When the Fund was authorized in 1984, 

a cap was placed on how much could be

deposited into it for the first 8 years. The

amount of money deposited into the Fund

has fluctuated from year to year. The figure

on page 2 depicts the amount of money

deposited into the Fund each fiscal year

from 1985 through 2001.1 Lifting of the

cap in 1993 allowed for the deposit of all

criminal fines, forfeited bail bonds, penalties, and special assessments authorized by

VOCA to support crime victim program

activities. In FY 2000, Congress reinstated

a cap on the Fund and determined that the

following amounts would be available for

release annually: $500 million in FY 2000,

$537.5 million in FY 2001, and $550 million in FY 2002.

How Are Fund

Deposits Disbursed?

■ Child Abuse. Up to $20 million is

used annually to improve the investigation and prosecution of child abuse

cases. The money is divided between

the U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services (up to $17 million)

T

he Crime Victims Fund (hereinafter

referred to as “the Fund”), established by the Victims of Crime Act of

1984 (VOCA), is a major funding

source for victim services throughout

the country. Millions of dollars have

been deposited into the Fund each year

from criminal fines, forfeited bail bonds,

penalties, and special assessments 

collected by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices,

federal U.S. courts, and the Federal

Bureau of Prisons. To date, Fund dollars

have always come from offenders convicted of federal crimes, not from taxpayers. New legislation has expanded

the sources from which Fund deposits

may come. The recently passed (October 2001) Uniting and Strengthening

America by Providing Appropriate

Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA Patriot Act)

provides authority for the deposit of

gifts, bequests, or donations from private entities into the Fund. This means

that beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2002,

deposits into the Fund may come from

criminal fines, penalties, and special assessments as well as gifts, bequests, or

donations from private entities.

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office for Victims of Crime

JANUARY 2002

Victims of Crime Act Crime Victims Fund

and the Office for Victims of Crime

(OVC) (up to $3 million). OVC

uses the portion it administers exclusively to help American Indian

populations and their governing

organizations improve the skills

necessary to investigate and prosecute child abuse cases, particularly

in regard to identifying and handling cases of child sexual abuse.

■ Federal Criminal Justice System.

Since FY 2000, an unspecified

amount of the Fund has been 

allocated each year to the federal

criminal justice system ($22.1 million in FY 2001 and $25.1 in FY

2002) to improve services to victims

of federal crimes.

■ Emergency Reserve. Up to $50 million may be set aside by the OVC

Director and placed in an Emergency

Reserve account. The Emergency

Reserve funds can be used for two

purposes:2

❑ To provide funds to assist 

victims of terrorism or mass 

violence.

1 Money deposited in the Fund in one year is used to support programs authorized by VOCA in the next or subsequent year.

2 Recently passed legislation (USA Patriot Act, October 2001) authorized the transfer of emergency supplemental appropriation funding into the Emergency Reserve

account to assist victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
2

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

2001–2002

2000–2001

1999–2000

1998–1999

1997–1998

1996–1997

1995–1996

1994–1995

1993–1994

1992–1993

1991–1992

1990–1991

1989–1990

1988–1989

1987–1988

1986–1987

1985–1986

700 800 900 1,000

Total Funds Collected

Cap on Fund

Total Funds Available

Fiscal Year

544.4

550.0*

550.0

777.0

537.5

537.5

500.0

500.0

985.2

324.0

324.0

0

0

0

0

362.9

362.9

528.9

528.9

233.9

233.9

0

0

185.1

185.1

144.7

144.7

221.6

150.0

150.0

128.0

128.0

150.0

125.0

125.0

146.2

133.5

125.0

125.0

110.0

110.0

110.0

93.6

93.6

77.4

77.4

62.5

62.5

100.0

68.3

68.3

Millions of Dollars

* Fiscal year 2001 fund collections have been augmented by funds collected but not used in previous years due to the cap.

Crime Victims Fund
❑ To fund the International

Terrorism Victim Compensation Program.

■ Distributions. The remaining Fund

deposits are distributed as follows:

❑ 47.5 percent to state compensation programs.

❑ 47.5 percent to state assistance

programs.

❑ 5 percent for discretionary activities such as demonstration

projects, training, technical assistance, program evaluation

and compliance, fellowships,

clinical internships, and other

assistance to improve and expand the delivery of services to

federal crime victims.

Victim Compensation

What Is Crime Victim

Compensation?

Crime victim compensation is a direct reimbursement to or on behalf of 

a crime victim for the following crimerelated expenses:

■ Medical costs.

■ Funeral and burial costs.

■ Mental health counseling.

■ Lost wages or loss of support.

