NCJ Number
239957
Date Published
May 2013
Length
60 pages
Annotation
This final report provides important first steps in the strategic direction and focus of the victim assistance field.
Abstract
This report presents a cohesive and comprehensive framework for strategic change in the victim services field and addresses ways to overcome political, policy, and philosophical challenges in the field. This report discusses major challenges to the integration of research into victim services; the need for crime victims to have access to legal assistance to address the wide range of legal issues that can arise following victimization; the impact of advances in technology, globalization, and changing demographics on the victim assistance field; and the capacity for serving victims in the 21st century along with some of the infrastructure issues that must be overcome to reach that capacity. Further outlined are recommendations for beginning the transformative change, which fall into the following four broad categories: conducting continuous rather than episodic strategic planning in the victim assistance field to effect real change in research, policy, programming, and capacity building; supporting research to build a body of evidence-based knowledge and generate, collect, and analyze quantitative and qualitative data on victimization, emerging victimization trends, services and behaviors, and victims' rights enforcement efforts; ensuring the statutory, policy, and programmatic flexibility to address enduring and emerging crime victim issues; and building and institutionalizing capacity through an infusion of technology, training, and innovation to ensure that the field is equipped to meet the demands of the 21st century. Appendixes and references