Introduction

This handbook results from a number of training progams, conferences and workshops that have focused on victims of crimes. One of the things that always struck us most about these activities was that the majority of the participants were white females. Yet, crime statistics show that the most typical crime victim is a young African American male.

We have worked with a number of police departments to try to assist them in improving their services to minority Victims, especially inner city victms. We have tried to encourage the law enforcement community to take a pro-active role in promoting the concerns of these victims. Our efforts have been successful in part.

After four years of developing police-based victim assistance programs, we realized that there are often few referral services accessilbe to minority community residents. We, therefore, decided to work with police departments in trying to develop more inner-city based programs and to inspire more minority persons to develop programs as well as advocate for more services from their local governments. We hope that this publication will serve as an impetus to minority community leaders, victim assistance and refferal agencies and police departments throughout the country to achieve these goals.

We have designed the handbook to give minority community residents a practical approach to assisting crime victims in their communities and neighborhoods. Law enforcement agency and police departmeent personnel will find this handbook instructive in that it introduces helpful activities that are both cost effective and feasible for community based programs.

The handbook is divided into five sections. Section I examines barriers that have traditionally restricted minority persons from becoming active in victim assistance programs. Section II provides information on becoming a victim advocate as well as demanding action from the court system. In Section III the various types of victim assistance services are discussed with suggested activities for establishing those particular services in a community. Section IV focuses on special needs of domestic violence, hate violence and elderly crime victims. Section V provides vital information for helping to maximize existing community resources.

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This document was last updated on June 26, 2008