the session, audience members should be informed if the session will be recorded. Closing: In closing, challenge the audience to take action in their community/ profession/agency to begin to implement the vision and recommendations of New Directions. ---------------------------- Tools for Public Speaking Tools for Public Speaking contains resources to enhance public presentations about New Directions. This section contains the following: o Sample Speech o Suggested Talking Points How To Use the Sample Speech A sample 20-minute speech that provides an overview of New Directions is presented in this section. The sample speech is designed to use as a keynote speech about New Directions, and can be used when opening a statewide task force, community forum, or plenary session. It is built in segment--after a brief introduction to New Directions, the speech lays out challenges to enhance victims' rights, discusses the critical role of each stage of the justice system, and highlights what allied professions can do to help crime victims. Given the type of the audience and time allotted for the presentation, the speech can be reduced to 10 minutes (noted in speech). The speech can be even more persuasive and powerful if presenters incorporate their experiences into the speech. Please note: when using crime victim stories, always seek permission from the victim before including such information in any speech. How To Use the Talking Points for Presentation The suggested talking points presented in this section highlight key issues and ideas, promising practices, and recommendations found within New Directions. They are organized to correspond with New Directions' five global challenges. Talking points are provided for each global challenge in an easy to use format that includes introductory statements, examples to underscore the topic, and summary statements. The talking points are designed to enhance any presentation. When combined with specific examples from local, State, Tribal, national, or international speaker experiences and concerns, presentations can be even more informative and useful. ---------------------------- Sample New Directions Speech Even though nearly 30,000 victims' rights laws have been enacted across the Nation and 10,000 victim assistance programs have been established in communities to help crime victims, the trauma of victimization is very painful for too many of America's 31 million crime victims each year. Let's consider just three examples of crime victims' experiences in the aftermath of criminal victimization. While these cases are hypothetical, they contain real problems experienced by real crime victims in communities across the Nation every day. Johnnie, a molested child, is so frightened by the strange and daunting criminal justice system that when it comes time to testify in court, he is too afraid to speak--the molester goes free. Sophie, the mother of three children, has been hospitalized from the injuries she received as the result of yet another brutal beating at the hands of her husband. Sophie now must choose between life in a home where she and her children risk further violence on a daily basis or life on the street where their safety and well-being are no more certain. Susan, a rape victim, becomes aware that her attacker has been released from prison when she sees him in the grocery store because no one bothered to tell her in advance that he would be getting out of prison. You have probably heard stories just like these. You see them on televison or read about them in the paper every day. You or someone you know might have even experienced such injustice first hand. Such affronts to our basic principles of justice seem to affect us at a visceral level, shaking our belief in the fundamental fairness of our society and our criminal justice system. Though the U.S. Department of Justice reports that for the past several years crime rates have been decreasing overall, evidence of violence and fear of crime seem to surround us in our daily lives. Statistics indicate that crime is on the decline, but Americans feel less safe now than at any other time in our Nation's history. The problems of crime and crime victims seem overwhelming and intractable. Some choose to look the other way, rendered helpless and hopeless by the nature and magnitude of the problem. Yet even if you are someone whose sense of moral outrage at such injustice urges you to action, what can be done that will make any difference? What can one person do? Indeed, what can an entire community do to address problems that seem as formidable as they do pervasive? In short, how do we address the many injustices crime victims suffer under our Nation's current system of justice? Tough questions that seem to have no easy answers. It may surprise you to learn that I stand before you today, ready to suggest answers to these difficult questions--or at least to suggest a place to begin looking for solutions--the answer is as simple as turning to a single book. [Hold up New Directions]--a book representing the collective knowledge of more than 1,000 individuals from communities across the Nation and published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime. It's called New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century, and it's available to you absolutely free. This is no ordinary government publication. Rather, as its title implies, it sets forth recommendations from individuals across the Nation. New Directions represents the voices of crime victims, along with hundreds of victim services and justice professionals, who contributed to the development of this groundbreaking publication. New Directions provides recommendations from the field for the field for improving the treatment of crime victims in every part of the Nation. The Office for Victims of Crime, within the U.S. Department of Justice, supported the development of this publication by soliciting input through expert summits, public hearings, focus groups, national training academies, and symposia. These forums included professionals representing the judiciary, law enforcement, prosecution, and corrections. Also included were crime victims, victim service providers, crime victim compensation program personnel, and allied victim services professionals from every constituency. The result of these efforts is a definitive description of the "state of crime victim justice" in America today and recommendations for the future. The cumulative knowledge gained from the contributors allows unparalleled precision in defining the problems of crime victims and, more importantly, offers the most promising solutions to those problems. New Directions incorporates 250 recommendations and hundreds of promising practices and practical strategies to those individuals, organizations, and agencies who provide victims' rights and services in either the private or public sector. For example, New Directions contains an entire chapter on children as victims, which includes a host of policies, programs, and procedures that have helped minimize the trauma and emotional distress child victims of sexual assault must endure during their involvement with the criminal justice process. This chapter discusses programs, such as child advocacy centers, which provide a caring, sensitive environment for taking care of the legal and emotional needs of child victims such as young Johnnie. It includes the fundamental conceptual framework for collaborative community responses to domestic violence so victims can avail themselves of the resources that will allow them to escape a life of torment for one of hope, safety, and security. New Directions suggests countless ways for the criminal justice system to protect and keep safe victims such as Sophie, including enforcing anti-stalking laws. New Directions also cites strategies, such as automated notification, which would greatly enhance the ability to provide notice of a perpetrator's release to the victim before the perpetrator hits the street. This would allow crime victims like Susan, a rape survivor, to feel some sense of safety and security knowing that at least she will know the status and location of her offender. Perhaps more than to any other segment of our society, New Directions speaks to criminal and juvenile justice officials who have the primary responsibility for keeping our democracy's most sacred promise--the promise of justice for all its citizens. Indeed, justice officials often define what "justice" really means for our Nation's crime victims. They define its nature and its scope. New Directions challenges those both inside and outside the criminal and juvenile justice systems to re-examine the way in which they administer victim justice. New Directions, in essence, poses the question, "What, indeed, are the boundaries of justice?" The answer resulting from years of input from a diverse community of professionals and volunteers serving victims is this: Helping victims should not be about boundaries. Justice officials and society as a whole must stop asking, "What is the least we can do for crime victims?" Rather, justice officials and society must start asking, "What is the most we can do for crime victims?" The provision of quality victim services extends beyond the enforcement of victims' rights. It asks justice officials to do more than live up to the letter of victim-related laws, but go further and live up to the spirit of those laws. This means that provision of quality victim services means doing what is right for victims to make them feel respected and validated, to help them reconstruct their lives in the aftermath of a crime, and to show that the justice