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VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT VICTIM ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM 2002 MONTANA STATE WIDE ASSISTANCE REPORT Prepared By: Montana Board of Crime Control 3075 North Montana Avenue PO Box 201408 Helena, MT 59620-1408 tel: (406)444-1995
STATE FUNDING INFORMATION
A. THE ANNUAL AMOUNT ALLOCATED TO THE VICTIM ASSISTANCE PROJECTS: 1. Appropriations $ 0 2. Criminal Fines and Penalities $ 0 3. Assessments $ 0 4. Other $ 0 TOTAL:$ 0
B. TOTAL NUMBER OF AGENCIES FUNDED FROM THE FEDERAL GRANT: 42
C. NUMBER OF SUBGRANTS FUNDED FROM THIS FEDERAL GRANT: 42
VICTIM STATISTICS
A. THE NUMBER OF VICTIMS SERVED BY TYPE OF VICTIMIZATION:
NO. OF NO. OF VICTIMS SERVED VICTIMS SERVED 625 1. Child Physical Abuse 190 7. Adults Molested as Children 964 2. Child Sexual Abuse 114 8. Survivors of Homicide Victims 70 3. DUI/DWI Crashes 137 9. Robbery 10,021 4. Domestic Violence 1,325 10. Assualt 1,131 5. Adult Sexual Assault 2,076 11. Other 85 6. Elder Abuse TOTAL: 16,738
B. THE NUMBER OF VICTIMS WHO RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING SERVICES:
NO. OF VICTIMS SERVED 10,135 1. Crisis Counseling 4,266 2. Followup 146 3. Therapy 1,192 4. Group Treatment/Support 1,738 5. Shelter/Safehouse 9,105 6. Information/Referral (in-person) 5,911 7. Criminal Justice Support/Advocacy 825 8. Emergency Financial Assistance 4,050 9. Emergency Legal Advocacy 12,634 10. Assistance in filing Compensation Claims 3,662 11. Personal Advocacy 4,540 12. Telephone contact Informational/Referral 1,078 13. Other TOTAL: 59,282
A. EFFORTS TO PROMOTE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AID TO CRIME VICTIMS: MBCC encourages victim assistance programs to develop coordinated community efforts. In their application for funding, letters of support are required to demonstrate this collaboration. Narrative information on the application and quarterly reports provide the opportunity to report how they are cooperating with law enforcement and other service programs within their community. MBCC along with the Law Enforcement Academy, local victim assistance programs, the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Corrections hosts a statewide victim services fair each year to allow programs an opportunity to network with and learn from other programs. In 2002, this fair was conducted in Helena and in 2003 it will be on the campus of Montana State University. It was decided by the training committee that because of the large geographic area of Montana, rotating the location makes it easier for more programs and agencies to attend and see how work is accomplished in other parts of the state. In 2001, MBCC granted VAWA funding to the Attorney General’s Office to form a Fatality Review Team for domestic violence deaths to be modeled after child fatality review teams. The team has been appointed, training received and enabling legislation prepared for the FY2003 session starting this month (January 2003). The team hopes that information gathered from these reviews will help all communities in the state develop effective approaches to preventing these tragic family violence deaths. Many communities have organized councils that focus on family violence and other violent crimes. These councils consist of law enforcement, prosecution, victim advocates, victim service providers, child protective service workers, public health employees and other public and private service provider’s pooling their efforts to offer the most comprehensive services to crime victims. It is the goal of the fatality review team to be able to inform the process at the local level as they complete reviews through written reports and technical assistance. The VOCA Assistance Program Specialist from MBCC is one of two State employees (the other is from the Board of Parole and Pardons) appointed to the Department of Corrections Victim Advisory Council. The remaining members are all victims of crime. This council meets quarterly to discuss a variety of victim concerns including state policy, training and legislative issues affecting victims. Most victim service providers and local law enforcement agencies utilize three-part forms or cards that officers can give to victims at the scene of a crime. This informs victims of their legal rights and provides telephone numbers for victim services. With the three-part form, a copy is given to the victim, one is stapled to the police report and the third part is routed to the victim advocate located in either the prosecutor’s office or police/sheriff department.
