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Glossary of Terms

Annual Victim 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 each year.

Child: A child is a person under the age of 18.

Continuance Notification: Any system 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).

Crime: An act committed in violation of a law.

Crisis: Crisis is defined as a state of emotional distress (often characterized by crying or being irate).

Direct Services: Direct services are program services provided to victims which go beyond the provision of generic services. 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 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”.

Direct Service Victim: A direct service victim receives the services described in the “Direct Services” category.

Direct Service Witness: A direct service witness receives any or all of the required and optional services listed in section XII.

Directory of Services: A compilation of social services and community resources available to crime victims.

Elder: An elder is a person aged 60 and over.

Elder Abuse: The abuse of vulnerable adults the age of 60 and over. “Vulnerable adults” are those individuals who do not have the mental and/or physical capacity to manage their daily needs, and who are subjected to abuse by a guardian or caretaker.

Family or Household Member: Family or household member means the persons: spouse, former spouse, parents, stepparents, children, stepchildren, siblings (includes half-siblings), grandparents and grandchildren, regardless of whether such persons reside in the same home with the person. Family or household member also means the persons: In-laws who reside in the same home with the person, any individual who has a child in common with the person, whether or not the person and that individual have been married or have resided together at any time, or any individual who cohabits or who, within the previous 12 months, cohabited with the person, and any children of either of them then residing in the same home with the person.

“Cohabit” in this section means a couple who resides together in an intimate relationship (includes same-sex couples).

Generic Services: Generic services include, and are limited to, the provision of pre-printed information, routine contact related to the advanced notice of judicial proceedings, restitution, and case dispositions. 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”.

Generic Service Victim: A generic service victim receives only the services described in the “Generic Services” category.

Generic Service Witness: A generic service witness receives only pre-printed information or routine contact related to case dispositions.

Separate Waiting Areas: Designated places for victims to wait during court proceedings to afford them privacy and protection from intimidation (this could include a jury room, the victim/witness program office, etc.)

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. This is at the discretion of the staff, and largely depends on the available resources of the locality. Any victim served by the program should be counted in the Quarterly Progress Report.