FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? OVC
TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2002??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? 202/307-0703
ATTORNEY GENERAL ASHCROFT HONORS AMERICANS WHO ASSIST
CRIME VICTIMS
Chaplain Who Helped September 11 Victims Among Those
Recognized
WASHINGTON, DC ? Attorney General John Ashcroft today
presented the Crime Victim Service Award, the highest federal award for victim
advocacy, to individuals from California, Mississippi and New York and an
organization from Missouri.? The
ceremony was part of the 22nd
federal observance of National Crime Victims? Rights Week (NCVRW).
?We were all horrified by the terrorist attacks of
September 11th and deeply moved by the efforts of those who reached out to the
victims,? said Attorney General Ashcroft.
?Today we pay tribute to those heroic men and women and to the thousands
of advocates who labor on behalf of crime victims every day.?
Among the awardees was Chaplain Mindi Russell,
Executive Director and Senior Chaplain for the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy in
Sacramento, who in days following the September 11 terrorist attacks, trained
more than 500 chaplains at the World Trade Center and Pentagon sites on mass
disaster care.
The Attorney General also honored an organization in
Olympia, Washington for professional innovation and a United States Attorney
Victim Witness Coordinator in North Carolina for outstanding federal service to
crime victims.
?The men and women we honor today come
from many different walks of life ? federal government and state government,
professional victim advocates and volunteers,? added Ashcroft.? ?Together, they show that we all have a role
to play in serving victims, protecting them from further harm and ensuring that
their rights are recognized.?
Held this year from April 21st to April 27th,
NCVRW gives communities across the country an opportunity to organize and hold
observances, candlelight vigils, rallies and other events in honor and support
of crime victims and their rights.
Service Award recipients include three
parents who, after their daughters were murdered, dedicated themselves to
supporting other crime victims.? David
and Ann Scoville of New York are longtime advocates for state and national DNA
databases to improve the collection of forensic evidence.? Their efforts led to the establishment of
statewide DNA databases in Vermont and Rhode Island, and to passage of the
Federal DNA Identification Act.? Carolyn
Clayton founded Survival, Inc., which provides services such as crisis
intervention, court advocacy, in-home visits and group support to victims of
violent crime in 23 Mississippi counties.
Also receiving a Crime Victim Service
Award was Aid for Victims of Crime, Inc. of St. Louis, Missouri, the first
full-scale victim assistance program in the United States, which celebrates its
30th anniversary this year.
The second Susan Laurence Memorial Award
for Professional Innovation in Victim Services was presented to Washington
State?s Address Confidentiality Program, which ensures that victims of domestic
violence, sexual assault, and stalking cannot be tracked through the state?s
public records.? Lynne Ward Crout,
Victim Witness Coordinator for the Western District of North Carolina received
the inaugural Federal Service Award for her efforts to help the victims?
families in three difficult, emotionally wrenching murder cases.
The Attorney General also recognized federal employees
whose extraordinary efforts improved restitution to federal crime victims and
deposits into the Crime Victims Fund, which
supports
millions of crime victims across the nation.
The Financial Litigation Unit for the District of Puerto Rico helped
streamline restitution procedures, making it easier to collect from offenders
on supervised release.? The U.S.
Attorney?s Office in the Northern District of Iowa helped institute a new
policy that allows victim restitution to be paid directly into the Crime
Victims Fund.
The Justice Department?s Office of Justice Programs? (OJP)
Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) administers the Crime Victims Fund.? U.S. Attorneys, the U.S. Courts, the U.S.
Military and the Bureau of Prisons collect the criminal fines which are
deposited into the fund.? The fund is
supported solely by these fines, which are paid by federal criminal offenders.????????
OVC is the federal government?s chief advocate for
crime victims and their families.? In
addition to funding state victim compensation and victim assistance programs,
OVC
trains
those who work with victims and develops projects to enhance victims? rights
and services.? ??????????? Further information about the Crime Victim Service
Awardees and additional information about OVC, its programs and resources are
available at through the OJP
Website at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc and from the OVC Resource Center at
1-800/627-6872.
Media should contact OJP?s Office of Congressional and Public Affairs
at 202/307-0703.?
????????????? # # #
OVC 02096
After hours contact: Adam
Spector, 202/307-3912???