NCJ Number
108438
Date Published
1987
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This overview of crime victims' issues considers victims' rights, legal reforms, and resources for crime victims.
Abstract
Victims' rights include participation in case processing, restitution, compensation, freedom from intimidation, recovery of civil damages, and a share of any profits derived by the criminal from media depictions of the crime. Federal legal reforms pertinent to crime victims include the 1982 Victim and Witness Protection Act and the 1984 Victims of Crime Act. These acts provide for victim-related reforms of the Federal criminal justice process and the renewal of grant programs for victim assistance projects. State victim-witness laws most commonly address victim compensation, victim restitution in accordance with the offender's ability to pay, victim access to any profits gained by the criminal through media depictions of the crime, protection from intimidation, notification of rights and significant events of case processing, and victim impact statements. Appendixes list victim advocacy and support groups, State victim compensation and assistance coordinators, Federal victim/witness coordinators in the U.S. Attorney's Office, and 13 references used in the report.