The Victims of Crime Act is a social policy that is unique in that it has garnered mass appeal from stakeholders with very little opposition. With issues affecting crime and victimization, there are many stakeholders with the primary stakeholders being: the victims of crime, criminal justice officials and agencies (including law enforcement and on to the appellate process), and service providers. The wide range of support for the Victims of Crime Act and the Victims of Crime Compensation Fund has made possible the formation of new partnerships between victims, their supporters and disciplines whose primary focus includes issues pertinent to crime and victimization. Advocates for victims …show more content…
Citizens, victims advocates, and elected officials have access to timely information about trends in crime and victimization, programs, and public policy addressing crime and victimization through the news and media. Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, M.D., an adjunct professor who helped launch and sustain the Victims and the Media Program, established in 1991, contributed in creating the terms “Act 1” and “Act 2,” to differentiate the two kinds of stories that comprise most victim coverage. An “Act 1” story is where reporters cover immediate, unfolding events. The principal operation here is to inform the community, openly and accurately, of any ongoing danger or threat, and to ask their help, whether it be as witnesses or searchers. “Act 2” stories typically develop later, describing the victim's progress toward healing and recovery. (Ochberg, 1999). Programs such as this produce cooperative efforts to increase conscientious news and media coverage and generate paths through which the media have access to timely, accurate information for their reporting’s, while still maintaining a sensitive position to the effect on …show more content…
Since the enactment of the Victims of Crime Act in 1984, state legislators, state executive branch officials, and local officials have worked closely with victims of crime and advocated to forge public policy agendas dedicated to victims’ rights and public protection. In October of 2016, President Obama signed into law the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act. This measure focuses on collecting and preserving rape kits in a medical examination after a suspected sexual assault. As of 2014, “more than 100,000 rape kits have often languished for years in police warehouses and crime labs, untested due to lack of funding and, some argue contempt for victims” (Pauly,