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Victim assistance

Help in Your State: Utah

Help in Your State: Utah

View contact information for the Utah Victim Assistance and Victim Compensation programs below.

Victim Assistance Program

Utah Office for Victims of Crime
Phone: 801-238-2360

Victim Compensation Program

Utah Office for Victims of Crime
Phone: 801-238-2360

Additional Resources

Additional resources and information for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and elder abuse is available on these U.S. Department of Justice websites—...

Help in Your State: Florida

Help in Your State: Florida

View contact information for the Florida Victim Assistance and Victim Compensation programs below.

Victim Assistance Program

Florida Office of the Attorney General
Crime Victims' Services
Phone: 800-226-6667

Victim Compensation Program

Florida Office of the Attorney General
Crime Victims' Services
Phone: 800-226-6667

Additional Resources

Additional resources and information for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and elder abuse is available on...

Help in Your State: Missouri

Help in Your State: Missouri

View contact information for the Missouri Victim Assistance and Victim Compensation programs below.

Victim Assistance Program

Missouri Department of Social Services
Phone: 573-522-3730

Victim Compensation Program

Missouri Department of Public Safety
Victim Services Program
Phone: 573-526-6006

Additional Resources

Additional resources and information for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and elder abuse is available on these U.S. Department of Justice...

Help in Your State: Rhode Island

Help in Your State: Rhode Island

View contact information for the Rhode Island Victim Assistance and Victim Compensation programs below.

Victim Assistance Program

Rhode Island Public Safety Grant Administration Office
Phone: 401-764-5797

Victim Compensation Program

Office of the General Treasurer Crime Victim Compensation Program
Phone: 401-462-7655

Additional Resources

Additional resources and information for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and elder abuse is available on...

The OVC Center for VOCA Administrators Introduction Video

September 2021

The OVC Center for VOCA Administrators (The OVC VOCA Center) provides peer-to-peer technical assistance to meet the needs of VOCA Administrators. The OVC VOCA Center will broaden victim services to historically underserved communities, provide grant and financial management training and technical assistance, offer learning opportunities designed specifically for VOCA Administrators, and foster expanded accessibility and sustainability of VOCA programs.

New Center Offers Support to VOCA Administrators

OVC Director Kristina Rose announces the launch of the OVC Center for VOCA Administrators to help build the capacity of VOCA Administrators to manage VOCA formula victim assistance and victim compensation funds.

OVC Center for VOCA Administrators Launch: Remarks From OVC Director Kristina Rose

September 2021

In this video, OVC Director Kristina Rose announces the launch of the OVC Center for VOCA Administrators. The Center provides technical support to strengthen the capacity of VOCA Administrators to administer VOCA formula victim assistance and victim compensation funds—the cornerstone of support for victims throughout the Nation. Visit the OVC Center for VOCA Administrators website.

President Biden Signs the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act of 2021

On Thursday, July 22, 2021, Amy L. Solomon, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, and Kristina Rose, Director, Office for Victims of Crime, joined President Biden and Vice President Harris at the signing of the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act of 2021 in a historic effort to stabilize the Crime Victims Fund.

OVC FY 2021 VOCA Victim Assistance Formula Grant

Closing Date
OVC will award each eligible state and territory victim assistance program an annual grant to support eligible crime victim assistance programs in that state or territory. Eligible crime victim assistance programs are those that are “operated by a public agency or nonprofit organization, or a combination of such agencies or organizations or of both such agencies and organizations, and provide services to victims of crime,”...

OVC FY 2021 Building State Technology Capacity

Closing Date
OVC is seeking applications from Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Formula Assistance and Compensation Program State Administering Agencies to implement statewide technology programs to enhance victims’ access to services, foster innovation and efficiency in the provision of services, improve the quality of services, and improve the accessibility and responsiveness of victim service organizations.

Message From the Director

Message From the Director

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) was established as part of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs in 1988 through an amendment to the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA). VOCA and OVC institutionalized a decades-long movement to articulate and enforce the rights of crime victims in the justice system and to offer comprehensive services to victims...

