APPA Commemorates and Supports the 20th Anniversary of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
For Immediate Release: 04/10/2000

Christy was shaking as she described the nightmare that will haunt her the rest of her life. One day in March 1998, her husband, a man with a history of domestic violence, shot her with a .22-caliber pistol, shattering her jaw. He also used the gun to kill Christy's 13-year-old daughter, as she lay in bed. "I’m not afraid of dying. It's the living that scares me…"

National Crime Victims' Rights Week is April 9 - 15, 2000. This year’s theme, "Dare to Dream", reflects the hopes and aspirations that form the foundation of American’s victims’ rights discipline. In 1980, crime victims had few participatory rights. Today, there are over 10,000 organizations providing services and assistance, thirty thousand laws have been passed that articulate and protect victims’ rights, including constitutional amendments in 32 states.

The American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) takes this opportunity to show its support of crime victims rights and of enhanced services for victims of crime. APPA is strongly committed to promoting services and programs that meet the needs and interests of crime victims and supports the provision of effective community-based intervention and supervision that are critical to reduce the risk of further victimization. Our vision seeks to create a system of Community justice where a full range of sanctions and services provide public safety by insuring humane, effective, and individualized sentences for offenders, and support and protection for victims. We call upon the public and our members to support this vision and encourage their show of support during 2000 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

APPA has developed a variety of resources that probation and parole agencies can use to assist them in enhancing services to crime victims. Promising Victim-Related Practices in Probation and Parole, provides an overview of innovative policies, procedures, and programs that have been developed by individual probation and supervising parole agencies to respond to the needs of crime victims. A Crime Victims Handbook, provides probation and parole agencies a valuable guide, written in layperson’s terms, which can be distributed directly to victims of crime, and can easily be adapted by agencies to fit their jurisdictions’ specific practices.

In cooperation with the Victims Assistance Legal Organization, APPA conducted a project, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime, on Promising Practices for Restitution that studied obstacles inherent in the assessment, ordering, collection, and disbursement of restitution and identified innovative practices used throughout the justice system to implement effective restitution programs.

This material soon to be available in a compendium.