Victims of crimes develop emotional problems, such as guilt and uncontrollable anger, which are caused by degradation, humiliation, and often, isolation. These problems are often exacerbated by the lack of public understanding and can result in chronic maladaption. A public health approach is needed which advertises the availability of services to victims and their families, explains them, reduces the barriers to the services, but does not force them on the victims. Further, these new programs need to be constantly evaluated so that their goals and methods of achieving them can be clarified. A Goal Attainment Scale is recommended to assess the patients' functioning prior to victimization and their progress (and its speed) in returning to a premorbid state on a case by case basis. Cases of victimization (e.g., terrorist acts) and the available services for victims are included.