Common sense tells us that it should not be difficult to determine whether a person is a crime victim. It should be obvious, for example, that the person who had her laptop stolen is a victim of a theft. But whether that person is a “victim” who is entitled to assert crime victims’ rights in any given case can be a challenging question to answer. The answer depends largely on the legal definition of “victim” that is set forth in applicable constitutional amendments, statutes, and rules, and this definition varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

This report addresses: (1) To what extent has the SMART Office determined that jurisdictions have substantially implemented SORNA, and what challenges, if any, have jurisdictions faced? (2) For jurisdictions that have substantially implemented SORNA, what are the reported effects that the act has had on public safety, criminal justice stakeholders, and registered sex offenders?

The effectiveness of a global positioning system (GPS) to monitor high-risk sex offenders (HRSOs) released under parole is examined. This document provides other agencies with information that may lead to a similar strategy for monitoring HRSOs. Sections of this report include: background; methodology; results for baseline characteristics, supervision, outcome analysis, and cost analysis; process evaluation'overview, data sources, program fidelity, GPS monitoring, and summary; and discussion'summary, policy implications, limitations, and next steps.

This article from the Office for Victims of Crime: Training and Technical Assistance Center summaries the surveys and studies conducted on victim impact programs.

This brochure outlines the rights of victims concerning victim impact statements and restitution. United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of Iowa

This document contains three redacted sample victim impact statements that were given by victims in connection with actual criminal proceedings. National Crime Victim Law Institute, 2014.

This review examined the recent evidence on the effectiveness of treatment for juveniles who commit sexual offenses.

This article from the Urban Institute (Feb. 2016) provides a brief summary of findings from their nationwide survey about how crime victim service providers use technology.

This publication is divided into seven parts: introduction; the Adam Walsh Act'Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA); individual state registration and notification requirements applied to children; comprehensive chart of SORNA applied to children in the states; individual fact sheets on SORNA applied to children; and Directory of State Sex Offender Registration Administrators.

National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators.

Under a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, NAVAA conducted the "NAVAA Training for Strategic Planning" project. This project provided training and technical assistance to six states/territories pursuing victim services' strategic planning. The materials utilized in the project and have been supplemented with additional information and materials to assist all states in their strategic planning efforts.