John P. J. Dussich | Ronald Wilson Reagan Public Policy Award
California State University, Fresno
Fresno, California
Dr. John P. J. Dussich has shown strong leadership and made significant changes in public policy and practices that benefit crime victims. Early in his career, Dr. Dussich created the victim advocate concept and established the first such program in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1974.
He is the founder of the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA), which he launched in Fresno, California in 1976. He is the founding Secretary General of the World Society of Victimology, which was launched in Munster, Germany, in 1979, and served as its President from 2006–2009. He was also instrumental in the founding of the American Society of Victimology.
Dr. Dussich has taught, conducted research, and delivered victim services in Germany, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Israel, Sudan, Indonesia, Japan, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, Taiwan, India, Nepal, and China. In 1993, he was invited to Japan to teach Victimology at Tokiwa University (the center for victimological studies in Asia).
He conceived of and launched the Mito Victim Support Center. With the support of Tokiwa University, he created the Tokiwa International Victimology Institute in October 2003 and was appointed as its Director, serving in that role for 10 years before retiring in March 2014.
Dr. Dussich was the United Nations (U.N.) Liaison Committee Chair at the World Society of Victimology and has made significant efforts to implement the U.N. Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power and related U.N. instruments concerning victims through the activities of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
His career-long contribution and efforts to victims’ rights, education, and advocacy are admirable and his efforts to enact a U.N. Convention on rights for victims are extraordinary.