GLOBAL CHALLENGE I: To enact and enforce consistent, fundamental rights for crime victims.

NEW PROGRAMS

Project Name: Database of State, Tribal, and Federal Victims’ Rights Laws

Name of Grantee/Recipient: Competitive

Problem Statement: Before victims’ rights laws can be enforced, victims and victim advocates must know what these laws are. OVC seeks to support the establishment of an easily accessible database of state, tribal, and federal victims’ rights laws that identifies statutes and gaps in victims’ statutory protections.

Funding:
FY 2002: None (Applications will be solicited in FY 2003)
FY 2003: $500,000
FY 2004: $150,000
FY 2005: $250,000

Objective: To create and maintain a complete, continuously updated, and easily accessible database of all federal, state, and tribal victims’ rights statutes and codes and relevant case law for use by OVC, victim advocacy organizations, researchers, criminal justice personnel, and victims.

Victim Focus: All crime victims

Practitioner Focus: All

Project Description: OVC funding would support the costs of developing a database that would allow users easy access to all state, tribal, and federal victims’ rights statutes and relevant case law. This mechanism would ensure that victim advocacy and service organizations have continuously updated information and easy access to needed information. Access to this information would also aid the efforts of OVC, its grantees, and numerous other victim advocacy and criminal justice systems to conduct assessments of victims’ rights laws, identify gaps in statutory protections, provide a source of data for training, and assist states with identifying model legislation. During the first year of the project, OVC staff would assess feasibility and costs for developing and maintaining the database, and develop and announce a solicitation.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): Database that can be updated and that is accessible by the field

Performance Measure(s): Establish a database that is dedicated to victims’ rights laws that is easily accessible by the field. Number of laws identified and catalogued into database.

Evaluation: Internal, by grantee.

Project Name: State and Territorial Legislators Victim Education Project

Name of Grantee/Recipient: National Conference on State Legislatures

Problem Statement: State and territorial legislators are dependent on accurate and objective information for enacting sound legislation. The ability of the crime victims’ field to convey their message in an objective manner is often handicapped by the sensationalism which frequently accompanies high-profile crimes against persons. While this often serves to move legislators to respond to concerns of crime victims, the response is often partial or influenced by extreme positions. The crime victims’ field would benefit from the ability to systematically present objective information to state legislators from organizations to whom they turn to get necessary comprehensive information about the needs of crime victims.

Funding:
FY 2002: $300,000
FY 2003: $400,000
FY 2004: $350,000
FY 2005: $300,000

Objective: To educate the Nation’s state and territorial legislators about the continuing needs of crime victims.

Victim Focus: All crime victims

Practitioner Focus: State and territorial legislators

Project Description: This project will provide objective information to state and territorial legislators on the needs of and issues related to crime victims. In addition to information on crime victim issues, this project will contribute to the systematic inventory of state crime victim legislation which can be shared across states and will provide valuable information to state VOCA agencies. OVC is supporting this program by funding a database of state, tribal, and federal victims’ rights laws.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): Six workshops for state and territorial legislators on crime victim issues; selected special publications on crime victim issues which go to all state and territorial legislators; a hearing in one or two states or territories for the relevant committees on crime victim issues; a report on new crime victims’ enactments along with an analytic assessment of the nature of these enactments in comparison to prior enactments.

Performance Measure(s): To be determined by OVC and the grantee.

Evaluation: External, independent.

Project Name: National Crime Victim Law Institute and State/Federal Demonstration Program

Name of Grantee/Recipient: National Crime Victim Law Institute (NCVLI)

Problem Statement: New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century documents the progress in establishing state and federal rights over a 20-year period of time. The report indicates that although “tremendous strides have been made to enact victims’ rights laws and deliver services to victims in the United States, serious deficiencies remain in the Nation’s victims’ rights laws and their implementation. The rights of crime victims vary significantly among states and at the federal level. Frequently, victims’ rights laws 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.” The enactment and vigorous enforcement of consistent, fundamental victims’ rights is a priority for the Bush Administration and OVC. Hence, OVC is committing significant resources to support the enforcement of victims’ statutory and constitutional rights.