process can be caring, concerned, and just. Justice practitioners, in particular, can use New Directions as a road map for victim justice. Traditionally, like Johnnie, Sophie, and Susan, victims have endured numerous detours and roadblocks in their search for justice. This remarkable book [hold up book] offers simply that: new directions toward a Nation and communities that make quality victim services and expanded victims' rights a destination, rather than a dream. (10 minute stop point) New Directions offers law enforcement vital resources on how to best fulfill their role as the "first responders" to crime and victims. It emphasizes promising practices that will result in positive victims' memories and opinions of their first encounter with the justice system. The numerous recommendations, policies, protocols, and procedures offered by New Directions provide a sound basis for realizing law enforcement's fundamental mandate to "protect and serve" victims of crime. New Directions provides prosecutors specific recommendations for their role and responsibilities for the implementation of victims' core rights, which are notification, participation, input, and protection. Equally important, New Directions highlights the vital and central role of the prosecutor to important collaborative efforts involving allied professions and the community in pursuit of victim justice. As a primary purveyor of victim justice, prosecutors can serve as guides to victims who journey toward justice, using the guideposts provided by New Directions. New Directions clearly recognizes and describes the significant leadership role of judges. The judiciary has the power and responsibility to ensure a fair and respectful justice process to all parties involved, including victims. New Directions validates this key leadership role and offers promising practices that encourage judges to use and cultivate their inherent leadership responsibilities to promote justice for all. New Directions documents the tremendous progress that has been made in the past two decades in victims' rights and services during the post-sentencing phases of cases. While the role of community and institutional corrections has traditionally focused on offender management and supervision, their responsibilities for implementing victims' rights and services and focusing on community protection and safety are without parallel. For corrections officials, New Directions offers many model policies, programs, and practices that have been developed through partnerships between victim services and correctional agencies. Together they strive to achieve a balance of the rights, needs, and interests of victims, offenders, and the community. New Directions rightfully recognizes our Nation's victim services community as "the glue that holds it all together." Many people are surprised to learn that there are more than 10,000 programs that serve victims of crime, located in communities of all kinds--large, small, urban, and rural. While the policies and programs of victim services communities may vary, their central mission remains the same. They want to ensure that victims of crime are afforded rights and services in a manner respectful of the trauma they have endured and insightful into their most critical needs. New Directions offers valuable perspectives into the roles of victim service providers, who act as catalysts for positive change and as caregivers in victims' time of need. For allied professional stakeholders on the road to victim justice, New Directions provides both a road map and indispensable "roadside services" that help victims progress. These services take the form of concrete, creative examples of programs and practices that recognize the mutual responsibility of the Nation, the community, and the individuals to secure justice for victims of crime. The justice system alone cannot accomplish the lofty goals of victim justice. Rather, it relies on the active involvement and creative, collaborative responses of individuals and agencies seeking to improve society's perception and treatment of crime victims. Everyone can help--health and mental health professionals, educators, members of the news media, the faith community, and business and legal professionals. What is the most important is that, as Maryland homicide victim Stephanie Roper recorded in her journal before her tragic murder, "One person can make a difference, and everyone should try." New Directions challenges key stakeholders to support initiatives that improve the plight of victims and provides countless, creative solutions that have been developed over the life of the victims' rights discipline that have made a significant difference for victims. It is often said that a "just" society is best measured by how its citizens are treated by the justice system. By that standard, we live in a world of unfulfilled promise and potential when it comes to victim justice. New Directions is by far the best book ever written to guide our Nation in its journey toward that justice. Consider that 31 million crimes will be committed this year. This means that virtually everyone will be a direct or indirect victim of crime. It is in everyone's interest to join in the journey even though the trip may be long and difficult. Even though the first generation of the victims' rights movement has shortened our journey by many miles, the end is not in sight. We may not make it to the promised land, to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but we can take solace in knowing that each day, in big and small ways, we take steps that will ease the journey to justice for the countless generations of victims who will follow in our footsteps. New Directions offers us the opportunity to take the small steps that will allow our Nation to take giant leaps forward for victims. It provides the blue print and the tools, but it is up to all of us, joined together, to build the road. Remember, "many hands make light work," so I encourage each and every one of you to spread the word. Share New Directions, share its ideas, share its vision of victim justice. Share it in part or in whole, with friends, with colleagues, with community leaders, and with elected officials. Share everyone who cares, or should care, about the quality of justice in America. Injustice to one of us is an injustice to all of us. . . especially to victims of crime. ---------------------------- Talking Points for New Directions: Five Global Challenges for the Field Certain key recommendations emerged during compilation of the hundreds of recommendations from the field and from listening to the voices of crime victims, their advocates, and the allied professionals working with crime victims throughout the Nation. The following five global challenges for responding to crime victims form the core of the hundreds of ideas and recommendations contained in New Directions. 1. To enact and enforce consistent, fundamental rights for crime victims in Federal, State, juvenile, military, and Tribal justice systems, and administrative proceedings. 2. To provide crime victims with access to comprehensive, quality services regardless of the nature of their victimization, age, race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, capability, or geographic location. 3. To integrate crime victims' issues into all levels of the Nation's educational system to ensure that justice and allied professionals and other service providers receive comprehensive training on victims' issues as part of their academic education and continuing training in the field. 4. To support, improve, and replicate promising practices in victims' rights and services built upon sound research, advanced technology, and multidisciplinary partnerships. 5. To ensure that the voices of crime victims play a central role in the Nation's response to violence and those victimized by crime. ---------------------------- Global Challenge #1: To enact and enforce consistent, fundamental rights for crime victims in Federal, State, juvenile, military, and Tribal justice systems, and administrative proceedings. Consistent, Fundamental Rights That Are Enforced Introduction o Tremendous strides have been made to enact victims' rights laws and to foster victim assistance services throughout the Nation. Few other movements have succeeded in igniting the kind of legislative response that victims' rights activists have fostered over the past two decades. o In the early 1980s, State laws addressing victims rights, services, and financial reparations numbered in the hundreds. Today, there are over 30,000 crime victim-related State statutes, 32 State victims' constitutional amendments, and basic rights and services for victims of Federal crimes. o Serious deficiencies nonetheless remain in our Nation's response to crime victims. The rights of crime victims vary among States and at the Federal level. At present, victims face a lack of parallel rights on the Federal, State, and local levels; an absence of rights for victims in some juvenile justice systems; and, all too often, a lack of rights extended to victims of nonviolent crime. Examples To Underscore Topic o While all States have enacted victims' rights statutes, these laws vary considerably State-to-State. Some States provide comprehensive rights for crime victims, while others do not make these rights mandatory. Some States limit the types of crime victims that qualify for certain rights. For example, victims of felony crimes and victims of misdemeanors may qualify for different rights. o Less than half of the States have a fairly comprehensive list of rights for victims of juvenile offenses. Yet, offenses committed by juvenile offenders are the fastest growing segment of violent crime in America. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, arrests for violent juvenile offenses increased more than 50 percent between the late 1980s and the mid-1990s. o Crime victims potentially face six different sets of rights depending on the following: the type of offense committed (felony or misdemeanor), the age of the offender (criminal or juvenile justice system), and the prosecutorial jurisdiction of the offense (Federal, State, military, or Tribal). o Even in States that have enacted constitutional rights for victims, implementation of these rights is still arbitrary. Too often, limitations are based on the individual practices of the criminal justice officials rather than on uniform policies and practices. When this is the case, it is not surprising that victims' rights laws are inconsistently implemented and enforced. Summary Statements o The enactment and vigorous enforcement of consistent, fundamental rights must be one of the priority goals for the 21st century. Victims' rights, especially the right to be informed of and to participate in criminal and juvenile justice proceedings, must be parallel at all levels of government and in all justice systems. ---------------------------- Global Challenge #2: To provide crime victims with access to comprehensive, quality services regardless of the nature of their victimization, age, race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, capability, or geographic location. Equal Access to Comprehensive Services Introduction o In 1982, the United States had only an estimated 1,500 victim assistance programs. Only 37 States had victim compensation programs that helped pay for medical, mental health, lost wages, and funeral expenses resulting from crime. Significant Federal and State funding has resulted in more than 10,000 victim assistance programs today, and every State has a victim compensation program. o In spite of this progress, only a fraction of the Nation's 31 million crime victims each year has access to services such as emergency financial assistance, crisis and mental health counseling, shelter, victim compensation, and information and advocacy within the criminal and juvenile justice systems. Examples To Underscore Topic o Many rural areas have no services for crime victims who must travel hundreds of miles to find a safe shelter, effective counseling, or other specialized victim assistance services. o A substantial number of crime victims, particularly victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse, do not report the crime. As a result, countless victims never access victim assistance and compensation programs. o Victims of what is often referred to as white-collar or nonviolent crime, including various forms of fraud such as identity theft and telemarketing, often do not receive needed assistance such as counseling services. This is because most services are focused on victims of violent crime. For example, despite the fact that thousands of elderly crime victims lose their life savings due to telemarketing fraud, few programs have been developed to help these victims. o Crime victims with disabilities are victimized at an unusually high rate and have great difficulty accessing services to meet their needs. Many victim assistance programs are unable to communicate effectively with deaf victims or provide resources and referrals in braille. o Victim service providers are often not equipped to meet the needs of victims from diverse cultures and victims who speak different languages. As a result, these victims are not adequately informed of the services available to them or of their rights in the justice system. o While tremendous progress has been made in responding to victims of domestic violence, there are still parts of our Nation where domestic violence victims must travel great distances to seek safety and shelter away from their abusers. o Even when services are available, many victims are afraid to access them because they fear retaliation by the offender or revictimization by the system. This includes many victims of domestic violence and child abuse, and victims of gang violence who must continue to live in neighborhoods with ongoing gang activity. Summary Statements o As we prepare for this new century and beyond, it is especially important that all programs and agencies work to reduce barriers to accessibility, including those related to physical and mental disabilities, language and communication, age, competence, and geographic location. o As a field, the victims' rights discipline must define what a comprehensive system of victim services entails. It should include immediate trauma and emergency response, short- and long-term psychological counseling, shelter, and advocacy throughout the criminal, Tribal, military, and juvenile justice systems. Crime victims should also have access to diverse sources of financial recovery including emergency financial assistance, crime victim compensation, restitution, and civil legal remedies. o A system of comprehensive services requires dedicated resources. A step toward that goal was the enactment of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, which established a creative, nontraditional funding mechanism that relies on the collection of fines and penalties from convicted Federal offenders, rather than Federal tax-based appropriations. However, many criminal and juvenile justice officials and victim advocates continue to assert that the lack of comprehensive services in every community for victims of crime is primarily due to inadequate funding. New, creative, and consistent sources of funding must be found to ensure quality services to all crime victims. ---------------------------- Global Challenge #3: To integrate crime victims' issues into all levels of the Nation's educational system to ensure that justice and allied professionals and other service providers receive comprehensive training on victims' issues as part of their academic education and continuing training in the field. Education and Training Introduction o Enhanced education and training are critical for providing quality victim services and must be addressed on three fronts--require education about crime prevention and victims' rights and services in the Nation's schools; improve educational curricula in colleges and in graduate schools for professionals who interact with crime victims; and expand opportunities for training professionals and volunteers in the field. o The places that provide the best opportunity to reach the most children about crime prevention strategies and victims' services are our Nation's schools. Schools should take better advantage of this important responsibility. For example, children often do not learn in school about how to protect themselves, where to turn for help, and what services are available to them if they become a victim of crime. o Even on many college campuses, where sexual assault and other crimes affect a significant number of students, information about these crimes and prevention strategies is rarely incorporated into classes or student activities beyond student orientation. o Because many victims turn first to their friends for assistance, it is critical to educate those most likely to provide advice about what to do. Education about crime prevention and victims' rights and services must begin in grade school and continue through college and graduate school. Examples To Underscore Topic o On the national level, OVC has supported the training of thousands of victim service providers over the past decade. Through its funding of national, regional, Tribal, and State conferences, approximately 40,000 individuals have been trained in the area of victims' rights and services. Many of OVCs training initiatives for criminal justice and allied professionals, as well as topic specific trainings, are cited throughout New Directions. o In order to make comprehensive, academic-based training available to a diverse group of victim service providers, including Federal, Tribal, State and local justice and allied professionals, OVC funded the development of the first National Victim Assistance Academy (NVAA) in 1995. Now in its sixth year, the Academy is coordinated by the Victims' Assistance Legal Organization and a consortium of universities, including California State University-Fresno, the Medical University of South Carolina, the University of New Haven, and Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. o In 1997, the Program Against Sexual Violence and the School of Dentistry at the University of Minnesota received funding from the Office for Victims of Crime to develop a comprehensive education model for dentists and dental auxiliaries regarding family violence. Summary Statements o Many professionals who deal with crime victims are never taught in school about the impact of victimization or the best practices to use in the field. The educational curricula in colleges and in graduate schools for doctors, lawyers, nurses, social workers, law enforcement, mental health professionals, the clergy, and others should include specialized training about victim trauma and related crime victims' issues. o Where appropriate, these courses should be interdisciplinary and inform students about effective team approaches to address crime. To provide high quality, state-of-the-art services, initial and continuing education must be provided for every allied professional and service provider who regularly interacts with crime victims. This training should include multicultural sensitivity and training about the needs of victims from other cultures