NCJ Number
200377
Date Published
April 2003
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This report details how the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) spent $68.1 million to assist the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Abstract
The report begins by describing the mission of the OVC and its annual crime victim compensation program, which provides funds to each State, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The compensation program provides formula grants to help assist and reimburse victims for crime-related expenses such as medical costs, mental health counseling, funeral costs, and lost wages. Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, the OVC allocated funds from its Antiterrorism Emergency Reserve to assist the victims of the attacks. The funds were awarded to States in order to coordinate and provide emergency assistance to the victims in the form of crisis counseling and other direct services. Under governmental guidelines, the State recipients of the funds could spend the grant money for crisis response, consequence management, crime victim compensation, criminal justice support, crisis counseling, crisis intervention, mental health counseling and care, and peer support. Following the attacks, OVC attempted to minimize the application requirements for the funding in order to immediately assist victims. Appendices A and B provide a breakdown of States and organizations that received funding directly from OVC following the September 11th attacks. Appendix C provides preliminary data on the victims that were served and the amounts expended. The report cautions that a full accounting of the funds is difficult at this time because many of the funded agencies are using the funds to provide ongoing services and assistance.
Date Published: April 1, 2003