In 2017, the National Institute of Corrections issued a Post-Conviction Victim Service Legal Issues RFP to delve into the current post-conviction landscape and identify the gaps and opportunities related to interagency collaboration in order to improve victims’ rights compliance and enforcement post-conviction. The National Crime Victim Law Institute applied for and was awarded the Project. The Project design brought together a multi-disciplinary group of experts to analyze existing rights and services, identify gaps and opportunities for interagency collaboration, and draft a set of recommendations to assist jurisdictions in the development of systems to improve rights compliance and implementation of integrated trauma-informed services post-conviction.
Stakeholders collaboratively envisioned a model of trauma-informed post-conviction systems, processes, laws and policies responsive to the rights, needs and recovery of victims while holding offenders accountable and promoting safe communities. Stakeholders identified obstacles to achieving this vision and recommendations were developed to address these findings and aim to move post-conviction services and systems toward consistently affording victims their rights, including the rights to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect, and recognizing victims as integral actors in, and consumers of, meaningful and effective post-conviction systems.
This interactive workshop will introduce the participants to the identified obstacles and will detail the recommendations provided in the finished report while offering a potential roadmap to better collaboration within and among jurisdictions in providing integrated victim services.
Training/Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Recognize three to five obstacles to providing basic victim services across the continuum.
- Recognize possible remedies to obstacles providing victim services.
- Identify at least one collaborative relationship/connection that could support a more proactive and integrated approach in their jurisdiction.
- Identify at least one action step that can be taken to improve victim services in their jurisdiction.