Executive Summary

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. It is the first comprehensive plan
regarding how the nation should respond to crime victims since the 1982
Presidents Task Force on Victims of Crime identified the American justice
system as appallingly out of balance, and made 68 recommendations for how
rights and services for crime victims in this nation could be substantially
improved. New Directions highlights the progress and the momentous changes
that have taken place across our nations justice systems and in the private
sector since the release of the 1982 report. It identifies hundreds of
innovative public policy initiatives and community partnerships that are
revolutionizing the treatment of crime victims in America today, and it
recommends improvements that still need to be implemented on behalf of
crime victims.

Today only a fraction of the nations estimated 38 million crime victims
receive much-needed services such as emergency financial assistance, crisis
and mental health counseling, shelter, and information and advocacy within
the criminal and juvenile justice systems. This report presents more than
250 recommendations targeted to nearly every profession that comes in
contact with crime victimsfrom justice practitioners, to victim service,
health care, mental health, legal, educational, faith, news media, and
business communitiesand encourages them to redouble their efforts to
enhance victims rights and services.

New Directions reflects views from a broad cross-section of the criminal
and juvenile justice, allied professional, and victim service fields.
Contributors to this report include crime victims themselves and
representatives of the agencies and organizations that serve them. Hundreds
of individuals across the country proposed recommendations for this report
by participating in public hearings; submitting background papers on
diverse victims issues; serving on working groups with representatives from
law enforcement, prosecution, and corrections agencies as well as the
judiciary; and participating in focus groups with allied professionals. All
who contributed to this report hope that it will serve as a catalyst to a
dynamic and far-reaching discussion about how our nation can improve its
response to victims of crime, and that it will precipitate practical steps
toward making the ideas presented in this report a reality.

New Directions was developed by the field, and its recommendations do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Justice Department or the Office for
Victims of Crime. In addition, all of the recommendations may not represent
the views of every contributor, as over 1,000 individuals provided input
into this document.

Organization of New Directions

As an update to the 1982 Final Report of the Presidents Task Force on
Victims of Crime, New Directions follows the format established in the
original report in setting forth its recommendations. It begins with a
discussion of important public policy issues affecting crime victims, and
each section that follows discusses how individual justice agencies and
allied professionals can implement these, as well as other, important
initiatives.

Additional topics and issues have been added as a result of the tremendous
growth in the field and in response to new problems that have emerged
during the past 15 years. As in the original report, each section of New
Directions contains individual chapters designed to serve as stand-alone
documents that present recommendations for specific issue areas or
professions.

Section I

New Directions in Victims Rights

For many years, victims of crime were virtually invisible in the laws and
policies that govern our justice systems. To the extent victims of crime
had a role in the justice system, it was narrow; to the extent victims had
rights, they were few.

Section I, New Directions in Victims Rights, reviews the nations progress
over the past two decades toward establishing state and federal rights for
victims of crime, including a proposed federal constitutional amendment to
guarantee those rights. It also presents recommendations from the field for
ensuring that victims rights, including fundamental rights for victims of
juvenile offenders, are expanded and enforced within the American justice
system.

Tremendous strides have been made to enact victims rights laws and deliver
services to victims in the United States. Few movements in the history of
this nation have achieved such success in igniting the kind of legislative
response that victim rights activists have fostered over the past two
decades. In the early 1980s, state laws addressing victims rights,
services, and financial reparations numbered in the hundreds. Today, there
are more than 27,000 crime victim-related state statutes, 29 state victims
rights constitutional amendments, and basic rights and services for victims
of federal crimes.

Nevertheless, serious deficiencies remain in the nations victims rights
laws as well as their implementation. The rights of crime victims vary
significantly among states and at the federal level. Frequently, victims
rights are ignored. Even in states that have enacted constitutional rights
for victims, implementation is often arbitrary and based on the individual
practices and preferences of criminal justice officials. Moreover, many
states do not provide comprehensive rights for victims of juvenile
offenders. In tribal, military, and administrative proceedings, the rights
extended to victims differ dramatically or do not exist at all. Many
victims, including victims from diverse cultures and those with
disabilities, are not informed of their rights nor given the opportunity to
participate in criminal and juvenile justice proceedings.

