Crime victim compensation programs share a common goal of assisting as many eligible victims as possible through fair, consistent, and timely application processing and decision making. While the programs exhibit a wide diversity of size and structure, and command greatly varying amounts of resources, the basic work of the programs and their general operational characteristics are quite similar.
It should be possible, then, to set forth common goals and objectives that all programs would seek to achieve. It also should be possible to describe various strategies that programs could find useful in achieving those goals and objectives, and to establish some measurements that could allow programs to evaluate their progress.
While the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards has always worked to help states improve the administration of their programs, setting program standards is a new effort. We believe that this initiative to provide states with goals to strive toward, and with strategies to reach their goals, is a continuation and refinement of what we do continuously through our conferences, our publications, and our information and resource network. We hope that the standards provide program leaders and staff with a clear picture of what many programs are already doing to fulfill their missions. The standards should show what is possible, and serve as benchmarks for programs that want to gauge their efforts and chart their progress.
These program standards have been developed with grant support from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, and through the work of an Advisory Committee consisting of representatives of compensation programs, victim service programs, and OVC. These individuals have combined their expertise and experience to think creatively about what every program could be doing to improve performance, productivity, and service. We particularly want to thank the more than 40 allied professionals in victim services who have provided valuable input to this process. These standards also are evidence of OVC's continuing commitment to enhancing services for crime victims by promoting progressive practices of compensation and assistance programs.
We have pursued this project by dividing the work of compensation programs into these four general categories:
o Outreach, training, and communication;
o Claims processing;
o Decision making; and
o Financial planning.
Within each of these categories, we articulate a broad general goal that serves to provide an overall direction. Then, several more specific objectives are defined, achievement of which is essential in reaching the overall goal. Finally, we describe a number of strategies that states can pursue to achieve their specific objectives.
The strategies are divided into two categories, basic and advanced. The basic strategies are those that every compensation program should make every effort to implement. Given enough staff and resources, each program should be able to use each of the basic strategies to achieve the designated objectives and goals. If a program doesn't have means to implement these basic strategies, obtaining those resources should be a high priority. The advanced strategies are strongly recommended for consideration by all programs, though their full implementation may require that programs obtain additional resources and establish new priorities.
These standards are intended as a guide to compensation programs striving to provide better service to victims. We hope that they are useful as working tools for all compensation programs, and that they will be adaptable to the unique circumstances in each state. We also hope that others who may read this document will gain a better understanding of the range and complexity of the work compensation programs perform, as well as a heightened sense of their need for sufficient resources to accomplish their important and difficult mission.
The nation's compensation programs, over the years, have taken action in many positive ways to advance the recovery of victims. These Program Standards will aid in this continuing effort to provide better financial assistance to crime victims. The Association stands ready to assist programs in implementing the standards, drawing on the vast experience of its members and their common desire to help each other progress.
We are grateful to the Office for Victims of Crime for making this project possible, and for its ongoing support.