Office for Victims of Crime Grant Programs: Sexual Assault Victim Services FY 2019 Topical Snapshot

• NCJ Number: 300007
• Date Published: 2021
• Agencies: OVC

Annotation

This “FY 2019 Topical Snapshot” summarizes the services provided in FY 2019 by 6,837 U.S. organizations and 53 agencies to adult and child victims of sexual assault with funding authorized under the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA).

Abstract

These organizations received VOCA funding through victim assistance and victim compensation grant programs, as well as discretionary grant programs administered to states and victim service organizations by the U.S. Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Several types of organizations support victims of sexual assault, who may need both immediate/crisis and long-term counseling to address the trauma of their victimization. Victim service providers provide these services through VOCA victim assistance funding. In recent years, victims have increasingly used VOCA victim compensation, distinct from assistance funding, to pay for the cost of sexual assault forensic examinations. In FY 2019, nearly all OVC-funded victim service providers served a victim of sexual assault, with an average of 401,093 sexual assault victims served each quarter. The types of organizations and agencies using VOCA funding for sexual assault victims were domestic and family violence and sexual assault services organizations (n – 1,136), prosecutor’s offices or courts (n – 677), multiservice agencies (n – 448), law enforcement agencies (n – 383), and organizations with other designations (n – 772). Data are reported on the frequency with which emotional support and safety services were provided for sexual assault victims. Data are also reported for the payment of victim compensation claims related to sexual assault. Increases in compensation claims related to sexual assault forensic exams are reported for the period FY 2016 through FY 2019. Forensic exam compensation claims increased from $42,867,156 in FY 2016 to $57,626,008 in FY 2019.