In New Directions in Victims Rights, the field strongly recommends that the
enactment and vigorous enforcement of consistent, fundamental victims
rights should be a priority for the 21st century. The first recommendation
from the field is for the passage of a Federal Victims Rights
Constitutional Amendment to establish a basic level of rights for crime
victims in every state. These include the following fundamental rights:

Ñ To notice of public court proceedings and to attend them.

Ñ To make a statement to the court about bail, sentencing, and accepting a
plea.

Ñ To notice of parole hearings and to attend them and speak.

Ñ To notice of a defendant or convicts escape or release.

Ñ To an order of restitution from the convicted offender.

Ñ To a final disposition of the proceedings relating to the crime free from
unreasonable delay.

Ñ To consideration for the safety of the victim in determining a defendants
release from custody.

Ñ To notice of these rights.

Ñ To standing to enforce these rights.

The report strongly recommends that these fundamental rights should be
established and enforced not only in the criminal justice system, but also
for victims in all juvenile justice, military, tribal, and administrative
proceedings. As a first step toward this goal, New Directions recommends
that the federal government, states and tribes review their victims rights
laws to determine if these fundamental rights are extended to all crime
victims.

This report also reflects the view of the field that states and the federal
government should address the lack of implementation of many victims rights
laws by establishing effective enforcement mechanisms for victims,
including victims rights compliance programs. It recommends that audits of
local, state and federal compliance with victims rights laws be conducted
frequently by justice agencies and independent auditors to determine the
reasons for noncompliance and how enforcement of victims rights can be
improved.

Finally, a system of comprehensive services requires dedicated resources. A
major step toward that goal was the enactment of the 1984 Victims of Crime
Act, which established a creative federal funding mechanism that relies on
the collection of fines and penalties from convicted federal offenders
rather than federal tax-based appropriations. That amount varies, however,
and may not be enough to ensure consistent and comprehensive implementation
of victims rights laws and needed services. Many criminal justice officials
and victim advocates continue to assert that there is a lack of
comprehensive services in every community for victims of crime resulting in
part from inadequate funding. New and creative sources of funding must be
identified to ensure the implementation of rights and quality services for
all crime victims.

Section II

New Directions for Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Agencies

When a person is harmed by a criminal act, the agencies that make up our
criminal and juvenile justice systems have a moral and legal obligation to
respond. It is their responsibility not only to seek swift justice for
victims, but to ease their suffering in a time of great need. Section II,
New Directions for Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Agencies, discusses
the critical role that each agency within the justice systemlaw
enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, and correctionsmust play in
implementing and enforcing victims rights and in improving the overall
treatment of crime victims within our nations justice systems.

Chapter Two, New Directions for Law Enforcement, addresses law enforcements
role as the frontline of victim assistance. As the first responders to
reported crimes, law enforcement agencies must ensure that victims are
treated with sensitivity and provided with essential information and
emergency assistance. This chapter addresses innovations including law
enforcement-based victim assistance units; on-scene crisis units where
specially trained counselors and law enforcement officers respond together
to victims; and multidisciplinary programs that have been launched in
hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the nation to respond to the
needs of child, elderly, domestic violence and sexual assault victims. A
number of recommendations for the law enforcement community are advanced by
the field. For example, law enforcement agencies should adopt community
policing philosophies that are both victim and crime prevention oriented.
The field also recommends that law enforcement agencies establish policies
and procedures for the provision of legally mandated victims rights and
services such as notifying victims of the status of an investigation,
arrests, and pretrial release of suspects in their custody. In addition,
compliance with victims rights policies and procedures should be included
as a standard in officers performance appraisals.