Tribal Communities

Tribal Communities

American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) suffer from one of the highest rates of victimization in the country. Cultural differences, remote locations, and challenging jurisdictional issues make providing victim services in tribal communities complex. In its work with tribes, OVC pays particular attention to government-to-government relationships with our tribal government grantees and to supporting tribes in providing culturally appropriate services for victims.

Tribal...

Terrorism and Mass Violence

Terrorism and Mass Violence

In recent years, the Nation has experienced a surge in incidents of mass violence and domestic terrorism. These tragedies have affected a range of communities—from small rural areas to large urban populations—and various locations, such as schools, workplaces, nightclubs, and public settings. As the frequency of these tragedies increases, OVC recognizes the need to become better prepared and equipped with the...

State Formula Grants

State Formula Grants

OVC administers two formula grant programs that support crime victim compensation and assistance, described above—the VOCA Victim Compensation Formula Grant Program and the VOCA Victim Assistance Formula Grant Program. Every year, OVC awards each eligible state and territory a VOCA victim compensation formula grant to supplement state funds that reimburse victims for out-of-pocket expenses resulting from crime, such as medical and dental...

Exhibits

Exhibits

table of Crime Victims Fund cash flow, FYs 2019 and 2020 (in $ Millions)

 

graph of Crime Victims Fund deposits and disbursements

 

table of the payment of status of claims submitted to VOCA victim compensation programs, FYs 2019-2020

 

table of state compensation program benefits paid in FYs 2019 and 2020, by type of expense

 

table of victims served by VOCA assistance programs in FYs 2019 and 2020, by type of victimization

 

table of services delivered to victims by VOCA assistance programs in FYs 2019 and 2020, by type of assistance

 

table of VOCA assistance program nationwide performance indicators, FYs 2019 and 2020

 

chart of the growth of OVC's tribal grant programs, FYs 2016-2020

 

table of the population tiers for the Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside formula program

 

bar graph of the history of OVC's anti-human trafficking funding

 

pie chart of OVC anti-human trafficking award funding

 

graph of number of clients served by OVC anti-human trafficking grantees, FYs 2016-2020

 

map of law enforcement-based victim services program sites

Training & Technical Assistance

Training and Technical Assistance

OVC encourages service providers and allied professionals to strengthen their knowledge, skills, and abilities so that they can provide the best possible services to crime victims throughout the Nation. The OVC Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVC TTAC) leads the agency’s efforts to provide such expertise- and capacity-building activities by offering a variety of instructor-led trainings, both in person and online...

Combating Human Trafficking

Combating Human Trafficking

With funding appropriated through the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, OVC administers the largest amount of federal funding dedicated to responding to human trafficking in the United States.

OVC funding supports the delivery of direct services such as case management, housing, legal assistance, and multidisciplinary collaboration and state-level approaches to identifying and serving victims of human trafficking. In addition...

VOCA Statutory Set-Asides

VOCA Statutory Set-Asides

OVC supports direct services for victims of federal crimes through the following federal agency programs:

  • The Children’s Justice Act (CJA) provides up to $20 million annually to help states and tribes develop, establish, and operate programs to improve the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect cases—particularly cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation—and to improve the handling of cases of...

Crime Victims Fund

Crime Victims Fund

The Crime Victims Fund (the Fund), established by the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, supports services for victims of crime throughout the Nation. OVC is charged by Congress with administering the Fund, which is composed primarily of fines, special assessments, and bond forfeitures from convicted federal offenders, making it a self-sufficient source of compensation and assistance that does not rely...

Research & Evaluation

Research and Evaluation

Data on Crime Victimization

In FYs 2019 and 2020, OVC funded two partner agencies—the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)—in their endeavors to generate, collect, and analyze quantitative and qualitative data on victimization, victim services, and related topics critical to the field.

OVC continued an interagency agreement with NIJ to support research for the field, including...