whose primary language may not be English. ---------------------------- Global Challenge #4: To support, improve, and replicate promising practices in victims' rights and services built upon sound research, advanced technology, and multidisciplinary partnerships. Promising Practices Introduction o In the last two decades, many communities have developed "promising practices" in victim services. These practices are intended to serve as models for the Nation. These innovative programs offer services for a variety of crime victims and generally use a multidisciplinary or team approach to respond to victims' needs. Examples To Underscore Topic o Children's Advocacy Centers. In 1984, the first Center was initiated in Huntsville, Alabama, by the District Attorney who was tired of seeing sexually abused children re-victimized by the system. One example was how the children were being interviewed many different times by numerous agency officials in frightening settings. He developed an Advocacy Center especially designed for kids, where governmental agencies work together to reduce the number of interviews and coordinate case management. This vision led to a national movement, and today there are more than 300 Children's Advocacy Centers in 48 States. This kind of interagency model should exist in every community. o Comprehensive Victim Service Centers. Jacksonville, Florida, is the site of the Nation's first comprehensive victim service center. It provides a wide range of services in one location for all crime victims, expanding on the model used by Children's Advocacy Centers. Center staff operate an emergency fund for victims; counselors provide therapy to victims and accompany police to all homicides; and self-help groups, such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Parents of Murdered Children, are co-located in this facility especially designed for crime victims. o Community Criminal Justice Partnerships. In 1989, the Sheriff of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, began a program to ensure that his department responded to the needs of elderly crime victims. Called TRIAD, this collaborative program between law enforcement and senior citizens has been duplicated in many communities and is co-sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs' Association. In Bridgeport, Connecticut, for example, after meeting with seniors and hearing their concerns, the Chief of Police provided a bus and officers who assist seniors who live in a high crime area to go to the market and safely conduct their banking. Today there are more than 500 of these cooperative programs in 46 States, plus Canada and England. Additional services offered by TRIAD programs include crime prevention classes, repairs to damaged residences, transportation to medical services and criminal justice proceedings, and courtroom escorts. o Crisis Response Teams. In 1986, the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) sponsored the victim assistance field's first crisis response team comprised of diverse professionals following the Edmond, Oklahoma, Post Office shooting in which more than a dozen employees were killed. With NOVA's leadership and training, many States have organized crisis response teams made up of many different professionals, including psychologists, law enforcement, doctors, social workers, victim advocates, and religious leaders. These teams provide assistance to communities in the aftermath of major crimes and acts of terrorism such as mass murders and bombings. For example, South Carolina's crisis response team includes more than 100 specially trained professional volunteers. o Technologies To Benefit Crime Victims. Emerging technologies hold great promise for improving services to crime victims. For example, after a woman was murdered by a former boyfriend just a few days after he posted bail on a charge of raping her, Kentucky enacted an automated victim notification system to inform victims when their offenders are released. Although she had requested notification, no one had informed her of his release. In addition, computers can be used to link victim services and allied justice agencies together to share information. Some communities have linked domestic violence shelters through computers so that if a shelter is full, staff will know where available space exists to make appropriate referrals. Summary Statements o A priority for the victims' rights discipline in the 21st century should be to support and replicate promising practices, such as "team approaches" and the use of technology, with the goal of improving the quality of programs and services nationwide. o Similar innovative and creative approaches to meeting the needs of crime victims are highlighted throughout New Directions. ---------------------------- Global Challenge #5: To ensure that the voices of crime victims play a central role in the Nation's response to violence and those victimized by crime. Listening to Crime Victims "I discovered long ago that among the most effective advocates I have seen are the survivors, those who have channeled their pain and anger into activism to achieve lasting reforms." --Attorney General Janet Reno, August 15, 1996 Introduction o The victims' rights discipline owes its many accomplishments to the activism of crime victims themselves, their families, and supporters. Many crime victims have struggled to survive their own victimization and also to bring much needed legal reforms, financial relief, and services to other victims. o In implementing New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century, it is important to never forget the needs, desires, and potential contributions of crime victims. The input of victims--"victims' voices"--must remain a powerful guiding force as the crime victims' discipline and allied professions begin the tremendous task of bringing words on paper to action in communities across the Nation. o Since 1982, a substantial number of the 68 recommendations in the President's Task Force on Victims of Crime have been implemented. From the passage of the Victims of Crime Act in 1984 to the current 32 State constitutional amendments, these successes are in large part due to the efforts of crime victims. o In an increasing number of communities, victims are requesting opportunities to meet and have a dialogue with their offenders. Such opportunities allow victims to define the harm that was caused by the crime; to receive answers to questions about the crime; and to hold offenders accountable for the devastation committed against the victims. When offenders listen to victims, they can learn the true impact that their criminal actions caused. Examples To Underscore Topic Victims' Voices Victims have spoken in countless letters to the President, the Attorney General, the Office for Victims of Crime, at public hearings, and through Congressional testimony. Victims of crime have told those who help them that they need: o A voice that is listened to throughout the justice process. o Full enforcement of fundamental rights, including the rights to be informed, present, and heard. o Financial support, including victim compensation, emergency funds, and restitution. o Access to services such as mental health counseling, emergency shelter, and legal advocacy. o Protection from intimidation, harassment, and harm. Summary Statements o Crime victims play an important role in guiding public policy. They are an equally valuable resource in developing and participating in crime prevention programs such as school-based gang violence and drunk driving prevention programs. o In addition, victims have a significant role in training programs for service providers and allied professionals. Basic training for law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, corrections personnel, and allied professionals should include victim impact panels, such as those initiated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, where crime victims sensitize the participants by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the system, and how crime affects their lives and those of their loved ones. Many offenders benefit from educational programs that feature crime victims discussing the impact of their victimization. Conclusion to Talking Points on Global Challenges o These five important global challenges have helped guide the development of the 250 recommendations set forth in New Directions. o The recommendations contained in New Directions include proposals to improve the response to crime victims from virtually every professional with whom they interact; proposals to improve reforms to justice systems that respond to crime victims; and proposals to improve critical areas that need to be addressed to respond to specific victim populations. o The global challenges are integrated into every section of this landmark plan for our Nation's future treatment of victims of crime. ---------------------------- Getting the Word Out About New Directions Getting the Word Out About New Directions contains a variety of tools and resources for publicizing both the availability of New Directions and suggested public awareness events. This section contains the following: o Sample Press Release o Sample Newsletter Article o Sample Opinion/Editorial Column o Sample Letter to Criminal Justice Associations o Sample Letter to Allied Professional Associations o Sample Letter to Public Officials Sample Press Release To generate media coverage and to increase public awareness of victims' rights and services, a sample press release is included in this section. The press release announces the formation of a New Directions task force. It can also be