Victims of Crime Act of 1984

Victim Assistance and Compensation

Through a federal Crime Victims Fund, established by VOCA, crime victims can now receive restitution in the form of monetary compensation. This fund is a nontaxpayer source of monies that are drawn to finance various programs for adult and child crime victims. (The fund is supported through fines and penalties that convicted federal felons may be required to pay, special assessments collected for certain federal crimes, federal bonds such as bail bonds, any collateral collected, or private donations or gifts made to the fund.) These funds provide compensation to victims of crimes resulting in serious injury and are distributed to victims' compensation programs, which exist in all 50 states. Victim assistance also includes social services for crime victims that include psychological counseling, crisis intervention, mediation and emergency services (such as medical care and shelter), and sometimes legal or paralegal counsel.

Victim Notification

VOCA also has a direct impact on the judicial system. Its mandate of a victim notification system greatly expands the role of crime victims in all stages of the criminal adjudication process. Crime victims now receive notification of a defendant's arrest and initial court appearance, and almost all states require advance notification of all court appearances and notification of proceedings in the prosecution of the accused. Most states also require that a victim be notified if the defendant is released on bail or granted probation or parole. Crime victims are also given a consulting role in plea bargaining and are notified when a plea bargain is struck. Moreover, VOCA grants crime victims the right to testify at sentencing hearings and sometimes allows them to make statements in court. Prior to sentencing, the federal and many state systems now require that the trial judge read a “victim impact statement,” included in the court's pre-sentence report, in which the victim describes how the crime affected his or her physical, mental, and financial health and that of his or her family.

Political Context of VOCA

The granting of special rights to crime victims (which extend beyond the protection the state provides by criminal prosecuting offenders) is a new concept. Calls for victims' rights began in the 1980s with the rise of a national victims' rights movement. The social and political context of the victims' rights movement was the conservative backlash in the late 1970s and 1980s and the government's “war on crime.” The backlash included a directed effort to undo the liberal Warren Court's procedural law revolution, which had expanded the due process rights of defendants.

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