Chapter Three, New Directions for Prosecution, addresses our nations
prosecutors. Today, prosecutors are recognizing that to most effectively
prosecute a case, the victim must be part of the process. The chapter
highlights programs such as special prosecution units for child abuse,
sexual assault, and domestic violence; victim/witness assistance programs
that provide comprehensive information, notification, advocacy, and support
to crime victims; and community prosecution initiatives. This chapter also
contains several recommendations that specifically address the prosecutors
role in informing, consulting with, and notifying crime victims. For
example, because the overwhelming majority of felony cases are resolved
through plea agreements, the field recommends that prosecutors consult with
victims on the terms of any negotiated plea. The field also recommends that
prosecutors confer with victims of violent crimes before declining to file
charges. Other recommendations for prosecutors include the need to notify
victims in a timely manner of public court proceedings and to advocate for
their rights to be heard regarding bail decisions, continuances,
sentencing, and restitution. The field also recommends that prosecutors and
leaders of victims organizations develop protocols for ensuring appropriate
notification and consultation in cases involving large numbers of crime
victims.

Chapter Four, New Directions for the Judiciary, addresses the pivotal role
that judges play in the justice process. The judiciary has initiated many
victim-sensitive problem-solving efforts such as specialized drug courts;
domestic violence courts; community courts that handle quality of life
misdemeanor crimes; unified family courts that handle all problems relating
to the family including criminal, civil, and juvenile matters; and courts
designed specifically for child victims. The report recommends that as
leaders within the justice system, judges should ensure that victims rights
laws are fully implemented. New Directions recommends that judges should
advise victims of their rights as routinely as they advise defendants of
their rights and should facilitate the input of crime victims regarding
proposed plea agreements. In addition, judges should permit the victim to
present a victim impact statement before imposing a sentence, and courts
should utilize communications technology (audio/video) to facilitate victim
communication. The field also recommends that judges manage their cases and
calendars to make victim involvement as feasible as possible, and that they
order full restitution from offenders to help compensate victims for the
harm they have suffered.

The last chapter in this section, New Directions for Corrections,
encompasses the adult and juvenile justice agencies responsible for the
incarceration, detention, supervision, and surveillance of those accused or
convicted of committing crimes. Over the past decade, the basic philosophy
of correctional agencies has undergone radical change. Traditionally,
correctional agencies viewed their role as limited to punishing and
rehabilitating offenders. Today, serving crime victims is also widely
accepted as an important part of the mission of many correctional agencies.
This new role is reflected in their governing laws and internal policies
and procedures, as well as in the attitudes of correctional personnel. More
work is needed in this area, however. The field recommends that adult and
juvenile correctional agencies open channels of communication with the
community and with crime victims; that correctional agencies designate
staff to provide information, assistance, and referrals to victims of
crime; that they place a high priority on ensuring the protection of
victims from inmate intimidation, threats, physical or other harm from
offenders under their supervision; and that they inform victims of any
change in the status of offenders that would give them access to victims or
the community. To increase offender awareness of the consequences of their
actions, correctional agencies for both adult and juvenile offenders should
use victim impact panels and conduct courses on the effects of crime on
victims.

New Directions for Criminal Justice System Agencies emphasizes the need for
all criminal and juvenile justice personnel to ensure that the voices of
victims are heard throughout the criminal justice process so that justice
agencies are able to develop effective, victim-sensitive policies and
programs. Education for these professionals should include presentations by
victims about their justice system experiences. Crime victims are the
customers of that system, and the agencies that interact with victims have
an obligation to ask them to evaluate whether their needs are being met.

Section III

New Directions for Victim Assistance and Allied Professionals

Members of many different professions work directly with crime victims or
come into contact with them on a daily basis. In addition to victim service
providers, primary among these are professionals in the health care, mental
health, legal, education, faith, business, and the news media communities.
New Directions for Victim Assistance and Allied Professionals describes the
important roles that these professions can play in assisting victims. It
identifies areas where services for victims of crime can be enhanced and
highlights the innovative promising practices that each profession has
developed to improve victim services.

Chapter Six, New Directions for the Victim Assistance Community, addresses
the very broad and diverse victim assistance field, including local, state
and national programs. The chapter traces the roots of the victim
assistance movement from the first state victim compensation program in the
United States established in 1965 and the early victim assistance programs
of the 1970s, to the full-fledged advocacy and service field that today is
dedicated to meeting the physical, financial, and psychological needs of
victims and their families. More than 10,000 victim assistance programs
exist across the country, including over 2,000 that assist battered women,
over 2,000 rape crisis centers, as well as countless other community-based
and justice system-based programs that serve child victims, survivors of
homicide victims, drunk driving crash victims, and others. These are
extraordinary accomplishments for a movement that started less than three
decades ago.