Funding:
FY 2002: $550,000
FY 2003: $775,000
FY 2004: $1,150,000
FY 2005: $1,375,000
FY 2006: $775,000

Objective: To support a national model designed to provide legal assistance to victims asserting their statutory and constitutional rights and foster the replication at the state and federal levels. Funding priority will be given to states that have passed constitutional amendments affording rights to victims.

Victim Focus: All crime victims

Practitioner Focus: Law students, lawyers, and paralegals

Project Description: This project will replicate the model established by NCVLI for providing advocacy and support services to victims in asserting their rights in several states and at one federal site. NCVLI advocates in cases concerning participation, privacy, and protection for crime victims in courtrooms around the country. It provides pro bono legal support in the form of research, memoranda, and amicus briefs; assists in ongoing nationwide cases; trains 8 to 12 law students per semester providing them with valuable hands-on experience working on cases involving crime victim law around the country; and hosts a national conference every summer for victim lawyers and advocates to receive training on crime victim laws and rights and their implementation.

The program strategy uses multiyear funding to support the development and implementation of the national model in states that have passed constitutional amendments for victims and for one federal site. In FY 2002, OVC will support funding for NCVLI to deliver a conference, develop a funding assessment instrument, participate in site selections, develop and deliver training and technical assistance to states, develop educational materials for the National Alliance of Victim Rights Lawyers as part of a continuing legal education effort incorporated in this project, and support one replication project currently under development at Arizona State University (ASU) in conjunction with Arizona Voice for Victims of Crime. In FY 2003, OVC will make funding available to NCVLI to host a conference, deliver continuing legal education to affiliated lawyers, solicit competitive applications from four additional state sites interested in implementing the State Crime Victim Law Institute model and funding for one federal demonstration site and support the delivery of technical assistance to these sites using the planning and implementation guide developed in FY 2002. Funding for State Crime Victim Law Institutes will be supported over a 3-year period with the first year devoted to planning, the second year to implementation, and the third year to refinement and implementation. In FY 2004, OVC will provide second-year funding to the first four state sites, one federal site, funding for four new state sites, funding for ASU for third-year funding at $75,000, and funding to NCVLI to deliver a conference, deliver continuing legal education to affiliated lawyers, for oversight and technical assistance to nine state sites. In FY 2005, OVC will provide third-year funding to sites selected in FY 2003 and second-year funding to sites selected in FY 2004, fund the NCVLI to convene a conference of State Crime Victim Law Institute grantees to discuss program and document implementation strategies in a publication that will be disseminated by OVC, and to offer continuing legal education to affiliated lawyers. In FY 2006, third-year funding will be provided to state sites funded in FY 2004, deliver a conference, provide oversight and technical assistance to funded sites, provide continuing legal education to affiliated lawyers, and make staff and materials accessible for program evaluation.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): In FY 2002, a conference, planning and implementation guide, delivery of technical assistance materials for replicating national project at the state and federal levels, and funding for one replication project under development, and offer continuing legal education to affiliated lawyers via the National Alliance of Victim Rights Lawyers.

Performance Measure(s): 1) Implementation and continuation of model at funded sites; 2) number of victims assisted by funded sites and amount of legal services provided to each victim, e.g., court appearance, motions, memoranda, briefs, etc.; 3) number of law students trained at the national and state sites; 4) implementation of model for a federal site; and 5) number of law students and volunteer lawyers participating in sites.

Evaluation: External, independent.

Project Name: Victims’ Rights Education Project

Name of Grantee: National Victims Constitutional Amendment Network (NVCAN)

Problem Statement: In 1982, when the President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime began its work, only four states had enacted a basic set of rights for crime victims in the criminal justice system. Today, every state has laws protecting victims rights, and 32 states have established protections for victims in their constitutions. More than 27,000 federal and state statutes related to the rights and interests of crime victims have been enacted over the past three decades. Sadly, however, many victims remain unaware of their rights and how to assert them. Further, many citizens and victims of crime lack basic knowledge and understanding about what rights are afforded to them at the state level and by the Federal Government in both the adult and juvenile justice systems. Frequently when victims are aware of their rights, they often do not understand the distinction between a statutory right and a constitutional right; hence, they become frustrated, resentful, and lose confidence in the criminal justice system when their rights are denied.

Funding:
FY 2002: $300,000
FY 2003: $300,000
FY 2004: TBD
FY 2005: TBD

Objective: To develop informational materials for the general public explaining rights available to crime victims.

