Concepts and Forms of Victim Services

1. Concepts and Forms of Victim Services John P. J. Dussich “First keep peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.” Thomas Kempis 1380-1471 The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

2. Definition of Victim Services • Victim services are those activities which are applied in response to victimizations with the intention of relieving suffering and facilitating recovery. This includes providing information, making assessments, conducting individual interventions, engaging in social advocacy, proposing public policy and working in program development. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

3. Providing information • The vast number of victims have one major common need often overlooked: obtaining simple information about what happened to them, what is likely to happen and what their role will likely be in this process. This includes very basic information about where to get services, what the telephone numbers are, the hours of operation for the various community agencies, where to get shelter, food, clothing, and advice. This is not an intervention and does not require face to face contact. It can be provided in many forms, e.g.: flyers, brochures, internet, radio & TV, announcements, newspapers • articles, and hotlines. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

4. Making assessments • All interventions, be they simple counselings or complex psychotherapies, require a complete assessmentprior to providing services. This should be a comprehensive psycho-social evaluation of the victim as soon after the victimization as possible. The main objective of an assessment is to determine the extent of injury and to propose a treatment plan so as to relieve the existing suffering and facilitate recovery as soon as possible. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

5. Conduct individual interventions • The objective of an intervention is to usea clinical method of interacting with a victim that has the potential to relieve as much suffering as possible and to hasten a return to normal functioning without significant symptoms – recovery. • Recovery should be the end product of all interventions. Recovery must be defined and the criteria recognized and agreed upon by the service delivery community so as to be able to gauge when it is appropriate to cease the interventions. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

6. Engage in social advocacy • Social advocacy has two forms: 1. standing in place of the victims to assert the delivery of needed services (often referred to as “case advocacy”); and, • 2. representing victims generally as a class, so as to promote the awareness of the victim’s plight, to insure that appropriate changes are made in the manner in which necessary services are available and delivered; and, to promote new laws on behalf of all victims (often referred to as “systems’ advocacy”). The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

7. Propose public policy • The area of public policy addresses attending to all forms of victim rights. At all levels of governance it is critical to have written policy and laws that articulate how victims should be treated. This touches upon criminal, civil and administrative law as well as regulations used to operate public agencies. Since victim rights is a relatively new concern, many existing laws in many jurisdictions are in need of revision. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

8. Working in program development • Perhaps one of the most rewarding areas of victim services is in program development. This is the work of managing victims directly and responding to Their immediate, intermediated and long range needs within the context of accommodating the victim, the criminal justice system, the offender and the community. • The ultimate objective is to create a Program that reduces suffering, facilitates victim recovery, provides justice, renders the offender rehabilitated and heals the community at large. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

9. Victim Service Models • As the field of victim services evolved the type and number of programs became more varied and larger in number. Today there are service programs all over the world that have different hosts, are different sizes and serve different types of victims at different stages in the criminal justice system as well as those outside the CJS. Basically there are four types: victim advocacy programs, victim/witness programs, special interest advocacy programs and victim ombudsman programs (Dussich, 1977). The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

10. Victim Advocacy Programs These programs evolved from the original victim ombudsman concept and has developed into a variety of forms serving different needs and perspectives of communities around the globe. The original form is housed within a law enforcement agency. It usually is able to respond most expeditiously to victims (compared to other models) because of its proximity to police operations. Victims who are contacted immediately after a crime, express greater satisfaction than those who are contacted later. Other possible advocate program locations are: county manager’s offices; county attorney’s offices; religious missions; probation departments; volunteer organization; state attorney’s offices; and, special interest non-governmental organizations. The typical persons who deliver victim services are: police; victim-survivors; social workers; probation officers; psychologists; volunteers; lawyers; nurses; and psychiatrists. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

11. Victim Witness Programs • These type programs evolved from a general concern by prosecutors who were aware of the importance of the victim’s testimony to obtain a successful prosecution. Thus, the primary purpose of a victim/witness program is to insure the cooperation of victims and witnesses in the offender’s prosecution. The secondary purpose is to help ease victim suffering and to protect both the victim and witness from offender intimidation. A major drawback of this type model is if the offenders are not apprehended, victims are usually not an official client of this model. Also, there is a significant delay before these victims receive services since the prosecution occurs much later than the services provided in police based programs. Because of the clout of prosecutors in the criminal justice systems (especially in the four dominant systems: Roman-Germanic law, Common law, Socialist law, and Islamic law) where the priority is for punishing the offender, this type program is the most prevalent in most of these systems. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