Yet for many victims in America, adequate services are still not available.
Crime victims with disabilities, who are victimized at an unusually high
rate, have great difficulty accessing services to meet their needs. Many
victim assistance programs lack the ability to communicate effectively with
deaf or blind victims, and most service providers are not trained to
communicate with victims with cognitive or developmental disabilities.
Criminal justice and other victim service providers are often not equipped
to meet the needs of victims from diverse cultures or victims who speak
languages other than English. As a result, these victims are not informed
adequately of the services available to them or of their rights in the
criminal justice system.

In this chapter, the victims movement seeks to define a comprehensive
system of victim services for all crime victims that includes immediate
trauma and emergency response, short- and long-term psychological
counseling, shelter, and advocacy throughout the criminal, tribal,
military, and juvenile justice systems. It addresses the issues facing
specific types of victimsincluding victims of domestic violence, sexual
assault, stalking, gang violence, white collar crime, bank robbery, hate
and bias crimes, survivors of homicide victims, elderly victims, and drunk
driving crash victimsand makes recommendations for meeting their needs.
Other recommendations in this section include conducting needs assessments;
developing standards for victim assistance; providing basic training and
continuing education for all victim assistance providers; and developing a
national commission to establish certification and accreditation standards
for victim advocacy and assistance.

The next chapter in this section, Chapter Seven, focuses on New Directions
for the Health Care Community. In 1985, the Surgeon General declared
violence in America to be a public health emergency. Today, this emergency
has reached epidemic proportions. U.S. hospital emergency rooms treated an
estimated 1.4 million individuals injured by interpersonal violence in
1994. Each year, gunshot violence costs $4.5 billion in medical expenses
alone. This chapter discusses creative initiatives that have been taken by
the health community to reduce violence and to provide assistance to crime
victims. Hospitals are reaching out to rural victims through telemedicine,
to victims of gang violence through violence prevention programs, and to
victims of sexual assault through sexual assault nurse examiners programs.
However, many challenges still remain. Recommendations in this chapter
include encouraging all medical professionals to adopt protocols for
responding to domestic violence, child, elderly, and sexual assault victims
developed by their professional associations and to provide professional
education programs on crime victims issues.

Intense feelings of anger, fear, isolation, low self-esteem, helplessness,
and depression are common reactions to victimization. Chapter Eight, New
Directions for the Mental Health Community, addresses the many short- and
long-term mental health problems that can result from experiencing trauma
including acute and post-traumatic stress disorder. Major advances have
been made in furthering our understanding of crime-related psychological
trauma and the best ways to provide treatment to crime victims. This
chapter outlines a number of multidisciplinary programs which have been
developed to address the mental health needs of crime victims.
Recommendations encourage the mental health community to develop linkages
with crime victim compensation, victim assistance programs, and criminal
and juvenile justice agencies to ensure that victims have access to
adequate crisis and mental health treatment at each stage of the justice
process. They also address the continuing need for research on the mental
health consequences of victimization and treatment of crime-related
psychological disorders, as well as the importance of education and
training for mental health professionals in providing appropriate mental
health treatment to crime victims and their families.

Chapter Nine, New Directions for the Legal Community, addresses the role of
lawyers serving in positions outside the justice system in private law
firms, corporations, law schools, and government, who frequently come in
contact with crime victims through their work. Attorneys and the organized
bar associations to which they belong have worked to improve access to the
justice system for crime victims by providing pro bono legal assistance to
crime victims through community outreach and legal advocacy programs. The
field encourages state and local bar associations to follow the lead of the
American Bar Association, and many state and local bar associations, in
establishing victim committees and to strongly support continuing legal
education on crime victims issues.