used to highlight similar initiatives on the State, Tribal, or local levels. Once a task force has been created, the press release should be sent to local print and broadcast media via mail or fax transmission. Usually, local libraries have reference books listing print and broadcast media that can help create a current media mailing list. Sample Newsletter Article To increase awareness about New Directions, a sample newsletter article is included for submission to professional associations for reprinting in newsletters or other publications. The sample article can be used for newsletter and journal publications in the victim services, justice, and allied professional communities. The sample newsletter article can be tailored to meet specific professional or community issues and concerns. Sample Opinion/Editorial Column A sample opinion/editorial column is included for submission to newspapers to enhance public awareness about New Directions. The column can be tailored to reflect information pertinent to the community in which it is published, such as adding local crime statistics. To increase the likelihood of its publication, consider: submitting it on behalf of a community action group, victim services planning committee, or coalition; scheduling a meeting with members of a newspaper's editorial board to stress the importance of victims' rights and services; and timing the submission of the column to coincide with national commemorative victim-related events, such as National Crime Victims' Rights Week. (See Suggested Events for a list of national events throughout the year.) Sample Letters Three sample letters to criminal justice associations, allied professionals, and public officials are included in this section. The letters serve as an introduction to New Directions and encourage professional organizations or public officials to take action on ideas and recommendations contained in New Directions. ---------------------------- Sample Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: (Name/Title/Agency) Date: (Telephone/Fax/E-mail) (STATE/COMMUNITY) RESPONDS TO NATIONAL CALL TO ACTION TO AID CRIME VICTIMS (City Origin of Press Release)--The (State/City/Tribe/Agency/Coalition) announced its commitment to respond to a national call to action to improve our Nation's treatment of crime victims. (Agency/Organization) will (establish task force, hold a community forum, conduct training program, etc.) to begin the process of implementing the many ideas and recommendations contained in a landmark national report entitled New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century published by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime. New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century is a comprehensive report on victims' rights and services that chronicles the extraordinary accomplishments of the victims' rights discipline and outlines what we, as a society, should strive to achieve for crime victims in the 21st century. More than 1,000 individuals from across the Nation--including crime victims and those who serve them in the justice system and allied professions--contributed to the creation of this blueprint for improving our Nation's response to crime victims. The Report contains 250 recommendations targeted to almost every profession that comes in contact with crime victims from criminal and juvenile justice practitioners to the victim assistance, crime victim compensation, health care, mental health, legal, education, faith, news media, and business communities. It also contains scores of "promising practices" that currently exist to help crime victims in America today. This important report is the first comprehensive plan regarding how the Nation should respond to crime victims since the Final Report of the President's Task Force on Victims of Crime was published in 1982. According to (spokesperson), tremendous progress has been made in promoting victims' rights and providing quality victim services since the inception of the victims' rights discipline nearly 30 years ago. "We have emerged from trying times when crime victims were kept out of our courthouses and remote from any sense of justice, to a remarkable period where crime victims are now becoming central to our justice processes," (spokesperson) noted. "New Directions offers (State/city/Tribe/coalition) a road map that reflects on all that is good and possible in providing comprehensive, quality services to crime victims in our (jurisdiction)." "Now, it's up to us to use this landmark document to guide our efforts to improve victims' rights and services here in (jurisdiction), and to create a true sense of victim justice in (jurisdiction) by (list action items here)," (spokesperson) concluded. For further information about New Directions and local efforts to implement its recommendations, please contact (name/title/agency/telephone/e-mail/Web site address). ---------------------------- Sample Article Highlighting New Directions for Newsletters and Professional Publications New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century challenges the Nation to renew and refocus its efforts to improve the treatment of victims of crime. Published by the Office for Victims of Crime within the U.S. Department of Justice, the 250 recommendations set forth in New Directions were developed to help the crime victims' field, criminal and juvenile justice agencies, allied professionals, and policymakers meet the needs of crime victims in the new millennium. This is the first comprehensive plan for the Nation's response to crime victims since the President's Task Force on Victims of Crime was published in 1982. It is a national action plan that represents the vision of the victims' rights discipline and allied professionals. Crime victims and representatives from national victim advocacy and service organizations--as well as criminal and juvenile justice, health and mental health professionals, researchers, and many others--provided the input that resulted in the recommendations contained in New Directions. In total, this significant document incorporates the collective wisdom, experience, and research contributed by more than 1,000 individuals across the Nation. New Directions Presents Five Global Challenges to the Field In the course of listening to the voices of crime victims, their advocates, and allied professionals who work with crime victims, key recommendations emerged as vital to the provision of comprehensive, quality victim services. The following five global challenges for responding to victims of crime form the foundation for the hundreds of ideas and recommendations contained in New Directions: 1. To enact and enforce consistent, fundamental rights for crime victims in Federal, State, juvenile, military, and Tribal justice systems, and administrative proceedings. 2. To provide crime victims with access to comprehensive, quality services regardless of the nature of their victimization, age, race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, capability, or geographic location. 3. To integrate crime victims' issues into all levels of the Nation's educational system to ensure that justice and allied professionals and other service providers receive comprehensive training on victims' issues as part of their academic education and continuing training in the field. 4. To support, improve, and replicate promising practices in victims' rights and services built upon sound research, advanced technology, and multidisciplinary partnerships. 5. To ensure that the voices of crime victims play a central role in the Nation's response to violence and those victimized by crime. New Directions provides 250 recommendations that point specifically to the implementation of these five global challenges. For example, to ensure that crime victims' rights are comprehensive and consistent across all justice systems, New Directions provides several recommendations for enhancing victims' rights in not only the criminal justice system, but also in the Federal, juvenile, Tribal, and military justice systems. New Directions emphasizes that just as in the past, crime victims in the future must play an important role in helping to guide public policy. The first recommendation in New Directions calls for the passage of a Federal constitutional amendment for crime victims. Leadership and activism from national organizations, State coalitions, and local victim assistance practitioners are vital in passing these much needed national reforms for victims' rights. New Directions also emphasizes that crime victims are a valuable resource in developing and participating in victim assistance and violence reduction programs. For example, survivors of drunk driving crashes serve on victim impact panels to increase drunk drivers' awareness of the pain and agony victims suffer at the hands of drunk drivers. In addition, crime victims are an important component in educational programs for victim service providers and allied professionals. Many recommendations in New Directions suggest that basic training for law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, corrections personnel, and allied professionals should include education about the impact of crime on victims and victims' rights. The participation of crime victims and victim service providers in all training initiatives, as well as public policy planning, helps sensitize professionals and volunteers to the plight of victims, as well as their important role in providing supportive services to victims. New Directions includes more than 200 innovative promising practices for assisting crime victims that have been developed throughout