Practitioner Focus: Victim service providers and advocates, allied professionals, and criminal and juvenile justice professionals

Victim Focus: All victims of crime and the general public

Project Description: OVC will provide funding through a cooperative agreement to the public education and training arm of the National Victims Constitutional Amendment Network, a consortium of victim rights and other organizations whose purpose is to provide education and outreach about crime victims’ rights. They will conduct field interviews with victims’ rights groups in selected areas around the country to discuss the implementation of victims’ rights, develop and implement a public education campaign for victims of crime and the general public which will focus on providing basic information and instruction about what victims’ rights exist and how to assert them. The grantee will develop informational materials such as fact sheets, brochures, comprehensive educational packages containing frequently asked questions and answers, tips for asserting rights and where to get help doing so, and other products to increase general public awareness for crime victims and the public regarding victims’ federal and state rights. OVC anticipates that NVCAN will link with an organization or institution that has background and experience in understanding victims laws and their enforcement.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): Report documenting the implementation of victims’ rights, educational brochures and other training materials.

Performance Measures: Number of brochures developed, number of interviews conducted with victims, number of community-based presentations, number of contacts made with victims’ rights groups and community presentations given, and number of trainings offered to trainers.

Evaluation: Internal, by grantee.

Project Name: Victims’ Education and Community Intervention Program

Name of Grantee/Recipient: Superior Court of California, Orange County

Problem Statement: While public awareness of the dynamics and prevalence of domestic violence has increased in the last two decades, there is still a lack of understanding that domestic violence is a pattern of coercive behavior used by one person to gain power and control over a current or former intimate partner. While similar dynamics are present in youth dating violence, many adolescents have not been educated to understand that violence has no place in a healthy relationship or even to recognize abusive behavior when it is directed at them or their friends. Finally, while child abuse remains pervasive in our society, many teachers and other practitioners in the schools have not been trained to recognize child abuse or to fulfill their roles as mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect. Research increasingly shows that these forms of interpersonal violence are connected, as opposed to discrete or unique forms of victimization, and communities need models and training to address these forms of violence in a coordinated, holistic fashion.

Funding:
FY 2002: $500,000
FY 2003: $500,000
FY 2004: $500,000
FY 2005: TBD

Objective: To promote the development of community-based models and practices that increase awareness and understanding of the dynamics of family and interpersonal violence and ensure that victim needs for safety and services are addressed appropriately and collaboratively across community systems.

Victim Focus: Victims of domestic violence, child victims and witnesses of family violence, and victims of dating violence.

Practitioner Focus: Teachers and other school personnel and the faith community

Project Description: This demonstration project will further develop and enhance a broad-based community awareness and education initiative on the impact of family and interpersonal violence in Orange County, California. The project focuses on fostering collaborative partnerships and cross-training among community advocacy groups and victim assistance organizations, civil and criminal justice agencies, the judiciary, educators, the faith community, and other concerned community based groups. The grantee will develop and administer three community conferences: (1) one for the clergy on domestic violence, child abuse and the impact of domestic violence on child witnesses; (2) another aimed at youth on dating violence and the hallmarks of healthy relationships; and (3) a third conference for teachers and school personnel on the dynamics of child abuse and domestic violence, the impact of domestic violence on children and adolescents, and school personnel’s mandatory reporting role in cases of suspected child abuse. The grantee will also develop a workshop on youth dating violence that will be delivered at every high school in Orange County and will work collaboratively with the faith community to provide the workshop to their youth organizations and activities. Finally, the project will support a community task force to address ongoing problems of family and interpersonal violence and to develop protocols, procedures, and training to address gaps in services and coordination of service needs for victims. Project findings and products will be disseminated at the end of the project to assist replication of project components in other communities.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): Three conferences specifically for educators, the clergy, and youth on interpersonal violence to enhance attendees’ understanding and awareness of family and dating violence, available services, and appropriate reporting and intervention. Development of a workshop curriculum on teen dating violence and healthy relationships that will be provided in every high school in Orange County and to youth groups sponsored by a broad range of religious organizations.

Performance Measure(s): Number of personnel trained in conferences. Number of workshops conducted and students educated on teen dating violence.

Evaluation: Internal, by grantee.