Steven R. Siegel | National Crime Victim Service Award
Denver District Attorney's Office
Denver, Colorado
Steven R. Siegel has served crime victims at the local, state, and national levels for more than 29 years. Siegel is a state and national expert with an incredible range of knowledge and experience.
He is the literal definition of the term "pioneer"—from his early efforts to support the National Organization for Victim Assistance, serving as an Advisory Board member for the National Victim Center (now known as the National Center for Victims of Crime) to his role as a founding member and board member of the National Victims' Constitutional Amendment Network (NVCAN) in 1986. He has also mentored new victim advocates, showing by example the importance of their work.
Siegel's accomplishments are vast. They range from the creation of one of the first domestic violence "fast track" programs in the Nation to his current efforts to create a domestic violence triage system to more safely and effectively serve the 5,000+ victims that pass through the Denver system annually.
He serves on the Executive Committee of the NVCAN Board of Directors. In that role, he has provided consultation and technical assistance to more than 20 states as they successfully sought to pass their state-level constitutional amendments. Siegel currently serves as the Director of Program Development for the Denver District Attorney's Office.
Under Siegel's innovative leadership, the Denver District Attorney's Office has received funding for the creation of multiple projects that have become national models, including Victim Services 2000, a demonstration model of a coordinated victim services network.
As illustrated by these and many other efforts, Siegel has shown an amazing ability to address the needs of crime victims in large and small ways. He deals daily with individual crime victims and with the state and national policy issues that help determine what services and resources are in place to support crime victims.
Siegel is recognized as a leader, a pioneer, and perhaps most importantly, a mentor to countless colleagues who count on him for guidance and support. He is truly selfless in giving his time and expertise to victims and survivors, victim advocates, justice and allied professionals, and the news media.
Siegel was nominated by Mary McGhee, Colorado Department of Human Services, with support from Nancy Lewis, Steve Derene, Anne Seymour, and 17 other supporters from the victim services field.