The National Center for Victims of Crime (NCFVOC) is a nonprofit organization that advocates for victims' rights, trains professionals who work with victims, and serves as a trusted source of information on victims' issues. After more than 25 years, NCFVOC remains the most comprehensive national resource committed to advancing victims' rights and helping victims of crime rebuild their lives.
In criminal justice, a “sentinel event” is a bad outcome that might include a death in custody, routine police encounter that escalates to violence, mishandling of evidence, wrongful conviction, or “near miss,” in which a negative event is narrowly avoided. Too often, the criminal justice system fails to learn from these bad outcomes. Drawing inspiration from aviation, medicine, and other high-risk fields, the Sentinel Events Initiative (SEI) takes an alternative approach.
Trafficking in persons is a multifaceted global epidemic, which has seen a significant increase in public awareness. However, there is a substantial need to expand capacities and technologies involving representatives from all stakeholders.
Substance use is a challenging issue facing domestic violence survivors and the programs that serve them. The national opioid epidemic has intensified the problem. But progress is being made. We are identifying promising approaches and building community capacity to address the complex needs of survivors. Recognition of the impact of trauma on survivors’ use of substances as well as the role of substance use-related coercion by perpetrators has led to more integrated approaches.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2016 report, people with disabilities were more than three times more likely to experience violent crime than people without disabilities from 2010 to 2014. At the same time, only 13 percent of violent crime victims with disabilities received assistance from non-police victim services agencies. The recent increases in state Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) victim assistance grants create a unique opportunity to increase the number of crime victims with disabilities who access victim services.