As mandated under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is required to establish strategic planning, performance planning, and reporting as a framework to communicate progress in achieving its mission. The Performance Measurement Tool (PMT) collects information to determine whether a program achieved its goals and objectives. Information from PMT is used to improve the operation of the program. This data is not used to “evaluate” programs but to understand the progress that programs achieve on the state and national level toward meeting program objectives and the mission of the agency.
OVC’s intent is to use performance measurement data to understand the trends and changes grantees experience over time. With this practical understanding, OVC is better able to meet the requests of Congress, the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Department of Justice, the Office of Management and Budget, and other stakeholders and to offer insight into programmatic and policy considerations.
Virginia has developed the Victims Services Data Collection System (VSDCS) to comply with federal and state reporting guidelines. The VSDCS is inclusive of services outlined by the OVC Performance Management Tool. The performance measures indicate to what extent grant activities meet the following goals and objectives:
The Victim Assistance program performance measures are reported in two formats: quantitative (numeric responses) and qualitative (narrative responses).
Enter the count of individuals who received services based on each presenting victimization type during the reporting period. An individual MAY be counted in more than one victimization type. An individual MAY NOT be counted more than once within the same victimization. See the Office for Victims of Crime Performance Measure Dictionary and Terminology Resource for service category definitions. Because some individuals may receive muliple services, the total number of times that services were provided within a service category (Information & Referral, Personal Advocacy/Accompaniment, Emotional Support or Safety Services, Shelter/Housing Services, and Criminal/Civil Justice System Assistance) may be greater than the number of clients who received those services.
Enter individuals and services provided by VWGP-funded staff and or volunteers in the VSDCS only. The selection of charged offenses in VSDCS are mapped to Victimization Types defined by OVC performance measures. Please classify victimization using the charged offenses as often as possible. Subgrantees should apply a broad definition to charged offenses not listed in VSDCS and report to VictimsServiceTA@dcjs.virginia.gov for mapping updates.
VICTIM
According to Virginia’s Crime Victim and Witness Rights Act, “Victim” means a person who suffered physical, psychological or economic harm as a direct result of: the commission of any felony, or certain misdemeanors (Assault and battery; assault and battery against a family or household member; stalking; sexual battery; attempted sexual battery; or driving while intoxicated).
The definition of “victim” includes: spouses and children of all victims, and parents and guardians of minor victims, and parents, siblings or guardians of mentally or physically incapacitated victims and/or victims of homicide, and foster parents or other caregivers, under certain circumstances.
Note: The actual deceased victim of a homicide is never counted as a direct service victim.
Programs may continue to offer services to crime victims not included in the Act’s definition. For example, extended family and close friends of a victim can be counted as victims in CIMS if they receive the program’s services. Providing services to victims not specifically outlined in the Act is at the discretion of the staff, and largely depends on the available resources of the locality. VSDCS is only used to document individuals and services provided to those individuals with the use of VWGP funding.
Count all individuals served by your organization with the use of VOCA plus match state general or special funds during the reporting period.
Some organizations may be unable to track clients over time due to organizational capacity issues, legal restrictions (e.g., confidentiality laws that limit record-keeping), or the nature of the services they provide (e.g., an anonymous hotline). If you know that your agency is NOT able to provide a unique count of individuals served within the reporting period, report the number of individuals served to the best of your knowledge.
DIRECT SERVICES
Direct services are program services provided to victims which go beyond the provision of routine, or generic services (see definition of generic services below). Such services seek to alleviate problems or inconveniences arising from the commission of a particular crime. Examples of direct services include: crisis intervention, assistance with crime victims’ compensation claims, court accompaniment, etc. For example, with restitution, if a staff person helps a victim to determine the amount of restitution and then monitors payments, count that victim under “Direct Service”.
This includes Individuals, other than the person directly victimized, who also experience harm as the result of a crime. For example, a family member or close friend of a victim.
(B) GENERIC SERVICE VICTIM
A generic service victim receives only the services listed under the “Generic Services” category.
