NCJ Number
253508
Date Published
December 2018
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This is a report on an effort to improve victim services in Iowa by having the state's Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP), Iowa's Statistical Analysis Center (SAC), partner with the Crime Victim Assistance Division (CVAD) of the Iowa Attorney General's Office to examine CVAD's program statistics and explore a routine data-sharing process.
Abstract
Prior to this partnership, the CVAD and CJJP had no established working relationship. Initial discussions indicated that the CVAD could benefit from the research, analysis, and data system capabilities established within the SAC, since the CVAD lacked the resources required for a comprehensive analysis, evaluation, or report on data collected. It was envisioned that such a partnership would be beneficial in ensuring Victim of Crime Act (VOCA) funds are distributed effectively and efficiently in meeting the needs of Iowa's crime victims. Under this partnership, CVAD requested an analysis of its victim compensation and assistance services. In the course of this effort, the partnership envisioned the establishment of a routine data-sharing process that would enable the integration of CVAD data into a data warehouse, which could expedite current processes while improving data extraction and reporting. Activities under this VOCA-funded grant supported activities that explored whether CVAD data could be integrated with court data within Iowa's Justice Data Warehouse. This final progress report summarizes the work completed through the first round of the partnership. The report indicates that the CVAD is largely achieving its goals of providing statewide crime-victim services, including serving historically underserved populations. Results also show that CVAD is providing services to victims in the respective victim assistance service locations. The CVAD is now able to identify areas where training and outreach efforts need to be focused. 6 tables and 5 figures