Frequently Asked Questions

The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) specifically requires compensation to crime victims and survivors of victims of criminal violence for certain expenses resulting from physical injury from a compensable crime as defined by the state.

VOCA places priority on violent crime, but it does not prohibit coverage of nonviolent crimes. States may choose to broaden the range of compensable crimes to include those involving threats of injury or economic crime where victims are traumatized but not physically injured. Please keep in mind that eligibility requirements, in the end, are left up to the state.

Please contact your State Victim Compensation Program for information to learn about eligibility requirements. 

Contact your state Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Administrator for questions regarding what expenses are allowable if your organization receives VOCA funding.

College-specific crime statistics can be found on the Campus Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool website from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Postsecondary Education.

Additional data and information can be found on the U.S. Department of Education's Campus Security page.

Crime in the United States, an annual report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, provides university/college campus crime data that are reported by law enforcement.

Learn more about campus crime and serving victims of crime on the Campus Crime section of our website.

Established in 1988 through an amendment to the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) of 1984, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is a federal office within the U.S. Department of Justice that provides federal funds to support victim assistance and compensation programs around the country and advocates for the fair treatment of crime victims.

More information about OVC is available in the What is OVC? and Crime Victims Fund fact sheets.

Many OVC publications and products are available in hardcopy and can be ordered from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), OVC's information clearinghouse. You can search for and order available OVC resources via the NCJRS Publications/Products page. While these resources are free, shipping and handling fees may apply. View the Shopping Cart Help at NCJRS for more information.

Information about PTSD and other mental health issues is available from the Sidran Institute. For additional information, visit the Physical and Mental Health section of our site.

Visit our Help for Victims microsite to learn about resources and services for victims of crime. Assistance may come in the form of financial reimbursement or victim services. Funding support for state assistance and compensation programs comes from the Crime Victims Fund administered by the OVC as authorized by the Victim of Crime Act.

Another source of help is your local victim/witness assistance program. You may contact the VictimConnect helpline by phone at 855–484–2846 or online chat for a referral in your area.

Find out more in this brochure, What You Can Do If You Are a Victim of Crime, which includes a brief overview of OVC, your rights, and where you can get help.

Visit our International Terrorism to learn about programs that provide funding and assistance to victims in the aftermath of a terrorism event outside the United States.

According to 2019 data, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children assisted law enforcement in 29,000 cases of missing children and less than 1 percent of those cases were nonfamily abductions.

Also see these resources:

• National Criminal Justice Reference Service: Crime Victimization: Missing and Exploited Children, and 
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Nonfamily Abducted Children: National Estimates and Characteristics

Information on the phenomenon known as the "cycle of violence," in which a childhood history of physical abuse may lead the survivor to be more likely to commit violence in later years, is available in the National Institute of Justice resources:

• Pathways Between Child Maltreatment and Adult Criminal Involvement
• Effects of Child Maltreatment, Cumulative Victimization Experiences, and Proximal Life Stress on Adult Crime and Antisocial Behavior
• An Update on the Cycle of Violence
• Childhood Victimization: Early Adversity, Later Psychopathology

To learn more, visit the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence, a series of publications funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.