Concepts and Forms of
Victim Services
John P. J. Dussich
“First keep peace within yourself, then you can also bring
peace to others.” Thomas Kempis 1380-1471
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Definition of Victim Services

Victim services are those activities which are
applied in response to victimizations with the
intention of relieving suffering and facilitating
recovery. This includes providing information,
making assessments, conducting individual
interventions, engaging in social advocacy,
proposing public policy and working in
program development.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Providing information


The vast number of victims have one major common need
often overlooked: obtaining simple information about what
happened to them, what is likely to happen and what their role
will likely be in this process. This includes very basic
information about where to get services, what the telephone
numbers are, the hours of operation for the various community
agencies, where to get shelter, food, clothing, and advice. This
is not an intervention and does not require face to face contact.
It can be provided in many forms, e.g.: flyers, brochures,
internet, radio & TV, announcements, newspapers
articles, and hotlines.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Making assessments

All interventions, be they simple counselings
or complex psychotherapies, require a
complete assessment prior to providing
services. This should be a comprehensive
psycho-social evaluation of the victim as soon
after the victimization as possible. The main
objective of an assessment is to determine the
extent of injury and to propose a treatment
plan so as to relieve the existing suffering and
facilitate recovery as soon as possible.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Conduct individual interventions


The objective of an intervention is to use a clinical
method of interacting with a victim that has the
potential to relieve as much suffering as possible and
to hasten a return to normal functioning without
significant symptoms – recovery.
Recovery should be the end product of all
interventions. Recovery must be defined
and the criteria recognized and agreed upon
by the service delivery community so as to
be able to gauge when it is appropriate to
cease the interventions.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Engage in social advocacy
Social advocacy has two forms: 1. standing in
place of the victims to assert the delivery of needed
services (often referred to as “case advocacy”); and,

2. representing victims generally as a class, so as
to promote the awareness of the victim’s plight, to
insure that appropriate changes are made in the
manner in which necessary services are available and
delivered; and, to promote new laws on behalf of all

victims (often referred to as “systems’ advocacy”).
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Propose public policy

The area of public policy addresses attending
to all forms of victim rights. At all levels of
governance it is critical to have written policy
and laws that articulate how victims should be
treated. This touches upon criminal, civil and
administrative law as well as regulations used
to operate public agencies. Since victim rights
is a relatively new concern, many existing laws
in many jurisdictions are in need of revision.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Working in program development
Perhaps one of the most rewarding areas of victim services is in program
development. This is the work of managing victims directly and responding to
Their immediate, intermediated and long range needs within the context of
accommodating the victim, the criminal justice
system, the offender and the community.

The ultimate objective is to create a
Program that reduces suffering, facilitates
victim recovery, provides justice, renders the
offender rehabilitated and heals the
community at large.

The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Victim Service Models

As the field of victim services evolved the type and
number of programs became more varied and larger
in number. Today there are service programs all over
the world that have different hosts, are different sizes
and serve different types of victims at different stages
in the criminal justice system as well as those outside
the CJS. Basically there are four types: victim
advocacy programs, victim/witness programs, special
interest advocacy programs and victim ombudsman
programs (Dussich, 1977).
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Victim Advocacy Programs
These programs evolved from the original victim ombudsman concept and has
developed into a variety of forms serving different needs and perspectives of
communities around the globe. The original form is housed within a law
enforcement agency. It usually is able to respond most expeditiously to victims
(compared to other models) because of its proximity to police operations. Victims
who are contacted immediately after a crime, express greater satisfaction than those
who are contacted later. Other possible advocate program locations are: county
manager’s offices; county attorney’s offices; religious missions; probation
departments; volunteer organization; state attorney’s offices; and, special interest
non-governmental organizations.
The typical persons who deliver victim services are: police; victim-survivors; social
workers; probation officers; psychologists; volunteers; lawyers; nurses; and
psychiatrists.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Victim Witness Programs

These type programs evolved from a general concern by prosecutors who were
aware of the importance of the victim’s testimony to obtain a successful
prosecution. Thus, the primary purpose of a victim/witness program is to insure the
cooperation of victims and witnesses in the offender’s prosecution. The secondary
purpose is to help ease victim suffering and to protect both the victim and witness
from offender intimidation.
A major drawback of this type model is if the offenders are not apprehended,
victims are usually not an official client of this model. Also, there is a significant
delay before these victims receive services since the prosecution occurs much later
than the services provided in police based programs. Because of the clout of
prosecutors in the criminal justice systems (especially in the four dominant systems:
Roman-Germanic law, Common law, Socialist law, and Islamic law) where the
priority is for punishing the offender, this type program is the most prevalent in
most of these systems.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Special Interest Advocacy Programs

