Co-Sponsoring Agencies and Institutions

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) was established by the 1984 Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) to oversee diverse programs that benefit victims of crime. OVC provides substantial funding to state victim assistance and compensation programs--the lifeline services that help victims to heal. The agency also supports trainings designed to educate criminal justice and allied professionals regarding the rights and needs of crime victims. OVC is one of five bureaus and four offices, with grant-making authority, within the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

The Office for Victims of Crime is committed to enhancing the nation's capacity to assist crime victims and to providing leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime. OVC works with national, international, state, military, and tribal victim assistance and criminal justice agencies, as well as other professional organizations, to promote fundamental rights and comprehensive services for crime victims. OVC's leadership at the federal level also encompasses activities designed to draw public attention to crime victims' needs and to promote victims' rights through legislation and public policy.

The Victims' Assistance Legal Organization (VALOR)

The Victims' Assistance Legal Organization, Inc. (VALOR) was founded in 1979 by the late Frank Carrington as a national organization dedicated to promoting the rights of victims of crime in the civil and criminal justice systems. With support from foundations, individuals and government grants and contracts, VALOR accomplishes its mission through: promoting public education and awareness about the rights and needs of crime victims; advancing public policy reforms on the federal, state and local levels; and improving services to assist crime victims in their emotional, financial, and physical recovery through education and training programs.

VALOR's recent activities include administration and conduct of the National Victim Assistance Academy (1995-2000); developing OVC's 1995-2000 National Crime Victims' Rights Week Resource Guides; conducting the OVC-sponsored 1995 Restitution Reform Project and the 1997 Promising Practices in Restitution Project; and providing leadership on criminal justice system reforms in the areas of sentencing, parole, child abuse, and juvenile justice.

California State University-Fresno

California State University-Fresno (CSUF) provides elective undergraduate and graduate credit for Academy students in all sites. The on-campus sponsor for the Academy is the Department of Criminology, which has a long history of leadership in university-based crime victim related education. CSUF was the first University in the nation to develop and conduct a program of study in victim services. Started in 1985, today the University offers an undergraduate degree in victimology, a graduate degree with a specialization in victimology, and a month-long summer institute on victim services. The Justice Center at CSUF is also actively involved in victims' issues including research on various forms of domestic violence with the California District Attorneys Association. CSUF is the lead campus with the California State University and University of California Systems for the development of a Joint Doctorate Degree in Criminology with an emphasis in Victimology. It is anticipated that this will be the first Ph.D. program of Victimology in the nation. The University established an important precedent by providing academic credit for the OVC-sponsored Civil Remedies Training Series in 1992 and 1993.

National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center

Medical University of South Carolina

The National Crime Victim Research and Treatment Center (CVC) is a division of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. Since 1974, CVC has been devoted to developing a better understanding of the impact of criminal victimization on adults, children, and their families. Program activities include: research; professional education; clinical service; and public policy consultation at the local, state and federal levels. The faculty members of the CVC are widely regarded as leaders in scientific research on the consequences of crime and victimization and as experts in assessment and treatment of crime-related psychological trauma. In 1997, the CVC developed the Academy's first videotape, focusing on the mental health impact of crime, and counseling and advocacy issues for crime victims. MUSC provides elective undergraduate and graduate credit for Academy students in all sites.

Center for the Study of Crime Victims' Rights, Remedies and Resources

University of New Haven

The University of New Haven offers a program in Victim Services Administration that provides cutting-edge, practice-oriented education and training, focusing on the appropriate involvement of victims in the justice system and the improvement of service provision to victims of crime. The Victim Services Administration Education and Training Programs are coordinated with the Center for the Study of Crime Victims' Rights, Remedies and Resources. The Center conducts a variety of activities as part of its mission to improve the treatment of victims of crime through research, teaching, conferences, and legal policy advocacy. The Center strives to both increase public knowledge and understanding of victim issues and to expose relevant professionals, and the community-at-large, to this important area.

Washburn University

Washburn University was founded as a municipal university in the state capital, Topeka, in 1865. In response to escalating concerns about crime and violence, staff and faculty from a variety of administrative and academic departments recently formed the Center on Violence and Victim Studies. The Center serves as a consortium for University-sponsored initiatives intended to address issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The Center includes staff and faculty from criminal justice, social work, human services, psychology, legal technology, and continuing education. The Victim Assistance Program (VAP), an educational series for professionals who serve those who have experienced loss and trauma, was established as a program of the Center in 1995. The School of Applied Studies, Human Services Department, provides an undergraduate degree in victim/survivor studies. Since 1996, The Center on Violence and Victim Studies has served as host for the National Victim Assistance Academy at Washburn University. The university provides elective undergraduate and graduate credit to Academy students in all sites.

American University's Washington College of Law

American University, incorporated by the government of the District of Columbia in 1891, is an independent, coeducational university with a student body representation from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the territories, and nearly 140 foreign countries. The Washington College of Law (WCL), part of American University since 1949, is located a short distance from the university's 76-acre campus in a residential area in upper northwest Washington, D.C. Founded in 1896, The Washington College of Law is today a community of excellence that prides itself on outstanding teaching, path-breaking scholarship, and meaningful service to the legal profession and the world community. WCL offers a wide diversity of legal education concentrations, including the Domestic Violence Clinic, in which student attorneys spend one semester representing individuals seeking civil protection orders and one semester at the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuting misdemeanor domestic violence offenses. WCL often teams with prominent national and international organizations to co-sponsor conferences and events that address the key issues of our time.

National Victim Assistance Academy Sites

American University's Washington College of Law (1997-2000)

California State University-Fresno (1996-2000)

Medical University of South Carolina (1998-2000)

Sam Houston State University (1999-2000)

Washburn University (1996-2000)

University of North Texas (1997)

University of Maryland at College Park (1996)

George Washington University (1995)

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