Routine contacts are brief, limited encounters with a victim. For example, with restitution, if a staff person mails a restitution check to a victim, and that is the only contact with that victim, count that victim under “Generic Service”.
This section provides the characteristics of new direct service victims served, by the categories identified.
Individuals who self-report in more than one race and/or ethnicity category should be counted in the "Multiple Races" category. Demographics include self-reported Race/Ethnicity, Gender Identity, Age, Type of Victimization, and Special Classification. The total number of individuals in each demographic category should equal the number of new individuals. This data is used for statistical purposes to comply with Federal regulations.
If no data is collected for a category, select the appropriate field in VSDCS to mark it as Not Tracked. In the “Not Tracked” category provided, report the number of individuals who did not have demographic data tracked. If no data is collected for an individual, count that individual in the Not Reported category.
Note: When working with an adult who was molested as a child, the age recorded should be the age at which (s)he was molested, not his or her current age.
*Special classifications of individuals effective April 2016:
*Special classifications demographic totals will not match the total number of individuals served each reporting period.
Count all individuals served by your organization with the use of VOCA plus match funds during the reporting period in the VSDCS. This number should be an unduplicated count of people served during a single reporting period, regardless of the number of services they received or victimization types with which they presented.
In this section, new direct service victims are counted only once each fiscal year. The tracking of individuals served each fiscal year and each reporting period is automated by the VSDCS. VSDCS counts the number of individuals who received services based on each presenting victimization type during the reporting period. An individual MAY be counted in more than one victimization type.
Crime categories are based on federal program requirements.
The OVC (Office of Victims of Crime) lists victimization experiences in the Office for Victims of Crime Performance Measure Dictionary and Terminology Resource. See Page 7 of Section IV. Victimization Experienced.
This section notes the source from which program staff first found out about the new direct service victim and is indicated in the VSDCS.
When entering the Program Source of Knowledge for a victim, please be sure to designate whether a victim’s information was obtained from the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Commonwealth’s Attorney report or case file, court docket, court services unit, magistrate, medical/hospital, mental health, police, police report, sheriff, sheriff’s report, social services or other (specify).
“Victim-Initiated” contact occurs when the victim, without any outreach efforts by the staff (e.g., contact letters), calls or visits the program. If a victim calls or visits the program after receiving a contact letter, do not count this as “victim-initiated”. The origin of the program’s information (i.e., how the program learned of the victim and the victim’s address) is marked as the program source of knowledge. If a criminal justice agency refers the victim to the program, and the victim contacts the program, it is still a victim-initiated contact because the victim chose to make contact. However, if that same agency refers the victim to the program, but also contacts the program to alert staff and to give them information about the victim, then mark the referring agency as the program source of knowledge.
As stated in the Victim Witness Grant Program Guidelines, Eligible Applicants for VWGP funding must assist victims of crime in seeking crime victim compensation benefits. This includes maintaining a supply of victim compensation brochures and applications, establishing procedures to identify clients who may be eligible for victim compensation, ensuring that all grant-funded staff are familiar with the compensation program, assisting clients with the application process, and checking on claim status. Grant recipients must provide services to victims beyond compensation referral.
The following are service/expense types identified in the OVC Victim Compensation performance measures.
Crime Scene Clean-Up: Expenses related to cleaning a crime scene.
Dependent Care: In-home or at-agency care, that is not medical, provided to any individual (of any age) including children and older people.
Economic Support: Payments made to cover lost wages, loss of support, education benefits, annuities, and other related subsistence payments.
Funeral/Burial: Payments for funeral, burial, and all other related expenses.
Medical/Dental (except mental health): Expenses including doctors, dentists, hospitals, physical therapy, ambulance, and other medically related expenses such as transportation costs, prosthetic devices, and pharmaceuticals.
Mental Health: Mental health treatment, both in-patient and out-patient, including psychiatric care, counseling, therapy, and medication management.
Relocation: Victims who need immediate assistance to move may receive financial assistance to relocate that is consistent with state law.