Other compensable expenses may include the replacement or repair of eyeglasses or other corrective lenses, dental

services and devices, prosthetic devices,

and crime scene cleanup.

What Is a Crime Victim

Compensation Program?

Every state administers a crime victim compensation program that provides financial assistance to victims of

both federal and state crimes. Although

each state compensation program is administered independently, most programs

have similar eligibility requirements and

offer a comparable range of benefits.

Maximum awards generally range from

$10,000 to $25,000.

The typical compensation program 

requires victims to report crimes to law

enforcement within 3 days of the offense

and to file claims within a fixed period

of time (usually 2 years). Most states can

extend these time limits for good cause. 

If other financial resources such as private

health and property insurance are available to the victim, the program pays only

to the extent that these resources do not

cover the loss.

Which States Receive VOCA

Compensation Grants?

All 50 states, the District of

Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands,

Puerto Rico, and Guam receive VOCA

compensation grants. A state is eligible

for a VOCA compensation grant if it

meets the criteria set forth in VOCA

and OVC program guidelines. Examples

of these criteria include that states must

provide services for victims of federal

crimes and compensation to people who

are victimized within the state (even

when the victim resides in another

state). The amount of VOCA compensation grant funding a state receives is

based on a percentage of the payments

to crime victims from state funding

sources in the previous year.

Victim Assistance

What Is Victim Assistance?

Victim assistance includes, but is not

limited to, the following services:

■ Crisis intervention.

■ Emergency shelter.

■ Emergency transportation.

■ Counseling.

■ Criminal justice advocacy.

Nearly 6,100 VOCA awards are made by

states annually to organizations to provide

these and other services to victims of

crime.

Which States and Territories

Receive VOCA Victim

Assistance Grants?

All states and most territories receive an annual VOCA victim assistance grant. The 50 states, the District

of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands,

and Puerto Rico each receive a base

amount of $500,000. The territories of

the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam,

and American Samoa each receive a

base amount of $200,000. Additional

funds are distributed to states and territories based on population. States and

territories competitively award VOCA

assistance funds to local communitybased organizations that provide services directly to victims of crime.

How Do States and Territories

Determine Which Organizations Will Receive VOCA

Victim Assistance Grants?

Each state and territory determines

which organizations will receive funding based on the eligibility requirements

for subrecipient programs contained in

VOCA, the victim assistance guidelines promulgated by OVC, and the

needs of crime victims within that state

or territory. Most funding is awarded on

a competitive basis.

VOCA assistance funds may be used

only for direct services to crime victims.

Services such as offender rehabilitation,

criminal justice improvements, and crime

prevention activities cannot be supported

with VOCA victim assistance funds.

Discretionary Funds

What Is the Purpose of

Discretionary Funds?

VOCA authorizes OVC to use 

discretionary funds to improve and 

3
U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office for Victims of Crime

OVC Fact Sheet

Victims of Crime Act Crime Victims Fund

enhance the skills, knowledge, and

abilities of victim service providers.

Each year, OVC develops a program

plan that identifies the training and

technical assistance and demonstration

initiatives that should be funded in the

coming year with discretionary funds

available from the Fund.

How Are Discretionary Funds

Used?

Discretionary funds are used for two

types of activities:

■ National-scope training and technical assistance to include the 

following:

❑ Carrying out program 

evaluations.

❑ Carrying out and evaluating

demonstration programs.

❑ Conducting special workshops.

❑ Supporting victims’ rights

compliance efforts.

❑ Developing training curricula.

❑ Establishing fellowships and

clinical internships.

❑ Identifying and disseminating

promising practices in victim

services.

❑ Supporting efforts to raise national awareness of victims’

rights and needs.

❑ Training professionals who

work in victim services and allied fields.

❑ Delivering technical assistance.

■ Services and support for federal

crime victims to include the 

following:

❑ Developing materials that inform federal crime victims of

their rights and the services

available to them.

❑ Supporting programs that establish new and expand existing services for federal crime

victims.

❑ Training federal criminal justice system personnel on victims’ issues.

For More

Information

F or more information about theCrime Victims Fund, contact

Office for Victims of Crime

U.S. Department of Justice

810 Seventh Street NW., Eighth Floor

Washington, DC 20531

202–307–5983

Fax: 202–514–6383

Web site: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc

For copies of this fact sheet, other OVC

publications, or information on additional victim-related resources, please

contact

Office for Victims of Crime Resource

Center (OVCRC)

P.O. Box 6000

Rockville, MD 20849–6000

1–800–851–3420 or 301–519–5500

(TTY 1–877–712–9279)

Web site: www.ncjrs.org

E-mail: askovc@ojp.usdoj.gov

Or order OVC publications online at

www.puborder.ncjrs.org.

FS 000281

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.