B. EFFORTS TAKEN TO SERVE FEDERAL CRIME VICTIMS: The U.S. Attorney from Montana is the newly appointed Chairman of MBCC. This person is also a regular member of the Board. The Board makes all funding decisions for grants including VOCA, VAWA, Edward Byrne Memorial, Juvenile Justice, Safe and Drug Free Schools Governor’s Program, RSAT and SAC. The victim advocates from the U.S. attorney’s office and MBCC exchange information routinely regarding training and victim assistance issues. All VOCA subgrantees are special conditioned to serve victims of federal crime as well as victims of state and local crimes. The Violence Against Women Committee of MBCC in its last meeting recommended that special effort be made to notify health practitioners in Indian Country about training available for sexual assault nurse examiners through a VAWA grant. In 2002, MBCC awarded VOCA training funds to the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence to bring “Healing the Broken Circle” training to advocates in Montana. This training in August 2002 was well received by advocates statewide. The goal is to improve communication, cultural awareness and ultimately services to Native American victims of crime by non-Native advocates.
C. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE DELIVERY OF VICTIM SERVICES: VOCA subgrantees have not received any increases in recent years and, therefore, have been unable to expand the services they deliver. MBCC did award two training grants out of the FY2002 funds that will help train CASA volunteers and will provide for cultural competency training for advocates. These statewide training projects are a cost effective way to address two critical training needs. Because MBCC administers so many federal block grants, we are occasionally able to find funding in another source to address critical training needs. For example, a grant was awarded out of reverted Byrne funding to provide forensic interviewing training on child sexual abuse cases to more than 200 professionals statewide. MBCC will try to provide similar opportunities in future years as funding allows. The addition of one fiscal FTE in the last legislative session has allowed us to do more joint monitoring of our subgrantees. Prior to adding this new fiscal position, MBCC was not able to do fiscal monitoring on a regular basis; periodically we would subcontract with an individual to conduct limited financial reviews on subgrantees. The use of PDQ (Providers of Data Quality) in Montana has resulted in less duplication of numbers and also provided programs with a more effective case and staff management tool. A new report module is in its final stages of development and this along with an improved version of PDQ will be mailed to all programs in early 2003.
D. WAYS VOCA FUNDS HAVE BEEN USED TO ASSIST CRIME VICTIMS: Six letters of thanks from individuals who have been assisted by subgrantees.
E. ISSUES OR TRENDS IMPACTING CRIME VICTIM SERVICES: The overall crime rate remained relatively unchanged in 2000. Montana law enforcement agencies reported 4,057 index crimes per 100,000 people in 2000, compared to a rate of 4,099 reported in 1999 or a drop of approximately 1%. Of the seven major crimes used in the calculation of the crime rate (robbery, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, homicide, rape and aggravated assault), decreases were seen in robbery, burglary, larceny and homicide. Even with this leveling of the crime rate, there is still a troubling upward trend in violent crime. Violent crime includes homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. All violent crimes involve force or threat of force. A rate of 325 per 100,000 people was reported in 2000 compared to 236.8 in 1999. This is a 37% increase in violent crime, which is the result of a 7.5% increase in rape and 51.6% increase in aggravated assault. A final trend of significant interest is that domestic abuse reports to law enforcement are up from 3,195 in 1999 to 4,141 in 2000 or an increase of 29.6%. While these reports are up, the numbers of victims seeking services through victim assistance programs for domestic abuse remains approximately the same. This may indicate that victims are feeling more confident in reporting these crimes to law enforcement. Future years’ data will help the state determine whether this will remain an upward trend.
F. USE OF VOCA ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS: VOCA administrative funds are used for a portion of the Program Specialist salary and fringe benefits, office supplies, rent and telephone. Administrative funds also cover travel for the Program Specialist and the Accountant to conduct on-site monitoring visits of subgrantees and to attend VOCA training events. Administrative funds were used in 2000/2001 to develop the PDQ program for all victim service providers throughout the State. A copy of this program and the user manual were submitted to OVC last year. So far, the use of the program has been fairly successful. There are still some programming updates in progress and some subgrantees that require continued or more intensive training. MBCC and the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence are committed to working with local programs to make this system work. Two statewide training events were held in 2002 to offer technical assistance to any VOCA subgrantee in using the PDQ program. The statistical page of this report includes data from the first full year of PDQ use. This data indicates that the total number of victims served did not change dramatically, but duplication in services has been reduced significantly. This is due to the fact that the PDQ system requires that all services be attached to an identifiable victim of crime. There is not as much room for miscalculation of numbers with the new program. MBCC continues to work toward a web based grant system. Testing has begun in 2002 on a limited basis and will probably be in full use by the end of 2003.