Chapter Ten, New Directions for the Educational Community, examines the
pervasive problem of crime on school and college campuses, as well as how
the educational community can assist crime victims. Our nations schools
provide the richest opportunity to teach children about victims rights and
services and crime prevention strategies. Education on these issues should
begin in grade school and continue through college and graduate school. On
many college campuses, where sexual assault and other crimes affect large
numbers of students, information about these crimes and prevention
strategies is rarely incorporated into classes or student activities beyond
student orientation. Many victims turn first to their friends for
assistance, and it is critical to educate those most likely to be called
upon for advice. Since the release of the 1982 report, attention to school
violence has greatly increased, and scores of programs have been developed
to protect the safety of students, teachers, and administrators. The
recommendations in this chapter focus on the continuing need for schools
and universities to establish comprehensive programs to assist students,
faculty, and staff who are victimized by crime or who witness violence. In
addition, the report calls upon all school districts, colleges, and
universities to design and implement a standardized system for documenting,
analyzing, and reporting crimes to law enforcement. Equally important, New
Directions encourages colleges and universities to establish undergraduate
and graduate programs with a concentration in victims rights and services,
as well as to develop specialized education and training programs for
faculty, administrators, and staff on crime victim issues.

In times of crisis, many individuals turn to clergy and leaders in the
faith community for spiritual guidance, support, and information. Chapter
Eleven, New Directions for the Faith Community, encourages faith community
leaders to recognize that the victim, no less than the victimizer, is in
need of aid, comfort, and spiritual ministry. It reviews the range of
faith-based victim assistance programs that have been developed over the
past decade, including providing shelter for battered women and camps for
abused children. Training on victims issues for those in the faith
community is recommended as a priority so that they are better able to
recognize signs of violence, understand critical issues of confidentiality,
and make appropriate referrals for services.

Chapter Twelve, New Directions for the Business Community, addresses the
importance of this communitys response to crime victims. Employers have
begun to recognize 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. Employee assistance programs are now routinely offered in many
workplaces. Many employers and unions are implementing policies to prevent
violence in the workplace and to assist employees who become victims. This
chapter highlights innovative private sector approaches to improve the
response to victims of workplace violence, including monetary and in-kind
donations to individual victims and community victim services, and
memorable programs that the television industry has produced to increase
public awareness about crime victims issues, particularly in the area of
child abuse, sexual assault, gun violence, stalking, and domestic violence.
The field recommends that all workplaces educate their employees about
victimization and its impact.

The final chapter in this section, New Directions for the News Media
Community, addresses the longstanding tension between the publics right to
know versus the victims right to privacy. The medias coverage of many
high-profile cases and emerging crimes has contributed to positive changes
in public policy, such as recognition of the need for community
notification of sex offenders and anti-stalking statutes. News coverage has
also helped to change public attitudes about the seriousness of violent
crimes such as drunk driving and rape. But the media can have a negative
impact on individual lives when victims are thrust, often unwillingly, into
the media limelight in the aftermath of crime. This chapter encourages the
media to adopt guidelines for sensitively covering victims issues, such as
protecting the privacy of sexual assault and child victims.

Section IV

New Directions in Financial Recovery

The costs to crime victims for medical expenses, mental health counseling,
and lost wages alone are estimated at $105 billion annually. The fourth
section of this report, New Directions in Financial Recovery, addresses the
three major avenues that victims can pursue to recover their financial
losses due to crime: compensation, restitution, and civil remedies.

The first chapter of this section, Chapter Fourteen, New Directions for
Crime Victim Compensation, addresses the great progress that has been made
to establish victim compensation programs in every state and to expand
program benefits. Crime victim compensation programs pay for expenses such
as medical care, mental health counseling, lost wages, funeral expenses,
and crime scene cleanup. In 1996, state compensation programs paid
approximately $240 million to more than 110,000 crime victims nationwide.
The recommendations from the field in this chapter suggest that the circle
of victims who qualify for compensation should be widened, and barriers
that may prevent victims from applying for compensation, such as mandated
time limits for reporting to law enforcement or submitting a claim, should
be removed. Additional recommendations for compensation programs address
issues such as improving claims management, expanding benefits for crime
victims, and utilizing technology to facilitate program initiatives.