Replacement Services: Costs for clothing, bedding, or property seized as evidence or rendered unusable as a result of the investigation.
Sexual Assault Forensic Exams: Costs for sexual assault forensic exams. These include all amounts paid regardless of whether each payment is part of a compensation claim or paid through a separate process.
Travel: Travel-related costs to seek medical treatment or other services consistent with state law.
Pre-printed information is any type of pre-printed material designed to provide general information to victims and witnesses of crime. Record the date the brochures, pamphlets, or other materials were distributed to victims and witnesses in the quarter being reported.
If the program does not use the brochure designed by DCJS entitled “A Summary of Virginia’s Crime Victim and Witness Rights Act,” a local brochure may be substituted, if that brochure reflects all the information contained in the Act.
“Local Brochures” are defined as any materials from local victim services agencies, including victim/witness programs, domestic violence programs, and sexual assault crisis centers. “Other” brochures may include initial contact letters, informational packets, Channing-Bete pamphlets, etc.
Example: A victim is sent a contact letter, a local domestic violence program brochure, and a brochure outlining the rights of crime victims. Select Summary of Virginia's Crime Victim and Witness Rights Act: Pre-printed Materials in the VSDCS.
Separate Waiting Areas Available: indicate if there are designated places for victims to wait during court proceedings to afford them privacy and protection from intimidation (this includes a witness room, the victim/witness program office, etc.). This is a requirement for all grant-funded victim/witness programs.
Directory of Services Developed: indicate whether the victim/witness program has a compilation of social services and community resources available to crime victims. The directory must be current (updated within the last two years). This is a requirement for all grant-funded victim/witness programs.
Continuance Notification Process Established: indicate whether the program maintains a system that is used to assist victims in minimizing unnecessary trips to court (e.g., a 24-hour docket line, procedures that encourage victims to call the day before trial, or criminal justice professionals who notify victims personally). This is a requirement of all grant-funded victim/witness programs.
Percentage of Grant-Funded Staff Hours Devoted to the Provision of Services to Witnesses: state the percentage. Grant-funded programs must keep this figure under five percent.
Campus Sexual Assault Services: provide the service provision number of hours to primary, secondary, college or university students, faculty, and or staff.
Client Feedback Surveys: provide the number of formal client surveys distributed and completed.
Note: If “No” is marked for any of the first three categories, describe in the narrative, under “Plans For Next
Quarter,” the steps the program will take to meet the requirement.
Record the number of hours contributed by volunteers during the quarter to the provision of services to victims. Volunteers include students and unpaid interns.
All grant-funded victim/witness programs are required to have volunteer hours during the fiscal year.
This section records the number of victims (new and carry-over) that received each of the listed services in the current quarter. Services will be provided at the request of a victim, or when a staff person makes a determination that services would be beneficial to the victim.
(In this section, count the number of victims who received a specific service; therefore, count the victim the first time a particular service is provided. A service may be provided more than once to the victim, but once the victim is counted, do not count the victim for that particular service again.)
An ® before or after the service objective indicates that the service is required by Virginia’s Crime Victim and Witness Rights’ Act.
For a description of victim service objectives, please refer to page 14 (OVC Required Service Objectives- Victims).
Annual Victim Target: every quarterly report should indicate the number of victims receiving services for that particular quarter, for the year to date, as well as the annual target.
The annual target refers to the number of direct service victims the program anticipates serving during the current grant year by each service objective. These targets are submitted with the grant application. Transfer these numbers from the program’s approved grant application. They should be entered into CIMS during the first quarter and should not be changed throughout the fiscal year.
The goal of all training is to enhance services to crime victims.
Training Received: this section records the number of hours of skills training received by paid staff and volunteers. Compute the number of training hours by each staff person (i.e., if two staff persons attended an eight-hour workshop, the total number of training hours is 16).
Training Provided: this section also records training provided to others by victim/witness staff. Community education activities that are designed to identify crime victims, or to inform the public about available program services and how to obtain this assistance, are allowable. General public awareness efforts designed to raise the public’s consciousness of victims’ issues do not qualify as direct services to crime victims and are not to be included as training activities.
