Service Providers' Knowledge and Perceptions of the Legal Service Needs of Crime Victims

• NCJ Number: 251682
• Journal: American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 42 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2017 Pages: 589-609
• Author(s): L. A. Bouffard
• Date Published: September 2017
• Length: 21 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2012-VF-GX-K019
• Sponsoring Agency: Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)
• Publication Format: Article; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study is among the first to take a close look at civil legal services for crime victims by exploring three uncharted areas: (1) service providers' knowledge of civil legal services; (2) the legal needs of crime victims and available services; and (3) barriers between victims and accessing civil legal services.

Abstract

Currently, there is an expansive body of victimization literature within the criminal justice field, which covers a number of essential topics such as victimization trends and patterns, short-and long-term effects of victimization, as well as specific effects of intimate partner violence and sexual assault victimization. Despite the variety of topics examined by empirical research, there is a noticeable lack of discourse pertaining to civil legal services for crime victims. The study reported in this article used quantitative and qualitative data from interviews with service providers as the resource for discussing policy implications and recommending future research. 48 references (Publisher abstract modified)