A Career As A Victim Advocate

Victim Advocacy Victim advocates are trained professionals and volunteers who support victims of crime. Advocates can offer many services to victims such as providing information, giving emotional support, help finding resources available to a victim, and help victims fill out paperwork. Advocates often attend court hearing with or for victims. Advocates often work with law enforcement agencies, courts, and social services to provide help and information to victims. Advocates staff crisis hotlines, run support groups, or provide in-person counseling. The use and need for victim advocates has grown over the past several decades and so has the programs offered. Advocacy Groups Ohio offers many different types of victim advocacy programs. …show more content…
Some of those included the following: Children’s Justice Act, which is provides programs and services to improve and assist in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse or neglect cases in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Victim-witness, assists victims of federal crimes cases. FBI victim specialists, work hand-in-hand with victims of federal crimes and keep victims informed of the status of the case they are involved in and provide appropriate resources to victims. The Federal Victim Notification System allows for notification to be made to victims of federal crimes regarding the offenders status of release or detention, charges filed, court proceedings, and restitution. Faith-based Initiative/Compassion Capital Funds helps provide social services that serve the needy. The Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program helps provide emergency expenses and services for victims of terrorism or mass violence within the United States and …show more content…
Domestic violence victims make up the largest percentage of people who receive assistance. In 2013 and 2014, there was 3,254,926 domestic violence victims who received assistance from an advocacy group, making up 46%. In that same time period, children who received assistance for being a victim of physical or sexual abuse reached 1,153,176 or 16%. Other victims who received assistance included assault (8%), adult sexual assault (6%), and robbery (5%). 4,567,622 victims received telephone information and referrals from advocacy groups. The criminal justice system also assisted 3,988,352 victims in the years 2013 and 2014. Nearly 7 million victims received assistance such as crisis counseling, advocacy, and filing claims (VOC,