News Releases
AMERICA CELEBRATES NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMS’ RIGHTS WEEK’S SILVER ANNIVERSARY
April 06, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, announces that this coming week is the 25th anniversary of the National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, first proclaimed by President Reagan in 1981. During the week of April 10 to 16, this silver anniversary will be celebrated across the United States by crime victims and survivors, the thousands of professionals and volunteers who serve them, and supporters from the general public. In this district one important event commemorating the anniversary will be the fifteenth annual Crime Victims’ Memorial Service to be held at Northside United Methodist Church, 2799 Northside Drive, on Sunday, April 10 at 3:00 p.m.
U. S. Attorney Nahmias said: “Much has been accomplished during the last twenty-five years to aid the victims of crime and to help repair the harm done by criminal offenders, but more remains to be done. The theme of this National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is Justice Isn’t Served Until Crime Victims Are. National Crime Victims’ Rights Week presents an opportunity for us to pay tribute to victims and survivors of crime and to those who selflessly serve them. Please join us in demonstrating your support for crime victims and survivors by attending the fifteenth annual Crime Victims’ Memorial Service at Northside United Methodist Church.”
Over the last twenty-five years local, state, and federal agencies have become more and more responsive to the rights and needs of victims, and victims have been increasingly included as part of the judicial process. Whether one victim or hundreds, as in the 1996 Olympic Park bombing, federal agencies are obliged to notify the victims of important court events. Just this year the Northern District of Georgia’s Victim Witness Program has notified victims of the scheduling or outcome of more than 7060 court events. Georgia’s Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights, enacted in 1995, requires local agencies to notify victims of an accused individual's arrest, of his or her release from custody, and of any judicial proceeding at which the release of the accused individual will be considered.
Services intended to help repair the harm done by criminal offenders have also greatly increased. The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) provides annual grant and victims compensation funding to Georgia to support state and local efforts to provide services to victims. Grant funding provided to Georgia in fiscal year 2004 under the Victims of Crime Act totaled $10,122,000 and grant funding under the Violence Against Women Act totaled $3,039,000. Fiscal year 2005 crime victims compensation funding totals $4,575,000. In addition to these funds sources, Georgia recently received $134,814 in discretionary funding from the OJP Office for Victims of Crime to develop a Victims Assistance Academy in Georgia. The Academy’s purpose will be to train the state’s victim service providers to achieve core competencies that will help them provide effective services and keep abreast of developments in the field. The Academy will target relatively new victim service providers, as well as service providers who serve multiple crime types.
Notwithstanding the progress made on increasing victims’ rights and services, more can be done. United States Attorney’s Offices throughout the country are implementing changes required by the recently enacted Justice for All Act, not the least of which expands a victim’s right to be heard at any federal public proceeding involving offender release, plea, or sentencing.
According to U. S. Attorney Nahmias: “In making changes required by this Act and in dealing with victims in specific investigations and cases, members of my office, and, indeed, those who work for prosecutors throughout this state, are ever mindful of this National Crime Victims’ Rights Week theme that Justice Isn’t Served Until Crime Victims Are. All victims must be treated with dignity, must be informed of their rights, must have their most basic needs met, and, perhaps most importantly, must know justice has been done because their offenders have been made accountable for their crimes.”
For further information and details, please contact David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.