the Nation in the justice system, victim assistance, crime victim compensation, health care, mental health, legal, education, faith, business, and news media communities. The Challenge Ahead New Directions was published to foster a dialogue across the Nation to develop strategies for providing justice and healing for crime victims in the new millennium. As such, New Directions urges every American who interacts with crime victims--from police officers to prosecutors, judges to corrections officials, members of the clergy to business leaders--to join this dialogue and implement the programs and reforms that make sense for their own communities. As a Nation, we have seen the doors of justice gradually open for some; New Directions offers recommendations and ideas to provide victims' rights and services for all. To obtain New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century resources contact: Call: Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center, (800) 627-6872 Write: National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) User Services, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000. Request Document (NCJ 170600) Web site: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ ---------------------------- Sample Opinion/Editorial Column: New Directions for Victim Justice A young child who has been the victim of a sexual assault suffers additional trauma as delays in bringing the case to trial turn into months and sometimes years of waiting for justice. A mother with three kids has been hospitalized from the injuries she received as the result of yet another brutal beating from her husband. She now faces the choice of life in a home where she and her children risk further violence, or even death on a daily basis, or life on the street where their safety and well-being may be no more certain. A rape victim becomes aware that her rapist has been released from prison when she sees him in the grocery store because no one notified her of his release. You have probably heard of stories just like these. You may have even read about them in this very newspaper. If you are like most citizens, hearing of such injustices may well have sparked your sense of moral outrage at an almost visceral level. You may have even felt the urge to do something about it--but what? What can one person do? Indeed, what can an entire community do to address problems that seem as intractable as they do pervasive? In short, how do we address the many injustices that crime victims endure in America? It may surprise you to learn that these difficult questions may actually have answers that can be found in the pages of a single book--a book published by our Federal Government, no less. It is entitled New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century, and is available to you free. This is no ordinary government publication. It wasn't authored by faceless bureaucrats who may lack the real world experience necessary to understand and solve the real problems facing crime victims. Rather, as its title implies, it was authored by crime victims along with hundreds of victim service and criminal and juvenile justice professionals. The Office for Victims of Crime within the U.S. Department of Justice, which supported the development of the publication, actively sought input through expert summits, public hearings, focus groups, national training academies, and symposia that included representatives from the judiciary, law enforcement, prosecution, corrections, and allied professions, in addition to victims, advocates, and service providers from every victim constituency. The end result is a definitive description of the "state of victim justice" in America today, as well as recommendations for the future. The cumulative knowledge of the contributors not only allows an unparalleled precision in the delineation of the problems crime victims face, but more importantly, offers the most promising solutions to those problems. New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century incorporates 250 recommendations, and hundreds of promising practices and practical strategies for individuals, organizations, and agencies in both the public and private sectors. For example, New Directions contains an entire chapter on children as victims, which includes a host of policies, programs, and procedures that have helped minimize the trauma and emotional distress child sexual assault victims must endure when they become involved with the criminal justice process. It includes the fundamental conceptual framework for collaborative community responses to domestic violence, so victims can avail themselves of the resources that will allow them to escape a life of torment for one of hope, safety, and security. New Directions also cites strategies, such as automated victim notification technologies, that would greatly enhance the ability to provide notice of release to victims before their perpetrators hit the street. A just society is best measured by how its citizens are treated by the justice system. By that standard, we still have a long road ahead of us. New Directions is by far the best book ever written to guide our Nation's journey toward justice. Considering that just over 30 million crimes will be committed this year, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, virtually all of us will be the direct or indirect victims of crime. It is in everyone's interest to join this journey toward justice, as long and difficult as it may be. Yet even the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, and that first step is to get a copy of New Directions. It will give you ideas of what you and your community can do to improve the quality of justice for our Nation, and our Nation's crime victims. I invite you to share its strategies and recommendations, in part or in whole, with friends, colleagues, community leaders, and elected officials--everyone who cares, or should care, about justice for all, even victims of crime, because injustice to one of us, is an injustice to all of us. To obtain New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century resources: Call: Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center, (800) 627-6872 Write: National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) User Services, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000. Request Document (NCJ 170600) Web site: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ ---------------------------- Sample Letter to Criminal Justice Associations To the (President/Executive Director) Dear ( ), I am writing to encourage your (association/agency) to appoint a New Directions advisory committee to review and act upon recommendations set forth in a landmark document that has recently been released by the U.S. Department of Justice, New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century. This important document provides 250 recommendations to improve the treatment of crime victims across the Nation, to increase rights for crime victims within our Nation's justice systems, and to expand greatly needed services and support for crime victims in the aftermath of being injured by crime. More than 1,000 individuals from every State in the Nation provided input into the development of this historic document. New Directions should serve as an essential resource in helping (association/agency) improve your response to crime victims. While many members of your (organization/agency) have taken great strides over the past decade in assisting victims of crime, much work remains to be done. Too many crime victims still do not receive the rights they are entitled to by law. New Directions provides specific recommendations for each justice agency--law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, and corrections to implement victims' rights laws and to initiate or enhance victim services. It also identifies the important allied professionals that need to be fully prepared to assist victims, such as those working in the mental health, health care, education, faith, and legal arenas. The establishment of a New Directions advisory committee can be a highly effective first step to bring professionals within your constituency together with victim advocates and crime victims to begin planning for a comprehensive and coordinated response to help victims in the future. New Directions provides a detailed description of the fundamental laws, policies, programs, and protocol that can be implemented to provide consistent rights and services for crime victims across the Nation. The focus of the advisory committee's work should be to review these recommendations and to establish priorities for action relevant to your constituency. I am enclosing copies of pertinent sections of New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century for your review. I am available to meet with you or your designated representatives to discuss plans for taking action on recommendations contained in this landmark report. I encourage you to take decisive action in appointing an advisory committee to oversee the adoption and implementation of these important recommendations for the future, and I am prepared to offer my full support and technical assistance. Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter. Sincerely, ---------------------------- Sample Letter to Allied Professional Associations To the (President/Executive Director) Dear ( ), This year alone, violence occurring within once safe boundaries--schools, places of worship, hospitals, and the workplace--reaffirms that no one individual, institution, or community is immune from the devastating impact of crime and victimization. No longer can society rely solely on the criminal justice system to respond to violence in the community and criminal victimization. Participation by all professions and institutions is required to effectively confront violence and to assist its victims. The U.S. Department of Justice has recently released an important document that provides 250 recommendations for improving the treatment of crime victims across the Nation. This historic report, entitled New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century, provides specific recommendations for professionals working in the (mental health/health care/education/faith/legal/business/media) disciplines. More than 1,000 individuals from every profession that comes into contact with crime victims provided input into the development of this historic document. I am writing to encourage your (association/agency) to appoint a New Directions advisory committee to review and act upon recommendations set forth in a landmark document. New Directions can serve as an essential resource in helping (mental health/health care/education/faith/legal/business/ media) professionals improve their response to crime victims. While many members of your (association/organization) have taken great strides over the past decade to develop programs that assist victims of crime, much work remains to be done. Too many crime victims still do not receive the services they need and to which they are entitled by law. New Directions has identified your membership as one of the critically important allied professions that has a vital role and responsibility to assist victims. The establishment of a New Directions advisory committee can be a highly effective first step to bring professionals within your constituency together with victim advocates and crime victims to begin planning for a comprehensive and coordinated response to help victims in the future. New Directions provides a detailed description of the fundamental laws, policies, programs, and protocol that can be implemented to provide consistent rights and services for crime victims across the Nation. The focus of the advisory committee's work should be to review these recommendations and to establish priorities for action relevant to your constituency. I am enclosing a copy of New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century for your review. I am available to meet with you or your designated representatives to discuss plans for taking action on recommendations contained in this landmark report. I encourage you to take decisive action in appointing an advisory committee to oversee the adoption and implementation of these important recommendations for the future, and I am prepared to offer my full support and technical assistance. Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter. Sincerely, ---------------------------- Sample Letter to Public Officials To the Honorable (Governor, Attorney General, State Senator/Representative) Dear ( ), I am writing to encourage you to appoint a New Directions Task Force to review and act upon recommendations set forth in a landmark document that has recently been released by the U.S. Department of Justice, New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century. This important document provides 250 recommendations to improve the treatment of crime victims across the Nation. It emphasizes increasing rights for crime victims within our Nation's justice systems and expanding greatly needed services and support for crime victims in the aftermath of a crime. More than 1,000 individuals from every State in the Nation provided input into the development of this historic document. New Directions can serve as an essential resource in helping our (State/community) improve its response to crime victims. Our (State/community) has made great progress over the past decade in assisting victims of crime. However, too many crime victims still do not receive the rights they are entitled to under State and Federal laws. New Directions provides specific recommendations for each justice agency--law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, and corrections--to implement victims' rights laws and to initiate or enhance services for crime victims. It also identifies the important allied professionals that need to be fully prepared to assist victims, such as those working in the mental health, health care, education, faith, and legal disciplines. While the establishment of a (State/community) Task Force is not a simple undertaking, it is a necessary first step in bringing together professionals and volunteers from criminal and juvenile justice, allied professionals, victim services, and crime victims to begin planning for a comprehensive and coordinated response to assisting victims in our (State/community). New Directions provides a detailed description of the fundamental laws that must be enacted in every State to provide consistent rights for crime victims across the Nation. A major focus of the Task Force's work should be to review these recommendations and to take action to amend or enact State laws. I am enclosing a copy of New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century for your review. I am available to meet with you or your designated representatives to discuss plans for taking action on recommendations contained in this landmark report. I encourage you to take decisive action in appointing a task force to oversee the adoption and implementation of these important recommendations for the future, and I am prepared to offer my full support and technical assistance. Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter. Sincerely, ---------------------------- Camera-Ready Resources o Public Awareness Pocket Cards o Overheads Formatted for Speaker Presentation o Community Forum Announcement Flyer How To Use Public Awareness Pocket Cards To enhance professional and public education efforts, pocket cards have been developed for reproduction and distribution at various meetings, forums, conferences, and training programs. To facilitate replication, the pocket cards have been formatted to fit three pocket cards per an 8- by 11-inch page. Note: the first pocket card in the series is designed to serve as the master front of each pocket card. The back of each pocket card can be changed for appropriate audiences. For example, when replicating the pocket cards for justice system audiences, the first pocket card can serve as the cover, and then each of the pocket cards on law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, and corrections, can be reproduced on the back of the pocket card for the appropriate discipline. How To Use Overheads for Public Speaking This section contains 39 overheads that have been designed in an 8- by 11-inch format for reproduction on overhead transparencies. The overheads highlight a brief historical review of New Directions and correspond to its five global challenges. However, many of the overheads can serve as stand-alone visual aids to emphasize key points and concepts in speaker presentations. For example, several overheads address the justice system and many contain quotes from crime victims emphasizing the need for enhanced victims' rights and services. Electronic Availability of Camera-Ready Materials All camera-ready resources, including a color version of the overheads, are available in electronic format by visiting the OVC's World Wide Web site at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc. ---------------------------- [Note: The Public Awareness Pocket Cards and the Community Forum Announcement Flyer can be viewed on the Adobe Acrobat version of this document] 1. New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century 2. What is New Directions? A Compass for the Future...250 Recommendations A Reflection of Voices from Across the Nation...More Than 1,000 Contributors A Documentation of the Tremendous Achievements To Improve the Treatment of Crime Victims in America and Around the World...More Than 200 Promising Practices 3. Where Did This Document Come From? New Directions is truly "a report from the Nation" from: o Crime victims. o Those who serve them in the public and private sectors. o Countless leaders on the local, State, Tribal, military, Federal, national, and international levels. 4. History of New Directions New Directions is a 15-year update of the landmark 1982 Final Report of the President's Task Force on Victims of Crime. The 1982 Task Force identified the American justice system as "appallingly out of balance," and issued 68 recommendations to improve the Nation's treatment of crime victims. 5. The Voice of a Crime Victim in 1982 "To be a victim at the hands of the criminal is an unforgettable nightmare. But to then become a victim at the hands of the criminal justice system is an unforgivable travesty. It makes the criminal and the criminal justice system partners in crime." --Robert Grayson 1982 Final Report President's Task Force on Victims of Crime 6. The 1982 Task Force recommended the passage of a new Federal law to support crime victim compensation and assistance programs. o As a result, the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) was enacted in 1984. o As of today, VOCA has provided more than 2 billion dollars to State compensation and local victim assistance programs. 7. New Directions Charts Historic Progress Over the Past 15 Years o Over 10,000 victim assistance programs have been established... --New Directions, 1998 o Over 30,000 victims' rights laws have been enacted... --National Center for Victims of Crime, 1999 8. New Directions Charts Historic Progress Over the Past 15 Years (cont.) o 32 States have adopted victims' rights constitutional amendments... --National Constitutional Amendment Network o Hundreds of promising practices that assist and support crime victims have been initiated in communities across the Nation. o The vital role of victims in enhancing system- and community-based victim services is clear. 