Database of Federal, State, and Tribal Victims' Rights Laws

Before victims' rights can be fully enforced, victims, victim advocates, victim lawyers, criminal justice practitioners, and allied professionals must understand the relevant statutes and case law. In Fiscal Year 2003, OVC funded the National Center for Victims of Crime to create an online database of federal, state, and tribal victims' rights statutes, codes, and relevant case law. This mechanism will ensure that victim advocacy and service organizations, criminal justice practitioners, researchers, and others have easy access to continuously updated and vital rights-related information. Access to this information will help OVC, its grantees, other victim organizations, and criminal justice practitioners assess victims' rights laws, identify gaps in statutory protections, and prepare data-based training sessions. It will also help states identify model legislation. More importantly, the database will serve as a source of information for victims and their advocates that can be used to help victims exercise their rights.

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