This file is provided for reference purposes only. It was current when produced, but is no longer maintained and may now be outdated. Please select www.ovc.gov to access current information.

Accessing Information:

OVC Resource Center And Other Services

VICTIMS' RESOURCES IN THE INFORMATION AGE

The development of new information technologies -- most notably the growth of the Internet -- has dramatically changed the way in which information on crime victims' issues is being made available to researchers, advocates, and practitioners. As recently as a dozen years ago, the availability of this information was greatly limited by the lack of centralized collection and distribution. Moreover, the form of the information was generally limited to paper documents that required considerable effort to locate and obtain. Today, however, victims and victim service providers can instantly access an enormous store of information specific to the entire range of their personal and professional concerns -- information that includes statistics; model programs and protocols; grant funding sources; and local, state and national referrals to professional organizations in the victim-serving community. Importantly, this information is available wherever and whenever it is needed -- in homes, shelters and offices; in the middle of a trial; or in the middle of the night. For victims and victim service providers, this new information access begins with the Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.

Established in accordance with recommendations of the 1982 President's Task Force on Victims of Crime, the United States Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) serves as the chief advocate for our nation's crime victims, promoting fundamental rights and comprehensive services for victims of crime throughout the United States. OVC's information clearinghouse, the Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center (OVCRC), a component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), is on the forefront of these new information technologies, and is aggressively using them, as well as the NCJRS Catalog of publications and videotapes, to deliver timely and relevant information to the victim-serving community. Since coming "online" in 1994, NCJRS and OVCRC have developed a variety of online services to benefit the victim assistance professional -- World Wide Web page; Justice Information (JUSTINFO) Electronic Newsletter; and E-Mail Information and Help Line. Together with other electronic access features -- including telephone and online document ordering, and fax-on-demand -- NCJRS and OVCRC have truly made a "quantum leap" forward in fulfilling their mission of "bringing the right information to the right people . . . right now."

ACCESSING NCJRS AND OVCRC ONLINE

NCJRS Online can be accessed in the following ways:

NCJRS World Wide Web Homepage

The homepage provides NCJRS information, as well as links to other criminal justice resources from around the world. The NCJRS Web page provides information about NCJRS and OJP agencies; grant-funding opportunities; full-text publications; key-word searching of NCJRS publications; access to the NCJRS Abstracts Database; the current NCJRS Catalog; and a topical index. The address for the NCJRS Homepage is <http://www.ncjrs.gov>.

Justice Information (JUSTINFO) Electronic Newsletter

This free, online newsletter is distributed to your Internet e-mail address on the 1st and 15th of each month. JUSTINFO contains information concerning a wide variety of subjects, including news from all Office of Justice Programs (OJP) agencies and the Office of National Drug Control Policy; criminal justice resources on the Internet; criminal justice funding and program information; and announcements about new NCJRS products and services. To subscribe, send an e-mail to <listproc@ncjrs.gov> with the message subscribe justinfo your name.

E-Mail: Information and Help

Users requiring technical assistance or having specific questions on criminal and juvenile justice topics can send an e-mail to <askncjrs@ncjrs.gov>. To place an order for publications, users may send an e-mail to <puborder@ncjrs.gov>.

Partnerships Against Violence Network (PAVNET)

PAVNET Online is a searchable database containing information about hundreds of promising programs and resources, providing users with key contacts; program types; target populations; location; project startup date; evaluation information; annual budget; sources of funding; and program description. Users may go directly to the site at <www.pavnet.org>.

OTHER NCJRS ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICES

Fax-on-demand

NCJRS has established a "fax-on-demand" service which allows the user to obtain copies of selected NCJRS documents directly through their own fax machine, using a toll-free telephone number. To access the fax-on-demand menu, simply call 1-800-851-3420, and follow the prompts.

CD-ROM and Online Access to the Abstracts Database

Users with CD-ROM capability can also obtain the NCJRS Abstracts Database on CD-ROM. This disc features citations and abstracts of more than 140,000 criminal justice books, research reports, journal articles, government documents, program descriptions, program evaluations, and training manuals contained in the NCJRS Research and Information Center library collection. The disc also contains search software that supports retrieval using any combination of words to search individual fields or all fields globally. The disc can be searched using "free text" methods, or in combination with the National Criminal Justice Thesaurus. In addition, the NCJRS Abstracts Database is available on the NCJRS Homepage at <http://www.ncjrs.gov/database.htm>. Details are available by calling NCJRS at (800) 851-3420.

VICTIM-RELATED INTERNET SITES

Crime victims and victim service providers have witnessed a remarkable growth in the amount of information available to them, through the continued development of the Internet -- especially the World Wide Web. Now, victim-serving agencies and advocacy organizations have the ability to reach around the corner or around the world with information about new issues, services, and promising practices designed to improve the welfare of victims of all types of crime. In an effort to present the most comprehensive and timely information available through this vast medium, the Office for Victims of Crime has substantially revised its World Wide Web homepage. OVC encourages crime victims and victim service providers alike to visit this comprehensive resource, located at <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/>.

Many other agencies and organizations are now providing victim-related information through the World Wide Web. The following is a list of sites on the Web that contain information on selected crime victimization topics. Please note that this list is intended only to provide a sample of available resources, and does not constitute an endorsement of opinions, resources, or statements made therein.

Federal Agencies/Resources

National Victim-related Organizations

National Criminal Justice- and Public Policy-related Associations

State-level Victim Assistance Agencies

State Crime Victim Compensation Programs

Federal and State Corrections, Victim Service Units, Sex Offender Registries, Etc.

State Coalitions and Related Resources

Other Victim Resources

Legal Research/Resources

News Resources

Special thanks is extended to Steve Derene, Program Manger for the Office of Crime Victim Services at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and Promising Strategies and Practices in Using Technology to Benefit Crime Victims, sponsored by the National Center for Victims of Crime with support from the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, for providing much of the web site information included in this section.

The information on this page is archived and provided for reference purposes only.