9. In Spite of Great Progress, Continue To Listen to the Voices of Crime Victims Today "I don't believe half of the American population or even a small portion know what can happen to you when you are a victim of crime going through the criminal justice process." -- A Victim of Crime, New Directions, 1998 10. Victims' Voices On Victims' Rights "Sadly today, victims' rights largely remain 'paper promises.' For too many victims and families, the criminal justice system remains more 'criminal' than 'just' when it comes to protecting their rights." --Roberta Roper, Homicide Survivor and Activist, Maryland 11. Overview New Directions from the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century Executive Summary: An introduction to New Directions and a brief overview of each section of the report. "New Directions is an important road map for comprehensive and consistent rights and services for all victims of crime in the 21st century." --Aileen Adams, former Director, Office for Victims of Crime 12. New Directions is Divided into Key Topical Sections I. Victims' Rights II. Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Agencies III. Victim Assistance and Allied Professions IV. Financial Recovery V. Child Victims VI. International Victim Assistance 13. New Directions Establishes Five Significant Global Challenges Summary of Global Challenges 1. Enact and Enforce Victims' Rights 2. Provide Access to Comprehensive Victim Services 3. Enhance Education and Training Efforts 4. Support and Replicate Promising Practices 5. Ensure Strong Victims' Voices Each Step of the Way 14. About the Five Global Challenges o The global challenges are the result of years of synthesizing background research and holding reaction and focus groups to seek input and ideas from key stakeholders throughout the Nation. o In total, more than 1,000 individuals contributed ideas and recommendations for New Directions. o What are these new challenges for the field? 15. Voice of Leadership "At the core of New Directions is the challenge of creating and implementing consistent, fundamental rights for all crime victims regardless of whether they are in Federal, State, juvenile, military, or Tribal courts." --Kathryn Turman, Director, Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, New Directions videotape 16. Global Challenge #1 "To enact and enforce consistent, fundamental rights for crime victims in Federal, State, juvenile, military, and Tribal justice systems, and administrative proceedings." 17. Global Challenge #2 "To provide crime victims with access to comprehensive, quality services regardless of the nature of their victimization, age, race, religion, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, capability, or geographic location." 18. Global Challenge #3 "To integrate crime victims' issues into all levels of the Nation's educational system to ensure that justice and allied professionals and other service providers receive comprehensive training on victims' issues as part of their academic education and continuing training in the field." 19. Global Challenge #4 "To support, improve, and replicate promising practices in victims' rights and services built upon sound research, advanced technology, and multidisciplinary partnerships." 20. Global Challenge #5 "To ensure that the voices of crime victims play a central role in the Nation's response to violence and those victimized by crime." 21. A Victim's Voice "Survivors of violence have a very unique understanding of the impact of violence on people, individuals, on families, on communities. I think the country really needs to tap into that understanding." --Father of a murdered child, New Directions videotape 22. What Can We Ask of Our Justice System? Are all components of the criminal and juvenile justice systems meeting the needs of crime victims? New Directions documents that victims' rights are not consistently implemented across the Nation today. 23. The Voice of Leadership "Let us make sure that we give our victims the right to be heard--not in some dispassionate way in an impact statement, but in a courtroom, if they want to be heard, so that people can know what it's like to be a victim. Let us give them an opportunity to participate, to be there, and to hold the criminal justice system at every level accountable." --U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno New York City National Candlelight Vigil, 1993 24. Voices from the Justice System Law Enforcement: "It is about the law keeping its promise." --Sergeant Mark Wynn, Nashville Police Department, New Directions, 1998 25. Voices from the Justice System Prosecution: "Victims of crime are uniformly stunned by the fact that this whole process is out of their control." --Ray Larson, Commonwealth Attorney, Lexington, Kentucky, New Directions videotape 26. Voices from the Justice System Judiciary: "The courtroom is the focal point of the entire criminal justice system...The judge who presides over a court becomes not only the final arbiter of each evidentiary and procedural issue, but also establishes the tone, the pace, and the very nature of the proceedings. Particularly for the victims, the judge is the personification of justice." --Lois Haight, California Juvenile Court Judge and Chair of the 1982 President's Task Force on Victims of Crime 27. A Crime Victim Addresses the Court "I remember shaking and being very hesitant in my voice--it was really difficult, but I got out what I had to say and that was very important." --A rape victim's experience in addressing the court, New Directions videotape 28. Voices from the Justice System Corrections: "We have been in denial in essence about the role of the victims in corrections itself. Corrections has probably been the last major entity in the criminal justice system to really get involved with victims' issues. So as President, I really want the American Correctional Association to embrace the notion of victims' issues, victims' rights, and the role of victim survivors." --Reginald A. Wilkinson, former President, American Correctional Association, and Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction 29. New Directions for Victim Assistance and Allied Professions Chapters 1-5 address victims' rights and the justice process. The report also sets forth recommendations for the victim assistance field and for the following key allied professions who come into contact with crime victims in the community: Chapter 6: The Victim Assistance Community Chapter 7: The Health Care Community Chapter 8: The Mental Health Community 30. New Directions for Victim Assistance and Allied Professions (cont.) Chapter 9: The Legal Community Chapter 10: The Education Community Chapter 11: The Faith Community Chapter 12: The Business Community Chapter 13: The News Media Community 31. New Directions in Financial Recovery Three chapters of New Directions focus on meeting the financial needs of crime victims: Chapter 14: Crime Victim Compensation Chapter 15: Restitution Chapter 16: Civil Remedies 32. New Directions for Child Victims An entire section of New Directions is devoted to child victims. Recommendations address: o Victims' rights laws enacted specifically for child victims. o Promising practices in assisting child victims. o Critical areas for research concerning child victims. 33. New Directions for International Victim Assistance International perspectives and recommendations include: o Approaches that have been taken in other countries to address crime victims' needs. o Recommendations for improving services to American citizens who are victimized abroad and foreign citizens who are victimized in the United States. o Recommendations for continued collaboration and reciprocity in the provision of victim services worldwide. 34. Summary of New Directions o In total, 250 recommendations to enhance crime victims' rights and services are set forth in New Directions. o New Directions challenges the Nation to debate and discuss these recommendations and to work hard to incorporate the many ideas and promising practices for serving crime victims on the local, State, Tribal, national, and international levels. 35. Where Can We Focus Our Efforts? o Enacting and enforcing victims' rights? o Training and education? o Developing and demonstrating promising practices? o Increasing services for underserved victims of crime? o Or all of the above? 36. How Can We Evaluate and Assess Our Progress? o Through establishing State task forces? o Through holding community forums? o Through conducting statewide or local surveys and assessments on victims' rights and services? 37. New Directions State Task Force The first step in bringing key stakeholders together to plan a comprehensive and coordinated response to enhance crime victims' rights and services. 38. Goals of New Directions Task Force Identify and Assess: o Current victim assistance programs and gaps in service delivery. o Compliance with the implementation of victims' rights laws. o Funding opportunities. o Professional and volunteer training opportunities. o Promising strategies and practices for victim assistance. 39. New Directions Community Forum o An opportunity to bring together a variety of individuals who share a common interest, issue, or concern about crime victims and community safety. o How can our community enhance its services for crime victims?