NCJ Number
121876
Date Published
1987
Length
274 pages
Annotation
The National Sheriffs' Association Victim Assistance Program (NSAVAP) conducts statewide conferences for criminal justice officials to encourage them to clarify and enhance victims' rights through legislation and State policies, to change the manner in which their agencies respond to the needs and rights of victims, and to promote countywide coordinating mechanisms to address the needs and rights of crime victims.
Abstract
The conference's 13 sessions begin with an introduction to the NSAVAP. The second session describes the problem and defines a victim as an individual who suffers physical, emotional, or financial harm as a result of a crime. The crime-as-a-crisis model is described in the third session and applied in terms of different types of crimes and stages of crisis reaction. The next session covers the legal response to victimization, involving victim rights legislation and court decisions. New Jersey's response to victims rights is treated by a panel discussion in the fifth session. The sixth session explores the activities that a sheriff or law enforcement agency can perform to foster beneficial State policies and provide organized assistance to victims. This task was conducted in small groups each of which reported on its conclusions during the seventh session. In the eighth session, the Okanogan County, Washington, Davis County, Utah, City of Bristol, Virginia, Pinellas County, Florida, and Arapahoe County, Colorado, sheriff's offices are described as examples of a victim response unit. A panel discussed establishing a coordinated approach to victims' needs and rights in the ninth session. The tenth session outlined a planning process for creating a victim assistance program. Session 11 provided excerpts from regional workshops in order to illustrate a model organization plan for a victim response unit. Group reports were presented in the twelfth session and the conclusion in the thirteenth. 1 appendix.