Chapter Fifteen, New Directions for Restitution, addresses restitution,
which can be ordered in juvenile and criminal courts to hold offenders
financially accountable for their crimes against victims. This chapter
calls for mandatory, full, and consistent restitution orders nationwide. In
addition, the field suggests all justice systems should establish more
effective restitution programs that require coordinated efforts among
officials across the entire justice system to increase restitution
collections.

The final chapter of this section, New Directions for Civil Remedies,
addresses the potential financial remedies that crime victims can seek
through the civil justice system. Recommendations focus on informing
victims and victim service providers of the legal rights of crime victims
to pursue reparations through the civil justice system. Victims should be
provided with information regarding their options within the civil justice
system as another means of holding offenders accountable.

Each chapter in this section also addresses the importance of education and
training for all who serve victims, as well as victims themselves, about
these potential avenues of financial recovery. In addition, the section
explores the use of technology, which offers exciting possibilities for
improving claims processing and restitution collections so that crime
victims no longer will be forced to wait several months or even years to
receive critical financial support.

Section V

New Directions for Child Victims

Each year in America, millions of children directly experience or witness
violence in their homes, neighborhoods, and schools. The impact of such
crime and violence on our nations youth is undeniably profound. Section V,
New Directions for Child Victims, addresses the unique needs of young
victims and outlines the legal rights and protections that have emerged at
the federal and state levels for child victims of physical and sexual
abuse, exploitation, abduction, and other types of crimes. It reviews the
long-term impact of crime on child victims and presents examples of
programs and services that have been developed across the nation to address
their health and mental health needs, and to help them through the criminal
justice process in sensitive and comprehensive ways. Much needed services
include childrens advocacy centers, court-appointed special advocates, and
other multidisciplinary approaches.

This section also contains a number of recommendations to improve services
for child victims, to develop training programs for all professionals who
come into contact with child victims, and to enhance data collection and
research initiatives in the area of child victimization.

Section VI

New Directions in International Victim Assistance

Individuals throughout the worldin large urban cities and in small
villagesface problems with crime and violence, and much can be gained from
examining the unique approaches to addressing the rights and needs of crime
victims that have been undertaken by diverse communities and nations.
Increasing numbers of people travel and live abroad, and are victimized in
countries where they may be unfamiliar with the language as well as the
legal and social service systems. Crimes such as international terrorism
and commercial sexual exploitation of children are well documented,
highlighting the need for countries to look beyond their national
boundaries to share information and assist victims.

The final chapter of this report, Chapter Eighteen, discusses global issues
facing the field of victim services today and briefly highlights approaches
that have been taken in other countries to address crime victims needs. In
addition to serving their own victims domestically, many countries are
participating in international collaborative efforts to improve the rights
and treatment of crime victims worldwide. Recommendations in this section
include improving services to American citizens who are victimized abroad
and foreign citizens who are victimized in the United States, as well as
continued collaboration and reciprocity in the provision of victim services
worldwide.

Conclusion

The victims movement owes its beginning and many of its accomplishments to
the activism of crime victims and their families and supporters. Many crime
victims have struggled not only to survive and heal after their own
victimization, but also to bring much-needed legal reforms, financial
relief, and services to other victims. In charting New Directions, the
field emphasizes the importance of recognizing the needs, desires, and
potential contributions of crime victims themselves. Victims voices must
remain a powerful guiding force in developing new directions.

Since 1982, a substantial number of the 68 recommendations in the
Presidents Task Force on Victims of Crime Final Report have been enacted
and implemented due in a large part to the efforts of crime victims. These
accomplishments include the Victims of Crime Act in 1984, the landmark
Crime Act of 1994, the countless state statutes that strengthen victims
rights and hold offenders accountable to their victims, and the 29 state
victims rights constitutional amendments.

Throughout this report, the field urges representatives of justice
agencies, including law enforcement officials, prosecutors, judges, and
corrections administrators, to recognize the important role that crime
victims play in helping to guide public policy. Justice and allied
professionals must also realize that crime victims are an essential
resource in developing and participating in victim assistance, training,
and crime prevention programs. Community activism and service are often
part of the healing process for many crime victims. Their contributions to
groups that provide support for other crime victims and to programs that
provide education about the impact of crime and how to prevent
victimization in the future have been invaluable.