12. Special Interest Advocacy Programs • These types of programs involve services for specific types of victims. Thus, under this category one mostly finds: sexual assault centers; services for elder victims; services for children; and, services for spouse abuse victims. Outside the CJS are such programs for war victims, disaster victims, abuse of power victims, accident victims, torture victims and others. These program are highly specialized and offer services that require extensive training for their personnel. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

13. The Victim Ombudsman • Although the original concept of the ombudsman was focused on the delivery of services to crime victims and evolved into victim advocacy, the term victim ombudsman has taken on a more classic meaning related to the original purpose of an ombudsman. As a class, victims (of all types) merit official representation within the executive branch of government such that their needs and interests are represented in the spirit of social advocacy from the top levels of government. The Victim Ombudsman gives victims access to decision-making and ultimately allow them to participate in shaping public policy. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

14. Victim Service Protocols • One of the great challenges of providing victim services is to deliver exactly what the victim needs! A method that can insure an effective protocol is an eight-step process which responds not just to victim needs but also to the community’s needs. These steps are: inventory of existing services; victim experience survey; community needs assessment; writing the protocol; renew interagency agreements; training; monitoring; and, evaluation (Boles and Patterson, 1997). The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

15. Step 1. Inventory Existing Services Feedback Step 8. Complete a Program Evaluation Step 2. Do a Victim Experiences Survey Step 7. Establish a Monitoring Process Step 3. Conduct Community Needs Assessment Step 6. Create a Training Process Step 4. Write & Establish a Protocol Step 5. Renew Interagency Agreements The Protocol Development Cycle The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

16. 1. Inventory of Existing Services • This step requires each agency to develop a comprehensive listing of services available in their the community. Ultimately this listing becomes a directory of services to be used by all members of the agency as a handy referral reference tool. It is imperative that each services be evaluated and notations made in the listing so that informed referrals are made. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

17. 2. Victim Experience Survey • The victim services agency should conduct a Victim Experience Survey to assess victims’ experiences from the victimization, through the aftermath and treatment to recovery. Ideally, the survey must be done prior to the implementation of any protocols, so as to cleanly measure the baseline data for evaluating the impact of the victim service agency and the CJS on victims. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

18. 3. Community Needs Assessment • The Inventory of Existing Services and Victim Experiences should be incorporated into the Community Needs Assessment by gathering information from the core agencies - law enforcement, prosecutor, medical, and victim services - regarding the incidence of violent crime in the community, crime victim profiles, areas most affected by crime, current responses to victims and resources used. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

19. 4. Writing and Establishing the Protocol • After having developed the previous 3 activities of the cycle, the protocol should be written so as to define the relationships between local service organizations and address their needs. Also, the protocol must then be reviewed by all effected agencies and staff; finally it must be implemented. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

20. 5. Renew Interagency Agreements • Once the agencies agree on the protocol, each agency should review their existing agreements (often called “ MOU or Memorandum Of Understanding”) to insure they fit their own agencies policies and will facilitate the new protocol. This is critical to a conflict-free relationship with all related agencies. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

21. 6. Create a Training Process • The best way to implement the protocol is to develop a training program for all personnel who have responsibilities covered by the protocols. To accomplish this, a training committee needs to conduct a Training Needs Assessment, a training curriculum, a training schedule and ultimately conduct the training. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

22. 7. Establish a Monitoring Process • To insure that all parts of the protocol are being used, a monitoring process should be established. This should be done with guidelines and formal reports so that all key parts of the program are accurately observed and recorded for future evaluations. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

23. 8. Complete a Program Evaluation • Although monitoring is a form of data collection, a more rigorous evaluation of the total effects of the protocol on the system’s performance as well as on the victim’s response is needed. This final program evaluation ideally considers the efficiency and the efficacy of the program’s protocol based on its outcome. This is the end of the year information which should be used to determine whether changes are needed in the existing protocol to improve the program so as to better achieve its objectives. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

24. Summary • For a victim service program to be “victim centered,” all related agencies need to have explicit victim focused goals. Also, the protocol cycle must be a continuous process of monitoring, evaluating and making improvements. • Victim Services should be the culmination of all the research, all the laws, all the efforts that victimologists can exert so that at the end of the day, fewer persons are victimized, victim suffering is reduced and recovery is realized for all victims. The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia

25. Thank you for your attention. “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invisible summer.” Albert Camus The 11th APGC on Victimology and Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia