Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for that introduction, Claire, and for inviting me to be a part of this wonderful event. I also want to congratulate NOVA on their 50th anniversary. This is a momentous occasion and marks a significant milestone in the victim advocacy movement.
From the beginning, NOVA has been a north star for many victim advocates, for survivors, and for so many of us in the criminal justice field. Fifty years ago, NOVA was an organization ahead of its time, creating a professional pathway for those wanting to make a career of serving victims.
NOVA has made enormous contributions to our understanding of crime victimization over the years and has persistently stressed that victim advocacy is a vital component of the coordinated community response to violence. We are so fortunate to have had the inspiring, steady, and dependable guidance that NOVA has given us for the past fifty years.
And congratulations, Marlene, on your Lifetime Achievement Award. I know OVC gave you the National Crime Victim Service award in 1992. You have had a remarkable career and we are enormously grateful for all your contributions to the crime victims’ field. In my brief time this afternoon, I want to touch on a few specific things: an anniversary, a crisis, a paradigm shift, and an announcement that will impact the future of victim advocacy.
So, in addition to marking NOVA’s 50th and VAWA’s 30th, 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the Victims of Crime Act (or VOCA). It’s fascinating to look back on how this crucial piece of legislation has influenced our field.
It started out in 1982 when nine people were tasked by the President of the United States with examining the criminal justice response to crime victims and recommending how it could be improved. This was a novel idea and had never been done before.
Little did they know that the report they produced, the final report of the President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime, would create a seismic shift in our response to crime victims. And it would become the foundation of the Victims of Crime Act, the Crime Victims Fund, and my office, the Office for Victims of Crime at the Department of Justice.
Since VOCA became law in 1984, more than $38 billion dollars have been invested in local programs that provide mental health, housing, legal assistance, victim advocacy, crisis intervention, and other services to help victims and survivors heal and reclaim their lives.
Recently I took the time to re-read portions of the 1982 report and I was blown away by what I read. This Task Force was way ahead of its time. Though we consider it best practice now to include survivors when making recommendations about criminal justice policy and practice, it wasn’t common back then. But the task force pioneers did it! They relied on the voices of survivors to give legitimacy, practicality, and the authenticity to their recommendations.
The report even includes a section called “Victims of Crime in America” that provides quotes from survivors, excerpts from their Task Force testimony, and most interestingly, a bold first-person dramatization of what a victim endures. It represents a composite of a victim of crime in America.
And as a lead-in to this section of the report, it says, quote: “What follows next is a window into the victims’ experience. The Task Force strongly urges you to read it before you go further. You cannot appreciate the victim problem if you approach it solely with your intellect. The intellect rebels.” Just WOW. I love this sentiment. These visionaries understood the importance of placing the reader in the shoes of a survivor in order to help others understand the terror, the trauma, and the life-altering changes that occur when you or someone you love has been impacted by crime. Without that level-setting, it’s too easy to ignore, overlook, or dismiss the reality of what a victim of crime endures and the heavy burden that they carry.
At OVC, it is our job to carry out many of the ideals, the solutions, and the promises that the Task Force members put forth in their report close to a half century ago. Just think, without VOCA, OVC might not be here and the Crime Victims Fund certainly wouldn’t be.
However, in 2024 we find ourselves at a critical juncture when it comes to funding for crime victim services. The CVF, the beating heart of the victim services field, is in danger of becoming insolvent. Over the years deposits into the fund have decreased, money in the fund has been obligated for VAWA and the OIG and the cap that Congress sets on the Fund each year has gotten lower. This has led to inconsistent and unstable funding for the states, making it harder to create and sustain local victim services programs, which are often, quite literally, the lifelines for victims and survivors.
At its peak, the Crime Victims Fund had more than $13 billion in it. However, due to a variety of factors, the balance of the CVF has declined significantly over the past several years. Right now, the balance of the fund sits at just about $1.5 billion.
In 2021, Congress passed and President Biden signed the VOCA Fix Act in 2021 and, since enactment, more than $1.4 billion dollars has been deposited into the CVF. We can thank the amazing advocates, Congress, and the President for that legislation because it literally saved the CVF. Because, think about it. Had we not had the VOCA Fix, right now we would have a balance of nearly zero.
The decline in the Crime Victims Fund and the challenges the field is facing just trying to keep the doors open, is quite frankly, a tragedy. Money from the Crime Victims Fund supports many of our national crisis hotlines, enabling millions of survivors to get immediate assistance through phone, text, and chat. OVC provides critical funding for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the National Sexual Assault Hotline, the Image Abuse Helpline, the Elder Fraud Hotline and the StrongHearts Native Helpline.
