Accessing Information: OVC Resource Center And Other Services VICTIMS' RESOURCES IN THE INFORMATION AGE The development of new information technologies -- most notably the growth of the Internet -- has dramatically changed the way in which information on crime victims' issues is being made available to researchers, advocates, and practitioners. As recently as a dozen years ago, the availability of this information was greatly limited by the lack of centralized collection and distribution. Moreover, the form of the information was generally limited to paper documents that required considerable effort to locate and obtain. Today, however, victims and victim service providers can instantly access an enormous store of information specific to the entire range of their personal and professional concerns -- information that includes statistics; model programs and protocols; grant funding sources; and local, state and national referrals to professional organizations in the victim-serving community. Importantly, this information is available wherever and whenever it is needed -- in homes, shelters and offices; in the middle of a trial; or in the middle of the night. For victims and victim service providers, this new information access begins with the Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Established in accordance with recommendations of the 1982 President's Task Force on Victims of Crime, the United States Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) serves as the chief advocate for our nation's crime victims, promoting fundamental rights and comprehensive services for victims of crime throughout the United States. OVC's information clearinghouse, the Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center (OVCRC), a component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), is on the forefront of these new information technologies, and is aggressively using them, as well as the NCJRS Catalog of publications and videotapes, to deliver timely and relevant information to the victim-serving community. Since coming "online" in 1994, NCJRS and OVCRC have developed a variety of online services to benefit the victim assistance professional -- World Wide Web page; Justice Information (JUSTINFO) Electronic Newsletter; and E-Mail Information and Help Line. Together with other electronic access features -- including telephone and online document ordering, and fax-on-demand -- NCJRS and OVCRC have truly made a "quantum leap" forward in fulfilling their mission of "bringing the right information to the right people . . . right now." ACCESSING NCJRS AND OVCRC ONLINE NCJRS Online can be accessed in the following ways: NCJRS World Wide Web Homepage The homepage provides NCJRS information, as well as links to other criminal justice resources from around the world. The NCJRS Web page provides information about NCJRS and OJP agencies; grant-funding opportunities; full-text publications; key-word searching of NCJRS publications; access to the NCJRS Abstracts Database; the current NCJRS Catalog; and a topical index. The address for the NCJRS Homepage is . Justice Information (JUSTINFO) Electronic Newsletter This free, online newsletter is distributed to your Internet e-mail address on the 1st and 15th of each month. JUSTINFO contains information concerning a wide variety of subjects, including news from all Office of Justice Programs (OJP) agencies and the Office of National Drug Control Policy; criminal justice resources on the Internet; criminal justice funding and program information; and announcements about new NCJRS products and services. To subscribe, send an e-mail to with the message subscribe justinfo your name. E-Mail: Information and Help Users requiring technical assistance or having specific questions on criminal and juvenile justice topics can send an e-mail to . To place an order for publications, users may send an e-mail to . Partnerships Against Violence Network (PAVNET) PAVNET Online is a searchable database containing information about hundreds of promising programs and resources, providing users with key contacts; program types; target populations; location; project startup date; evaluation information; annual budget; sources of funding; and program description. Users may go directly to the site at . OTHER NCJRS ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICES Fax-on-demand NCJRS has established a "fax-on-demand" service which allows the user to obtain copies of selected NCJRS documents directly through their own fax machine, using a toll-free telephone number. To access the fax-on-demand menu, simply call 1-800-851-3420, and follow the prompts. CD-ROM and Online Access to the Abstracts Database Users with CD-ROM capability can also obtain the NCJRS Abstracts Database on CD-ROM. This disc features citations and abstracts of more than 140,000 criminal justice books, research reports, journal articles, government documents, program descriptions, program evaluations, and training manuals contained in the NCJRS Research and Information Center library collection. The disc also contains search software that supports retrieval using any combination of words to search individual fields or all fields globally. The disc can be searched using "free text" methods, or in combination with the National Criminal Justice Thesaurus. In addition, the NCJRS Abstracts Database is available on the NCJRS Homepage at . Details are available by calling NCJRS at (800) 851-3420. VICTIM-RELATED INTERNET SITES Crime victims and victim service providers have witnessed a remarkable growth in the amount of