This section states the number of new direct and generic witnesses with whom initial contact was made during the quarter being reported.
(A) DIRECT SERVICE WITNESS: a direct service witness receives any or all of the required and optional services listed in section XII, or a service that goes beyond the provision of routine, or generic services (see definition of generic services below).
(B) GENERIC SERVICE WITNESS: a generic service witness receives only pre-printed information or routine contact related to case dispositions.
This section records the number of witnesses (new and carry-over) who received each of the listed services in the current quarter. Grant funded staff hours devoted to the provision of services to witnesses must be limited to 5% or fewer.
(In this section, count the number of witnesses who received a specific service; therefore, count the witness the first time a particular service is provided. A service may be provided more than once to the witness, but once the witness is counted, do not count the witness for that particular service again.)
For a description of witness service objective, please refer to page 22 (Required Service Objective-Witness).
Complete narrative questions for the reporting period based on activities and services provided to enhance services to crime victims. Note: If there has been no activity in the narrative section, respond accordingly. The N/A designation should not be used as a narrative category description.
Assistance to Campus Sexual Assault Victims
Report how the provision of the Act (§23-9.2:15. Reporting of acts of sexual violence) impacted the overall workload of your program. (Please describe the types of services provided, the amount of time spent providing services, the impact of the services provided, and the response of the institution and collaboration efforts).
Case Studies
Describe two noteworthy cases, or cases requiring a large amount of staff time; letters from crime victims may be included. Case studies should focus on the services provided to victim(s). Discuss services provided in cases (i.e., child abuse, domestic assault, sexual assault, and underserved) in which VOCA funds were used to assist crime victims during the reporting period. Additional materials may be submitted as an upload to OGMS (Online Grants Management System).
Note: Victims' real names should not be used.
Coordinated Efforts
Describe any coordinated responses/services for assisting crime victims during the reporting period. Discuss any attempts to promote coordinated public and private activities within the community to aid victims: for example, task forces, SART teams, and multidisciplinary teams. Please describe ways that your agency promoted the coordination of public and private efforts within the community to help crime victims during the reporting period.
DCJS Assistance Needs
Request training, consultations, technical assistance, or other resources needed; if there is an immediate need, please contact your Grant Monitor.
Organizational Capacity Issues
Please list the number of requests for services that were unmet because of organizational capacity issues. Explain how the program staff addressed the requests.
Plans for Next Quarter
Describe anything the program hopes to accomplish in the next reporting period: e.g., first meeting of a multi-disciplinary team, Victims’ Rights week activities, etc.
Program Accomplishments & Changes
Report any projects, tasks, or initiatives which show the program’s success: e.g., new court procedures enacted, the adoption of new policies, increased media attention (attach copies of newspaper articles), etc. Describe any materials that were created for the program: e.g., brochures, forms, cooperative agreements, etc.
Please discuss some of the challenges your victim assistance program faced during the reporting period.
Please briefly outline any staffing retention issues that your victim assistance program has and why these issues may occur during the reporting period (e.g., high turnover due to insufficient salary, insufficient benefits, and heavy workload).
Explain anything that may benefit or impede service delivery to victims in your locality: for example, new resources, personnel, procedures, or equipment.
Training Received
Report the training staff has received, including content and evaluative remarks. Describe any changes that may have been implemented as a result of the training during the reporting period.
Trends
Identify any emerging issues or trends affecting crime victims' services in your locality: for example, new protective order laws increase the number of victims the program must serve.
Victim Compensation
Relate any successes or problems encountered in assisting clients in obtaining awards from the Virginia Victims Fund (formerly Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund).
Attachments to the narrative should be e-mailed to your Grant Monitor, or uploaded as an attachment (i.e., pdf) to OGMS. (e.g., a new brochure, or a newspaper article). All attachments should be standard size—8 ½" X 11"), except brochures. Please include your program name in all attachments.