Justice Department Announces Nearly $5.5M To Advance And Improve Victim Services

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Mary Lou Leary today announced nearly $5.5 million in funding to advance and improve victim services at the National Center for Victims of Crime's (NCVC) 2012 National Conference. 

Leary announced nearly $3.5 million in OJP funding to create the first ever National Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Telemedicine Center, which will provide live, 24/7, access to expert medical forensic examiners to four pilot sites in rural, tribal, military and correctional settings. This includes a nearly $3.3 million award to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for the telemedicine center, $240,000 to the U.S. Navy to support the military pilot site, as well as training and technical assistance. Leary also announced a nearly $2 million grant from OJP's Bureau of Justice Statistics to the Rand Corporation, in partnership with NCVC, to develop and conduct the National Survey of Victim Services Organizations. This will create, for the first time, a statistical system to collect detailed data about the services provided to victims and about the organizations that provide those services. This new data will improve and support strategic planning efforts in states and communities across the country.

At the NCVC National Conference, Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary also previewed OVC's upcoming national report: Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services, which provides recommendations for a comprehensive and systematic approach for responding to crime victims. OVC and its partners are in the final stages of producing a report that outlines a strategic vision for the victim services field and offers recommendations on how to make that vision a reality. The report will be available later this fall.

"It's important for us to work together to meet the challenges that we – and all victims – continue to face," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary. "That's why our Office for Victims of Crime is leading a major effort to reassess services for crime victims. The time for change – not incremental change, but transformative change – has come for victim services."

Acting Assistant Attorney General Leary also highlighted the Department's commitment to strengthening our military partnerships and new trainings to better serve military sexual assault victims:

• OVC is collaborating with the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office to develop a 20-hour interactive online training course to provide advanced Sexual Assault Victim Advocacy skills to a military audience. 
• OVC is offering a "Strengthening Military-Civilian Community Partnerships to Respond to Sexual Assault" training  to help community-based sexual assault programs establish effective working relationships with their military counterparts and better serve military sexual assault victims.

The National Center for Victims of Crime is holding its 2012 National Conference in New Orleans from September 19-21. Hundreds of victim services providers, government leaders, policy leaders, law enforcement officers, criminologists, victim advocates and survivors are expected to attend.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary Lou Leary, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP has six bureaus and offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. For more information about OJP and its components please visit: www.ojp.gov.

SOURCE Department of Justice