These types of programs involve services for specific
types of victims. Thus, under this category one
mostly finds: sexual assault centers; services for elder
victims; services for children; and, services for
spouse abuse victims. Outside the CJS are such
programs for war victims, disaster victims, abuse of
power victims, accident victims, torture victims and
others. These program are highly specialized and
offer services that require extensive training for their
personnel.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
The Victim Ombudsman

Although the original concept of the ombudsman was
focused on the delivery of services to crime victims
and evolved into victim advocacy, the term victim
ombudsman has taken on a more classic meaning
related to the original purpose of an ombudsman. As
a class, victims (of all types) merit official
representation within the executive branch of
government such that their needs and interests are
represented in the spirit of social advocacy from the
top levels of government. The Victim Ombudsman
gives victims access to decision-making and
ultimately allow them to participate in shaping public
policy.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Victim Service Protocols

One of the great challenges of providing victim
services is to deliver exactly what the victim needs! A
method that can insure an effective protocol is an
eight-step process which responds not just to victim
needs but also to the community’s needs. These steps
are: inventory of existing services; victim experience
survey; community needs assessment; writing the
protocol; renew interagency agreements; training;
monitoring; and, evaluation (Boles and Patterson,
1997).
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
The Protocol Development Cycle
Step 2. Do a
Victim
Experiences
Survey
Step 1.
Inventory
Existing
Services
Feedback
Step 8.
Complete a
Program
Evaluation
Step 7.
Establish a
Monitoring
Process
Step 3. Conduct
Community
Needs
Assessment
Step 4. Write
& Establish a
Protocol
Step 6. Create
a Training
Process
Step 5. Renew
Interagency
Agreements
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
1. Inventory of Existing Services

This step requires each agency to develop a
comprehensive listing of services available in their
the community. Ultimately this listing becomes a
directory of services to be used by all members of the
agency as a handy referral reference tool. It is
imperative that each services be evaluated and
notations made in the listing so that informed
referrals are made.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
2. Victim Experience Survey

The victim services agency should conduct a Victim
Experience Survey to assess victims’ experiences
from the victimization, through the aftermath and
treatment to recovery. Ideally, the survey must be
done prior to the implementation of any protocols, so
as to cleanly measure the baseline data for evaluating
the impact of the victim service agency and the CJS
on victims.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
3. Community Needs Assessment

The Inventory of Existing Services and Victim
Experiences should be incorporated into the
Community Needs Assessment by gathering
information from the core agencies - law
enforcement, prosecutor, medical, and victim services
- regarding the incidence of violent crime in the
community, crime victim profiles, areas most affected
by crime, current responses to victims and resources
used.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
4. Writing and Establishing the
Protocol

After having developed the previous 3 activities of
the cycle, the protocol should be written so as to
define the relationships between local service
organizations and address their needs. Also, the
protocol must then be reviewed by all effected
agencies and staff; finally it must be implemented.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
5. Renew Interagency Agreements

Once the agencies agree on the protocol, each agency
should review their existing agreements (often called
“ MOU or Memorandum Of Understanding”) to
insure they fit their own agencies policies and will
facilitate the new protocol. This is critical to a
conflict-free relationship with all related agencies.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
6. Create a Training Process

The best way to implement the protocol is to develop
a training program for all personnel who have
responsibilities covered by the protocols. To
accomplish this, a training committee needs to
conduct a Training Needs Assessment, a training
curriculum, a training schedule and ultimately
conduct the training.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
7. Establish a Monitoring Process

To insure that all parts of the protocol are being used,
a monitoring process should be established. This
should be done with guidelines and formal reports so
that all key parts of the program are accurately
observed and recorded for future evaluations.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
8. Complete a Program Evaluation

Although monitoring is a form of data collection, a more
rigorous evaluation of the total effects of the protocol on the
system’s performance as well as on the victim’s response is
needed. This final program evaluation ideally considers the
efficiency and the efficacy of the program’s protocol based on
its outcome. This is the end of the year information which
should be used to determine whether changes are needed in the
existing protocol to improve the program so as to better
achieve its objectives.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Summary


For a victim service program to be “victim centered,”
all related agencies need to have explicit victim
focused goals. Also, the protocol cycle must be a
continuous process of monitoring, evaluating and
making improvements.
Victim Services should be the culmination of all the
research, all the laws, all the efforts that
victimologists can exert so that at the end of the day,
fewer persons are victimized, victim suffering is
reduced and recovery is realized for all victims.
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia
Thank you for your attention.
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that
within me there lay an invisible summer.”
Albert Camus
The 11th APGC on Victimology and
Victim Assistance, Jakarta, Indonesia