The many contributors to this report hope that communities around the
country will benefit from the many promising practices and recommendations
highlighted throughout New Directions, and that the dialogue on improving
the response to victims continues in a spirited and visionary fashion. The
Office for Victims of Crime is committed to facilitating this dialogue and
to assisting communities everywhere with implementing innovative,
comprehensive programs that provide victims with even greater opportunities
for justice and healing.

Five Global Challenges from the Field

Summary of Recommendations

In the course of compiling the hundreds of recommendations from the field
and in listening to the voices of victims, their advocates, and allied
professionals who work with crime victims throughout the nation, certain
key recommendations emerged. The following five global challenges for
responding to victims of crime in the 21st century form the core of the
hundreds of ideas and recommendations presented in this report.

Ñ To enact and enforce consistent, fundamental rights for crime victims in
federal, state, juvenile, military, and tribal justice systems, and
administrative proceedings.

Ñ 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.

Ñ To integrate crime victims issues into all levels of the nations
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.

Ñ To support, improve, and replicate promising practices in victims rights
and services built upon sound research, advanced technology, and
multidisciplinary partnerships.

Ñ To ensure that the voices of crime victims play a central role in the
nations response to violence and those victimized by crime.

New Directions provides recommendations that point specifically to the
implementation of these five global challenges. Each section and chapter is
based upon papers submitted by leading experts in the field as well as the
input of victim advocates, justice system and allied professionals, crime
victims, and others who participated in public hearings, working group
meetings, and those who provided individual comments and review as the
document progressed towards completion.

Sampling of Promising Practices That Are

Transforming Victim Services

In the last two decades, many promising practices in victim services have
been developed across the nation. These innovative programs use a
multidisciplinary or team approach to respond to the needs of diverse crime
victims, maximize technology to deliver high-quality services to victims
more quickly and effectively, and utilize community police, prosecutor,
court, and corrections programs.

An important objective for the victims movement in the 21st century should
be to support and replicate these innovative ideas, with the goal of
improving the quality of programs nationwide. In the new millennium, it is
hoped that every community can adopt these promising practices in victims
services to ensure that victims are provided services in specialized
settings by agencies that work together and utilize technology to bring
services to victims with greater efficiency.

Over 100 promising practices are highlighted throughout New Directions.
These are just a few examples of the range of excellent services and
multidisciplinary partnerships that have been established to assist crime
victims.

Childrens Advocacy Centers

The first childrens advocacy center was initiated in Huntsville, Alabama in
1984 by a dynamic district attorney who wanted to change the traditional
system in which sexually abused children were revictimized by having to
retell their stories to numerous agency officials in frightening settings.
Childrens advocacy centers are designed especially for kids, allowing law
enforcement officers, social workers, medical and mental health personnel,
and prosecutors to work together to reduce the number of interviews and
coordinate cases. Today, there are more than 350 childrens advocacy centers
in 48 states.

Community Criminal Justice Partnerships

In 1989, the sheriff of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana began a program to
help his department respond to the needs of elderly crime victims. Called
Triad, this collaborative program between law enforcement and senior
citizens has been duplicated in communities across the country. Today,
there are more than 500 programs in 46 states, Canada, and England. In
Bridgeport, Connecticut, for example, the chief of police provides a bus
and officers to help seniors living in a high-crime area go to the market
and conduct their banking safely. Services offered by Triad programs
include transportation to medical services and criminal justice
proceedings, courtroom escorts, and repairs to damaged residences. The
program is cosponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons, the
International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the National Sheriffs
Association.

Crisis Response Teams

The nations first crisis response teams for victims were organized by the
National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) following the 1986
Edmond, Oklahoma post office shooting in which more than a dozen employees
were killed. Since that galvanizing event, with NOVAs leadership and
training and a growing interest among some states, response teams
comprising professionals from a variety of disciplines, including
psychologists, law enforcement officers, doctors, social workers, victim
advocates, and religious leaders, have been assembled around the country.
These teams provide assistance to communities in the aftermath of major
crimes and acts of terrorism such as mass murders and bombings. In the wake
of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City,
NOVA organized three crisis response teams to debrief and train more than
1,000 emergency responders, teachers, and school children.

Technologies to Benefit Crime Victims

Emerging technologies hold great promise for improving services to crime
victims. In Kentucky, following the murder of a woman who was notified of
the release of her accused assailant, the state developed a computerized
system to inform victims when their accused or convicted offenders are
released. Similar systems are being adopted around the country. Technology
can be used to help victims participate in proceedings, to view trials
moved to other communities using closed-circuit television, or to
participate by satellite hookups during parole proceedings. In addition,
telemedicine can be used to provide assistance from physicians in other
locations to nurse examiners in rural areas during sexual assault or child
abuse forensic examinations. Technology can also provide increased
protection for victims of crimes such as domestic violence and stalking by
utilizing cellular phones, house perimeter alarms, and electronic
bracelets.

Community Police, Prosecutors, and Court Programs

Community policing, prosecution, and court programs are excellent vehicles
for ensuring victim assistance. Law enforcement officers based in
neighborhoods are uniquely situated to identify underserved crime victims
and help them obtain needed assistance. In San Diego, California for
example, community police officers are informed through a computerized
database 24 hours a day of shelters that have available space and other
information that helps them respond more effectively to victims of crime.
Community prosecution programs such as the community drug impact program in
the Eastern District of Wisconsin permit prosecutors to advise citizens of
drug arrests in their neighborhood and request their participation in
submitting community impact statements. A community court, like the Midtown
Community Court in Manhattan, can address misdemeanor, quality-of-life
crimes such as graffiti, prostitution, minor drug offenses, and
shoplifting, and become an important victim service institution by
enforcing immediate and meaningful restitution to victims and the
community.

Initiatives of Allied Professionals

The efforts of allied professionals have greatly improved services to crime
victims in many areas. Working with law enforcement and others in the
criminal justice system, hospitals in some communities have created
programs that provide a safe and secure atmosphere in which to conduct
sexual assault examinations. Schools are presenting special violence
awareness courses on topics ranging from child abuse and dating violence to
gang awareness and prevention. Bar associations are establishing special
trainings for attorneys who want to donate their services to crime victims
and to represent them in civil litigation. The religious and spiritual
community has established camps for abused children and broad-based
educational programs and has provided locations for many victim assistance
programs. The business community has not only provided millions of dollars
to support victim assistance programs, but also over the past decade has
increased public awareness of victimization among employees through new
training programs and advertising campaigns about victims issues. The
mental health community is playing a pivotal role by establishing
multidisciplinary teams to respond to victims of crime in a more
coordinated way. In addition, many allied professionals contribute their
services to crisis response team efforts around the country.

Comprehensive Victim Service Centers

This concept originated in Jacksonville, Florida where a comprehensive
victim center, provides a wide range of services in one location for all
crime victims. Center staff operate an emergency fund for victims, and
counselors provide immediate crisis counseling and accompany law
enforcement to all homicides. A staff member representing the state
compensation program processes compensation claims onsite, and chapters of
self-help groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Parents of
Murdered Children operate in the center to provide emotional support to
victims and survivors of victims of violent crime.

Specialized Programs for Diverse Crime Victims

Many of the innovative programs described in New Directions provide
comprehensive services to underserved crime victims and encourage victims
to participate in the criminal and juvenile justice systems. The Seattle
Abused Deaf Womens Advocacy Services, established by a deaf victim for whom
there were no services when she was sexually assaulted as a child, provides
comprehensive assistance to deaf and deaf-blind victims who began reporting
crimes in record numbers after this organization was founded. Victims of
gang violence in Orange County, California, receive extensive services from
the Gang Victim Services Program, in which multicultural, bilingual staff
provide assistance with crime scene cleanup, funeral arrangements,
victim-witness protection issues, interaction with the media, referrals to
counseling, court advocacy, and victim compensation applications.