The Initiative

The goal of the Vision 21 initiative is to expand the vision and impact of the crime victim services field.

To that end, five organizations are collectively examining the current framework of the crime victims’ field in the United States. Four of the organizations conducted thorough literature reviews and convened 2-day forums of 30–40 stakeholders including crime victims and representatives from federal, national, state, local, and tribal organizations and agencies that interact with, serve, or have an impact on victims of crime. Each literature review and forum focused on one of these four topic areas:

1. The role of the crime victims field
2. Building capacity
3. Enduring challenges
4. Emerging challenges

Each of the four organizations is incorporating the data collected from the literature reviews, forums, and through other means (e.g., interviews, surveys, online feedback) into individual reports. The information in these reports will be synthesized into a final report developed by a fifth contributing project. That draft final report then will be reviewed and discussed at a fifth stakeholder forum, to be held in September 2011 in Charleston, South Carolina.

Issue Areas for thematic reports
1.	The role of the crime victims field in the overall response to crime and delinquency in the United States. These recommendations will focus on current crime victimization, underserved and unserved communities, enhancing partnerships, and improving integration of crime victims’ rights.	Project Organization:  National Crime Victim Law Institute Project Director:  Julie Landrum, 503–768–6835, julielandrum@lclark.edu Stakeholder Forum:  January 19–20, 2011, Portland, Oregon.
2.	Building capacity in the crime victims field to better serve victims of crime. These recommendations will focus on the ability of networks to meet current and future crime victim needs, availability of funding, organizational flexibility, diversity in staffing and leadership, and stronger collaborations to further crime victims’ rights and services.	Project Organization: National Center for Victims of Crime Project Director: Susan Howley, 202–467–8700, showley@ncvc.org. Stakeholder Forum: March 8–9, 2011, Washington, D.C.
3.	Enduring challenges in the crime victims field that still are being addressed. These recommendations will focus on barriers and issues that continue to challenge the victim services field, including: Domestic violence Child abuse Sexual assault Elder abuse Victimization in Indian Country Victimization of young African American males Victimization of individuals with disabilities By identifying the challenges of serving diverse victims and finding the commonalities that exist to support a strategy to better serve all victims, these recommendations will contribute to the design of a strategy that will better serve all victims.	Project Organization: VERA Institute of Justice, Center on Victimization and Safety Project Director: Charity Hope, 646–457–8067, chope@Vera.org Stakeholder Forum: February 23–24, 2011, Nashville, Tennessee.
4.	Emerging challenges the crime victims field has yet to address. These recommendations will focus on innovative responses to new issues and challenges, including: The changing demographics in the United States. Advances in technology that have led to an increase in cybercrime. A rise in environmental crimes. Direct services for human trafficking victims. The growing impact of social media. Fully serving youth victims of commercial sexual exploitation.	Project Organization: Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center Project Director: Jennifer Shewmake, 904–206–9586, jshewmake@icfi.com Stakeholder Forum: February 8–9 2011, Jacksonville, Florida.
The Final Report
5.	A final synthesis report will analyze the information from the four issue-specific reports and will include a cohesive and comprehensive assessment of the current state of the victim services field in the United States. Additionally, the document will showcase a set of solutions and a blueprint for a national demonstration project (or multiple demonstration projects) to implement the recommendations in the report. This final report will also address ways to overcome the political, policy, and philosophical perspectives and challenges in the field; what actions federal, national, state, local, and tribal entities will need to take to address the recommendations; and what role OVC has in fostering the implementation of the recommendations.	Project Organization: National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina Project Director: Angela Moreland Begle, Ph.D., 843–792–8209, begle@musc.edu Stakeholder Forum: September 2011.

The organizations contributing to the Vision 21 initiative were awarded funding from the OVC HOPE III Solicitation (PDF 180 kb), which remains available online for viewing or download.

Office for Victims of Crime
810 Seventh Street NW., Eighth Floor, Washington, DC 20531
The Office for Victims of Crime is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.