information available to them, through the continued development of the Internet -- especially the World Wide Web. Now, victim-serving agencies and advocacy organizations have the ability to reach around the corner or around the world with information about new issues, services, and promising practices designed to improve the welfare of victims of all types of crime. In an effort to present the most comprehensive and timely information available through this vast medium, the Office for Victims of Crime has substantially revised its World Wide Web homepage. OVC encourages crime victims and victim service providers alike to visit this comprehensive resource, located at . Many other agencies and organizations are now providing victim-related information through the World Wide Web. The following is a list of sites on the Web that contain information on selected crime victimization topics. Please note that this list is intended only to provide a sample of available resources, and does not constitute an endorsement of opinions, resources, or statements made therein. Federal Agencies/Resources Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov Community-Oriented Police Office (COPS) http://www.justice.gov/cops/ Dept. of Health and Human Services Grantsnet http://www.os.dhhs.gov/progorg/grantsnet/index.html Department of Justice http://www.justice.gov/ Department of the Solicitor General http://www.gov.nb.ca/solgen/index.htm FBI Uniform Crime Reports - Statistical Data http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/crime Federal Bureau of Prisons http://www.bop.gov Federal Judicial Center http://www.fjc.gov/ Government Information Online, GovBot http://bacchus.fedworld.gov/Search_Online.html National Archive of Criminal Justice Data http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/home.html National Domestic Violence Hotline http://www.justice.gov/vawo/newhotline..htm NCJRS Justice Information Center http://www.ncjrs.org National Institute of Corrections (NIC) http://www.bop.gov/nicpg/niccd.htm/ National Institute of Justice (NIJ) http://www.ncjrs.org/nijhome.htm Nonprofit Gateway http://www.nonprofit.gov Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov http://www.ncjrs.org/ojjdp/ Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Office of National Drug Control Policy Information Clearinghouse http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov Partnership Against Violence Network (PAVNET) http://www.pavnet.org THOMAS: Federal Legislation U.S. Department of Education - Campus Security and Safety http://thomas.loc.gov http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/index.html U.S. Parole Commission http://www.justice.gov/uspc/parole.htm Violence Against Women's Office (VAWO) Violence Against Women Grant Office (VAWGO) http://www.justice.gov/vawo/index.html http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawgo/ National Victim-related Organizations American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law http://www.abanet.org/child/ American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children http://child.cornell.edu/APSAC/apsac.home.html Child Abuse Prevention Network http://child.cornell.edu Childhelp USA Childquest International http://www.childhelpusa.org http://www.childquest.org/ Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) http://www.nationalcops.org Family Violence Prevention Fund http://www.fvpf.org/fund/index.html Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) http://www.madd.org National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) National Center for Victims of Crime (formerly National Victim Center) National Center on Elder Abuse http://www.missingkids.org/index.html http://www.ncvc.org http://www.gwjapan.com/NCEA/ National Children's Alliance http://www.nncac.org National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information http://www.calib.com/nccanch National Coalition Against Domestic Violence http://www.webmerchants.com/ncadv/default.htm National Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCASA) National Court Appointed Special Advocates Association http://www.ncasa.org http://www.casanet.org National Fraud Information Center http://www.fraud.org National Insurance Crime Bureau National Children's Alliance http://www.nicb.org http://www.nncac.org/ National Victims Constitutional Amendment Network (NVCAN) http://www.nvcan.org National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) National Victim Assistance Academy (OVC) National Victim Assistance Academy (VALOR) http://www.try-nova.org http:ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/assist/vaa.html http://www.nvaa.org Neighbors Who Care Parents of Murdered Children (POMC) Safe Campuses Now Security on Campus Victims' Assistance Legal Organization (VALOR) http://www.neighborswhocare.org http://www.pomc.com http://www.uga.edu/~safe-campus/ http://www.soconline.org/ http://www.valor-national.org National Criminal Justice- and Public Policy-related Associations American Correctional Association (ACA) American Correctional Health Services Association http://www.corrections.com/aca http://www.corrections.com/achsa/ American Jail Association (AJA) http://www.corrections.com/aja American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) Center for Sex Offender Management Correctional Education Association Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators http://www.appa-net.org http://www.asca.net http://www.csg.org/appa/csom.html http://sunsite.unc.edu/icea http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/ Council of State Governments (CSG) Higher Education Center Against Violence and Abuse http://www.csg.org http://www.umn.edu/mincava/ National Association of Counties (NACo) National Center for State Courts (NSSC) National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics http://www.naco.org http://www.ncsc.dni.us http://www.ncsl.org http://www.search.org National Council on Crime and Delinquency National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) http://www.nccd.com/ http://www.ncjfcj.unr.edu/ http://sso.org/ncja/ncja/htm National Governors Association National Judicial College National Indian Justice Center http//www.nga.org/ http://www.judges.org http://www.nijc.indian.com/ National Sheriffs Association Office of Correctional Education Southern Poverty Law Center http://www.sheriffs.org/index.html http://www.ed.gov/offices.OVAE/OCE/ http://splcenter.org State-level Victim Assistance Agencies Arizona Department of Public Safety http://www.state.az.us/dps/voca/ California Criminal Justice Planning http://www.ocjp.ca.gov/index.html Colorado Division of Criminal Justice http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/cdps/dcj/ovp.htm Delaware Criminal Justice Council http://www.state.de.us/govern/agencies/cjc/victim.htm Florida Attorney General's Office - Crime Victims Services http://legal.firn.edu/victims/index.html llinois Criminal Justice Information Agency http://www.icjia.org/about.htmI Iowa Department of Justice http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/cva.html Kansas Attorney Generals Office http://lawlib.wuacc.edu/ag/victims.html Kentucky Attorney General's Victims' Advocacy Offfice http://www.law.state.ky.us/victims/Default.htm#Top Maryland Office of the Attorney General http://www.oag.state.md.us/Victim/rights.htm Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office http://www.state.ma.us/ag/ago7.htm Minnesota Dept. of Public Safety Crime Victim Services [Program forms] http://156.98.194.206/cvshome.html http://www.state.mn.us/ebranch/corr/vsu/vsuforms.htm Missouri Department of Public Safety http://www.dps.state.mo.us/dps/programs/grants.htm New Hampshire Attorney Generals Office http://www.state.nh.us/oag/vw.html New Mexico Crime Victims Reparations Commission http://www.state.nm.us/cvrc/ New York Attorney Generals Office http://www.oag.state.ny.us/crimevt.html Ohio Attorney General's Office Crime Victim Services http://www.ag.ohio.gov/crimevic/cvassist.htm Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency http://www.pccd.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PCCD/victim/victims1.ht m South Carolina Ombudsman http://www.netside.com/~ae4fa/ombtext.htm Wisconsin Office of Crime Victim Services [Resource Directory] http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/derene http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/derene/ referral.htm State Crime Victim Compensation Programs Natl Assoc. of Crime Victim Compensation Program Directory http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/here/compdir Arizona Department of Public Safety http://www.state.az.us/dps/voca/compensa.htm Arkansas Attorney General's Office Outreach Division http://www.ag.state.ar.us/division.htm#outreach California Board of Control http://www.boc.cahwnet.gov/Victims.htm Colorado Div. of Pubic Safety Office of Victims Programs http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/cdps/dcj/ovp.htm Florida Attorney General's Office - Crime Victims Services [Application] http://legal.firn.edu/victims/compensation.html http://legal.firn.edu/victims/vic_comp.html Illinois Attorney General's Office http://www.acsp.uic.edu/~ag/victim/vcva.htm Idaho Industrial Commission http://www.state.id.us/iic/crimevic.htm Iowa Dept. of Justice Crime Victim Assistance Division http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/cvcform.htm Kansas Attorney General's Office http://lawlib.wuacc.edu/ag/compensation.html Kentucky Cabinet for Public Protection and Regulation http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/ppc/agency.htm#claims Massachusetts Attorney General's Office http://www.state.ma.us/ag/ago7.htm Minnesota Crime Victims Reparations [Application] http://156.98.194.206/crimevic/crimevic.html http://156.98.194.206/crimevic/repclaim/repclaim.html Mississippi Crime Victim Compensation Program http://www.dfa.state.ms.us/crime/letter/letter1.html Missouri Department of Labor and Industry Relations http://www.dolir.state.mo.us/wc/dolir6f.htm New Hampshire Victim's Assistance Commission http://www.state.nh.us/oag/nhvac.html New Jersey Victims of Crime Compensation Board [Application; PDF format] http://www.state.nj.us/victims/ http://www.state.nj.us/victims/vccbappl.pdf New Mexico Crime Victims Reparations Commission [Application; PDF format] http://www.state.nm.us/cvrc/ http://www.state.nm.us/cvrc/brochure.pdf New York Crime Victims Board http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/ils/cvb1.html North Carolina Victim and Justice Services http://www.dem.dcc.state.nc.us/vjs/cvcp0.htm Ohio Attorney General's Office Crime Victim Services http://www.ag.ohio.gov/crimevic/cvout.htm Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency http://www.pccd.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PCCD/victim/victims1.ht m Rhode Island Treasury [Application] http://www.state.ri.us/treas/vc_info.htm http://www.state.ri.us/treas/vc_appl.htm South Carolina Office of Victim Assistance http://www.leginfo.state.sc.us/man97/stategov/state172.html Tennessee Claims Administration Division http://www.state.tn.us/other/dag/compfund.htm Utah Office of Crime Victims Reparations http://www.justice.state.ut.us/CVRrept.htm Texas Office of Attorney General [Application] http://www.oag.state.tx.us/WEBSITE/CRIMINAL/cvc_prog.htm http://www.oag.state.tx.us/WEBSITE/CRIMINAL/cvc_app.txt Wisconsin Crime Victim Rights (Unofficial) [Application: PDF; MS Word] http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/derene/cvc.htm http://www.mailbag.com/users/derene/cvcapp.pdf http://www.mailbag.com/users/derene/cvcapp.doc Washington State Department of Labor and Industries http://www.wa.gov/lni/workcomp/crime.htm Federal and State Corrections, Victim Service Units, Sex Offender Registries, Etc. Alaska Sex Offender Registry California Youth Authority, Prevention and Victim Services http://www.dps.state.ak.us/Sorcr/Index.asp http://www.cya.ca.gov Florida Department of Law Enforcement [links to Sex Predator Locator and Missing Children] Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Information http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/index.asp http://www.bop.gov/inmate.html Florida Dept. of Corrections Victim Assistance Page http://www.dos.state.fl.us/corrections/security/admission/victass t.html Illinois Department of Corrections Victim Services Unit http://www.idoc.state.il.us/pubs/press/970421.htm Indiana Sex Offender Registry http://www.ai.org/cji/index.html Maine Department of Corrections Victim Services http://www.state.me.us/corrections/victim.htm Maryland Department of Corrections Victim Notification Program http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/doc/victnot.htm North Carolina Department of Corrections Victim Advocacy Services http://www.doc.state.nc.us/DAPP/victim.htm Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections http://www.drc.ohio.gov/ Washington State Department of Corrections Division of Community Corrections (victim/witness notification program) http://www.wa.gov/doc/dcc/dccoverview.htm#Victims Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry http://badger.state.wi.us/agencies/doc/html/sexoffender.html State Coalitions and Related Resources Idaho: MADD http://www.lesbois.com/madd/maddid~1.htm Iowa: Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance (IOVA) http://www.netins.net/showcase/i_weaver/iova/ Michigan: Victim's Rights (State Sen. Wm. Van Regenmorter) http://www.gop.senate.state.mi.us/cvr/default.html New York: Victim Services Agency http://www.victimservices.org North Carolina: Citizens Against Violent Crime (CAVE) http://www.webserve.net/iandi/org/cave South Carolina: South Carolina Victim Assistance http://www.netside.com/~ae4fa/ Tennessee: Knowledge is Power (KIP) http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Victim Texas: Texans for Equal Justice http://www.flex.net/~judge/ Texas: Texas Association Against Sexual Assault http://www.tsgweb.com/tdcaa/links.htm Washington State: Wash. Coalition of Crime Victim Advocates http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ Other Victim Resources Action Without Borders - Nonprofit Directory http://www.idealist.org APA - American Psychological Association Trauma-related Stress http://www.apa.org/ http://www.apa.org/ptsd.html Cecil Greek's Criminal Justice Page Communities Against Violence Network (CAVNET) http://www.apa.org/kids.html http://www.fsu.edu/~crimdo/law.html http://www.asksam.com/cavnet/ Dignity for Victims Everywhere (DOVE) http://www.eskimo.com/~yaqui International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies http://www.istss.com/ Jewish Domestic Abuse http://users.aol.com/Agunah Jewish Women International Domestic Violence Page http://www.jewishwomen.org/awaken.htm Justice for All http://www2.jfa.net/jfa/ Microsoft Justice Homepage http://www.microsoft.com/industry/justice/ MSU Victims and Media Project http://www.journalism.msu.edu/victmed/ National Crime Victim's Research and Treatment Center http://www.musc.edu/cvc/ Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) http://www.soconline.org/ASSISTANCE Rape Recovery Help and Information http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/2402/ Rule of Law Foundation http://www.rol.org Search Yahoo for Victims' Rights http://www.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Crime/Victims__ Rights/ Security on Campus, Inc. http://www.soconline.org/ Sexual Assault Information Page http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bartley/saInfoPage.html The Stalking Victim's Sanctuary http://www.ccon.com/stalkvictim The Victim Assistance Page Subscribe to the Victim Assistance Mailing http://www.mnsi.net/~rmccall/homepage.html http://www.mnsi.net/~rmccall/vaform.html The VINE Company http://www.vineco.com Violence Policy Center http://www.vpc.org Legal Research/Resources Findlaw http://www.findlaw.com/ State Law and Legislative Information http://lawlib.wuacc.edu/washlaw/uslaw/statelaw.html U.S. Supreme Court Decisions http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/ News Resources Am. Journalism Review Newslink http://www.newslink.org/ News Works http://www.newsworks.com News Index http://newsindex.com Newspapers Online http://www.newspapers.com Special thanks is extended to Steve Derene, Program Manger for the Office of Crime Victim Services at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and Promising Strategies and Practices in Using Technology to Benefit Crime Victims, sponsored by the National Center for Victims of Crime with support from the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, for providing much of the web site information included in this section.