Faith-Based Responses to Crime Victims (DVD)

• NCJ Number: 216616
• Date Published: April 2008
• Length: 0 pages
• Publication Series: OVC Videos
• Grant Number(s): OJP-2002-BF-014/GS-35F-8062H
• Agencies: OVC
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This DVD portrays faith-based programs in various areas of the country in which congregations, laypersons, and religious professionals of various faiths have partnered with governmental and nongovernmental agencies/organizations to meet the multiple needs of crime/accident victims.

Abstract

For each program described, the DVD portrays program activities, interspersed with comments by those involved in the partnerships, including representatives of religious groups, public agencies, and victims. One faith-based partnership presented focuses on the work of police chaplains, whose activities address not only the needs of police officers involved in stressful events but also with crime/accident victims and their families. A second program involves the work of tribal religious leaders who work with reservation Indians in Washington State. Their focus is on providing the resources of tribal healing and spiritual traditions to Indian crime victims. A third program, called the Daughters of Abraham, is in Arlington, TX. This group consists of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women who came together out of the tensions that developed among these faith groups after the 9/11 attacks. Their efforts have expanded to become a support and referral group for women crime victims impacted by domestic violence and rape. Other programs profiled are the Helping and Lending Outreach Support program (HALOS) in Charleston, SC, which pairs its members with caseworkers who deal with child abuse; a faith-based group that focuses on work with victims of human trafficking, who are brought to America from other countries and forced to work in commercial sex trades and slave labor enterprises; and the Good Samaritan Program in Mobile, AL, which involves faith-based volunteers from local church congregations in meeting the practical needs of crime victims in poor communities, such as repairing damaged property, providing transportation, and offering companionship to elderly victims who live alone.