OVC sponsors training on a variety of victims’ issues for many

different professions, including victim services providers, law

enforcement, prosecutors, the judiciary, the clergy, and medical

and mental health personnel. Training on victim/witness issues

also is provided for 70 different Federal law enforcement

agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the

U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Park Service.

	



OVC’s mission includes providing direct services to people

victimized on Tribal or Federal lands, such as military bases

and national parks, and American citizens victimized in

foreign countries. OVC supports emergency funds to provide

victims of Federal crimes with needed services, such as crisis

counseling, temporary shelter, and travel expenses to court

when these services are otherwise unavailable. The agency

also sponsors victim assistance programs in Indian Country,

including the establishment and training of multidisciplinary

teams to handle child sexual abuse cases and provide

comprehensive victim services.

	




Through discretionary grants, OVC has initiated many

innovative projects that will have a national impact. For

example, the Victim Services 2000 demonstration sites in

Denver, Colorado; Medina County, Ohio; and the State of

Vermont are working toward creating an integrated, seamless

system of service delivery. OVC also has funded important

reports on civil legal remedies for victims, model antistalking

laws, exemplary corrections programs that assist victims and

train victim advocates, and protocols for handling offenses

on Tribal lands. In addition, OVC has developed numerous

training curricula addressing subjects such as hate crimes,

elder abuse, and the role of the clergy in assisting victims.

Other OVC-funded projects include a manual for developing

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs and monographs,

bulletins, and videotapes designed to improve the criminal

justice response to child victims.

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) was created by the

U.S. Department of Justice in 1983 and formally established by

Congress in 1988 through an amendment to the Victims of Crime

Act of 1984 (VOCA). OVC provides Federal funds to support

victim assistance and compensation programs around the country

and advocates, through policy development, for the fair treatment

of crime victims. OVC administers formula and discretionary

grants for programs designed to benefit victims, provides training

for diverse professionals who work with victims, develops projects

to enhance victims’ rights and services, and undertakes public

education and awareness activities on behalf of crime victims.

	

The mission of OVC is to enhance the Nation’s capacity to assist

crime victims and to provide leadership in changing attitudes,

policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims

of crime. OVC accomplishes its mission in many different ways:

administering the Crime Victims Fund, supporting direct services,

providing training programs that reach diverse professionals

across America, sponsoring demonstration projects with national

impact, and publishing and disseminating publications that

highlight promising practices in the effective treatment of

crime victims that can be replicated throughout the country.


 

A major responsibility of OVC is to administer the Crime Victims

Fund, which is derived, not from tax dollars, but from fines and

penalties paid by Federal criminal offenders. Nearly 90 percent

of the money collected each year is distributed to States to help

fund their victim assistance and compensation programs. These

programs are the lifeline services that help many victims heal.

Federal victim assistance funds help support more than 4,000

local victim services agencies, such as domestic violence shelters,

children’s advocacy centers, and rape treatment programs.

Compensation funds available from OVC supplement State

efforts to provide reimbursement to victims for out-of-pocket

expenses resulting from crime, including medical and mental

health counseling costs, lost wages, and funeral expenses.

Since 1988, OVC has distributed more than $3 billion to States

to support victim services and compensation.

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

September 1999
	! 



OVC established the Office for Victims of Crime Resource

Center (OVCRC), an information clearinghouse which provides

research findings, statistics, and literature on emerging victim

issues. OVCRC is a component of the National Criminal Justice

Reference Service (NCJRS), the most comprehensive criminal

justice library in the world. Through this resource, information

is available 24 hours a day through the Internet and Fax-onDemand. The NCJRS World Wide Web Justice Information

Center menus provide information and publications from all

Office of Justice Programs agencies — the Office for Victims

of Crime, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Bureau of Justice

Statistics, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance — as well as

from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. For more

information and help with online services, first-time users can

send an e-mail message to look@ncjrs.org, or if technical

assistance or specific questions on criminal and juvenile

justice topics is required, query askncjrs@ncjrs.org.

Additionally, selected publications can be obtained through

the Fax-on-Demand system.


"

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OVC has established the Office for Victims of Crime

Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) to serve as

a centralized access point for information about OVC’s training

and technical assistance resources. TTAC allows OVC to

further disseminate training and technical assistance developed

under its discretionary grant program. TTAC activities include:

• Providing expert consultants, who specialize in crime victimrelated areas, to support training events of Federal, State,

Tribal, and local agencies and special emphasis organizations

that are involved in activities related to crime victims.

• Providing intensive onsite technical assistance to meet specific

programmatic and administrative requirements of agencies

offering services to crime victims.

• Organizing, arranging, and facilitating national conferences,

regional workshops, and meetings with diverse constituent

groups, including State VOCA administrators and OVC

discretionary grantees.

• Planning focus groups that develop action plans to respond to

major emerging issues.

• Developing publications and other materials, such as

brochures, briefing materials, and information packets on

crime victim-related issues. This activity may include the

adaptation and modification of existing materials to make

them suitable for various user groups.

• Promoting information sharing and networking opportunities

for administrators and leaders of similar agencies in an effort

to improve response to crime victims.

For more information about the Office for Victims of Crime

and its programs, contact:

OVC ..................................................................... 202–307–5983

OVC Web Site ............................. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/

OVC Resource Center ......................................... 800–627–6872

OVC Resource Center Web Site ................. http://www.ncjrs.org

OVC Training and Technical

Assistance Center ................................................. 800–627–6872

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office for Victims of Crime

Washington, D.C. 20531

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

	

	







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POSTAGE & FEES PAID

DOJ/OVC

Permit No. G-91

FS000181

Updated September 1999