NCJ Number
156234
Date Published
1995
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This annual report discusses the scope of Pennsylvania's Victim/Witness Services Grant and Technical Assistance Program, training and technical assistance efforts, legislation, and outstanding concerns.
Abstract
On June 30, 1984, the Crime Victims' Compensation Act was amended to establish Pennsylvania's first Victims Bill of Rights and created a Victim/Witness Services Grant and Technical Assistance Program within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). In administering the grant and technical assistance program, the PCCD is directed to work with district attorneys and other criminal justice agencies to develop programs that provide victims and witnesses with the rights and services specified in the legislation. As of January 1995, 61 of the 67 counties participated in the Victim/Witness Services Grant and Technical Assistance Program. During 1994 the project provided training in its quarterly series on program management, hate crimes/hate groups, victim advocacy, violence prevention, the juvenile justice system, working with traumatized children, and tools for training. Over 200 victim/witness assistance staff participated in these training sessions. Since the last report was issued, three laws have been enacted to address victim interactions with the criminal justice system. One establishes a statewide registry for protection orders, requires all police agencies to notify victims of the arrest of those defendants who violate a protection order, and requires the appropriate releasing authority to notify the victim in advance of the release of an offender who has been sentenced to incarceration for contempt of a protection order. Another act creates an Office of Victim Advocate in the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole. The third act expands the Victims Bill of Rights to provide, upon the request of personal injury crime victims, advance notice of the release of offenders sentenced to local correctional facilities. Outstanding concerns pertain to the promotion of full participation, refinements to the Victims Bill of Rights, program evaluation, and enforcement issues. Appendixes contain a data sheet for PCCD Victim/Witness Assistance Projects for 1995, the Victims Bill of Rights, service responsibilities of the Prosecutor's Office, and principal services and activities promoted through PCCD's Victim/Witness Assistance Program Standards and Procedures Manual.