- VOCA grantees have made groundbreaking advances to expand sexual assault forensic examination programs in remote and isolated communities through telemedicine and virtual training modules;
- VOCA funds are enabling tech experts to work with crime victims to protect them from cyberharassment and stalking;
- VOCA funds, through the Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside, enable Tribal communities to Construct housing and shelter, pay the salaries of victim advocates, run supervised visitation programs to allow children to stay connected to their families, and so much more.
VOCA funds pay for hundreds of full-time, specially trained victim specialists at the FBI and victim/witness specialists in U.S. Attorney’s offices across the country. VOCA funds pay for victim services at other Federal agencies like the ATF, DHS, and the EPA. They pay for victim advocates in our national parks. And VOCA funds have enabled OVC to create two brand new funding opportunities to establish trauma recovery centers in communities significantly impacted by violence and to help community programs meet the Basic Needs of Crime Victims in Underserved Communities.
I am pleased to report that there is hope. The recent mark of the Senate CJS 2025 budget has the CVF capped at $1.9 billion, which would be a 40 percent increase over FY 2024. At OVC, we will continue to do everything we can to raise awareness of the Crime Victims Fund so that victims and survivors of crime will always have options and access for healing and restoration.
At OVC we are always working hard to find better and more equitable ways to ensure that survivors have access to needed services. One of those ways is through reimagining what crime victim compensation can look like. About two years ago, we began the process of rewriting the guidelines that govern the victim compensation program to eliminate subjectivity, increase fairness, and enable more people to be eligible for reimbursement, especially those in communities most impacted by violence.
Victim compensation programs are designed to provide financial assistance and reimbursement to victims for crime-related out-of-pocket expenses, including medical and dental care, counseling, funeral and burial costs, and lost wages.
We know that many communities are not aware of these benefits or they have had negative experiences trying to access crime victim compensation. And we know most of these negative experiences were happening in communities experiencing high rates of violent crime. We have heard countless stories of families being denied compensation for funeral and burial costs because of a loved one’s criminal history or the perception they contributed to their own victimization.
So, we undertook an extensive process to conduct the outreach, research, and stakeholder engagement necessary to put forward recommendations for the changes that were needed. We conducted listening sessions with survivors, direct service providers, state administrators, national advocacy organizations, and federal and tribal leaders.
Using what we learned, we published draft guidelines in the Federal Register through a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. We gave the public 60 days to comment on the draft and we received 3,800 comments. My staff and I have been very busy reviewing these comments and now the revised guidelines are going through one more review period within the Department and we hope to have them published before the end of the calendar year.
So many of you in this room have helped to drive the change in the guidelines. I so am grateful to those of you who submitted comments, participated in a listening session, or just picked up the phone and called me to tell me your experience. We also plan to provide comprehensive technical assistance to the states so they can successfully implement the new guidelines. Many states have already made these important changes and I applaud them.
All crime victims and surviving family members deserve fair and equal access to crime victim compensation. Period.
And lastly, I want to recognize a very special group in the audience today. I am absolutely thrilled to announce the selection of the student fellows that comprise the inaugural cohort of NOVA’s Victim Advocacy Corps. The purpose of this new program, funded by OVC, and administered by NOVA and its partners, is to leverage the passion and energy of students of all ages who have an interest and desire to serve crime victims.
Through this project, student fellows will receive victim advocacy training, credentialing, mentorship, and a 9-month, paid placement at a local victim service agency fueling the next generation in victim services. Each one of these students hails from a minority serving institution and represents communities or cultures that face challenges accessing victim services. The goal is to have more culturally-specific representation in victim services so that all victims and survivors feel represented and accepted.
Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to meet each one of them. I can tell you firsthand that they are thoughtful, bright, passionate individuals who are already making a difference in their communities. You’ll be hearing directly from these aspiring leaders shortly, so I won’t give too much away, but I just wanted to thank them, their colleges, and NOVA for fulfilling my dream and making this important initiative happen and for paving a new path for professionals entering this field.
I want to give a special thank you to OVC grant manager Silvia Torres and Project Director Abrianna Morales, who at age 22 has been instrumental in launching the Corps; along with Jasmine Uribe, Shannon Collins, Katelyn Ahn, and Brandon Wolf.
TO THE FELLOWS: You have chosen to turn toward those impacted by violence in a world where so many choose to turn away. Please stand and be recognized. Though we are starting out with only 16 fellows, my dream is to scale this program so that every community has access to professional trained, trauma-informed, victim-centered, and culturally competent crime victim advocates. I am so proud to know all of you; and because of you, the future of victim advocacy certainly looks bright.
With that, I’ll turn the mic back over to NOVA. As always, thank you so much for having me. Thank you for everything you do to help crime survivors find their justice.