Victim assistance

VOCA Compensation Highlights

OVC’s VOCA Compensation Formula Grant Program reimburses victims for financial losses resulting from their victimization. OVC disburses these funds to supplement state programs that provide financial assistance and reimbursement to victims for crime-related expenses, including medical and dental care, counseling, funeral and burial expenses, and lost wages. Compensation programs may also reimburse victims for other types of expenses related to their victimization...

Serving Victims Everywhere

OVC believes that crime victims should have access to the evidence-based services and support they need to begin their physical, emotional, and financial recovery. However, OVC recognizes that there are serious challenges to achieving this goal. Strengthening connections across allied fields to expand the availability and quality of services that impact a victim’s healing are among these challenges.

Center for Victim Research...

Introduction

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is pleased to present this report of activities during fiscal years (FY) 2019 and 2020. Every year, OVC supports millions of victims of crime. The core of this support is the Crime Victims Fund (the Fund), which is financed not by tax dollars, but by fines, bond forfeitures, and penalties from offenders in federal cases. In FY...

Victims of the Addiction Crisis

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, parental substance abuse is one adverse childhood experience associated with a range of negative outcomes later in life. Children and youth who are exposed to parental substance abuse may be at greater risk for crime victimization during their lifetimes, including child abuse and neglect, human trafficking, intimate...

Capacity-Building Overview

OVC programming in FYs 2019 and 2020 focused on building capacity in a number of key areas. OVC supported many programs to combat human trafficking and help survivors of this terrible crime; and to plan for, respond to, and serve victims of acts of terrorism and mass violence. OVC also strengthened its support for a wide range of law enforcement organizations and their...

VOCA Assistance Highlights

OVC’s VOCA Assistance Formula Grant Program supports thousands of victim assistance programs throughout the Nation annually. OVC’s funding of these programs—through subgrants to state agencies and local service providers—provides help for individuals, families, and communities recovering from both the immediate and prolonged effects of victimization.

VOCA assistance supports crisis counseling, telephone and onsite information and referrals, criminal justice support and advocacy, emergency...

Public Awareness

National Crime Victims’ Rights Week

In April 2020, OVC sponsored the annual commemoration of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW). The theme—Seek Justice. Ensure Victims’ Rights. Inspire Hope—recognized that education on crime victims’ rights is key to ensuring that all participants in the criminal justice process acknowledge and support those rights. The theme also invited us to celebrate the individuals and...