[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 165 (Thursday, December 20, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8303-S8305]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. KYL (for himself and Mrs. Feinstein):
S. 3704. A bill to clarify the authorized uses of funds in the Crime
Victims Fund; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I rise to introduce a bill to clarify the use
of funds in the Crime Victims Fund. I am pleased to be joined by
Senator Feinstein.
Federal law makes money from the Crime Victims Fund available to the
Department of Justice ``for the United States Attorneys Offices and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation to improve services for the benefit of
crime victims in the Federal criminal justice system, and for a Victim
Notification System.'' 42 U.S.C. 10601(d)(3).
This money is used, among other purposes, to fund positions for
Victim Advocates in the United States Attorneys' Offices throughout the
Federal jurisdiction. These Advocates are crucial to the system.
We must make sure that DOJ uses Victim Advocates for services ``for
the benefit of crime victims.''
Advocates should not be providing travel services. Advocates should
not be forced to wear two hats: fact witness management and victim
services. Often these hats conflict with one another at the expense of
victims.
According to a letter from John W. Gillis, the former Director of the
Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice, ``Travel
services required of Advocates have included approving fact witness
travel, making or authorizing travel arrangements or cancellations,
changes to travel and lodging arrangements for witnesses, reconciling
errors, handling with hotels, and seeking approval for government
employee witnesses. This runs counter to the law and is a matter of
serious concern.''
Here is a sample of U.S. Attorney websites, which shows that
Advocates make witness travel arrangements.
FLORIDA
Services provided to crime victims and witnesses by the
U.S. Attorney's Office include: notice of case events;
information concerning their rights; information about case
proceedings and the criminal justice system in general;
referrals to medical and/or social service providers;
assistance with travel arrangements; and logistical
information concerning transportation, parking, child care,
etc.
http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/programs/VW/vwa.html
VERMONT
The The U.S. Attorney's Office Victim and Witness
Assistance Program can assist eligible Federal crime victims
and witnesses with the following:
Provide logistical information and assistance to witnesses
with respect to directions, transportation, parking, witness
fees and travel reimbursement; assistance with airline and
lodging arrangements is provided for out-of-state witnesses;
http://www.justice.gov/usao/vt/victim_witness/
vw_uaservices.html
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
If you have been subpoenaed to testify on behalf of the
federal government and you are not a federal government
employee, you are entitled to certain fees for coming to
court. These are the types of fees that federal fact
witnesses are entitled to:
$40.00 for each day that you have to be available to
testify, plus travel days.
Reimbursement for round-trip mileage to and from the
courthouse at the current government mileage reimbursement
rate if you drove your privately-owned vehicle.
Reimbursement for parking, taxis, and excess baggage fees.
All of these claims must be supported by receipts. If you
choose to mail your receipts to the USAO at a later time,
please advise the USAO staff member assisting you that you
will do so in order for us to include these amounts in your
reimbursement.
A daily meal allowance based on the current government meal
allowance rate if you are away from home overnight. You are
not required to provide receipts for your meals.
To receive these entitlements, you are required to complete
a form referred to as an OBD-3, Fact Witness Voucher. Our
Victim-Witness staff will assist you in completing the form.
If you have not completed your form prior to being dismissed
from court, please contact them at the numbers set out
earlier.
If you are away from home overnight, we will make travel,
air, train, or bus fare, and lodging arrangements for you. If
you need to make changes in these arrangements, we must make
the changes for you.
http://www.justice.gov/usao/aln/federalwitness.html
WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
As a victim or witness, you may have questions about
transportation, the location of the courthouse, food service,
or where to go and what time to appear. You should feel free
to ask either the case agent, the Assistant United States
Attorney, or the Victim-Witness Coordinator about them. If
you are an out-of-town witness, you must contact the Victim-
Witness Coordinator to make all your travel arrangements, the
federal government is very specific on when it can and cannot
reimburse witnesses.
http://www.justice.gov/usao/tnw/brochures/vwhandbook.html
[[Page S8304]]
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Fact Witness: ``a person whose testimony consists of the
recitation of facts or events.'' The Victim Witness
Specialist provides information and education about the
judicial process and assists witnesses who are subpoenaed to
testify in a federal court proceeding with travel
arrangements and other needs and may come up relating to
their appearance in court. The Victim Witness Specialist
often accompanies the witness to the courtroom to ensure the
witness's safety and to address any concerns the witness may
have while waiting to testify.
http://www.justice.gov/usao/nh/aboutus/divisions/
vicwitdiv.html
The interests of victims of serious federal crimes, including crimes
of violence, such as rape, child molestation, and horrific homicides,
whose needs are immediate and complex, should not be subordinated to
the demands of administrative duties unrelated to Congress' purposes
for the Crime Victims Fund.
Fact Witness travel responsibilities directly hinder victim services
by prolonging crisis response or intervention techniques to help
traumatized and grieving victims, delaying coordination with other
social service agencies to help victims of violence, decreasing time
for Advocates to meet with victims to assess their immediate safety
needs and address them, and delaying or denying time to develop rapport
and help victims understand their rights and the criminal justice
process.
Victims often find the system overwhelming and it is critical for the
Advocates to be able to meet with them to explain their rights and
speak personally to them to develop trust. Advocates must have time to
address specific victim centered issues.
Many problems arise if Advocates do not have such time: delaying or
denying time to implement effective strategies for reducing on-going
trauma and stress; delaying or denying time to improve support systems
and help victims overcome the community pressures they may experience
due to aiding the prosecution; delaying or denying time to seek
resources to meet the needs of victims; delaying or denying time to
assist victims with impact statements; delaying or denying time to help
victims collect restitution information and associated receipts;
delaying or denying time to effect safety assessment and planning which
can change with time; interrupting court accompaniment, leaving victims
to deal with a process that is intimidating and confusing, often
forcing victims, including child victims, to face the defendant alone
without the emotional support, guidance, and advocacy to which they are
entitled; preventing the Advocate's ability to assess the victim's on-
going safety needs, which can change with time; preventing timely
follow up and forcing delay finding additional resources or referrals
to meet the needs of the victims; and preventing proper trial
preparation and court room orientation. Trial preparation is a
vulnerable time for victims who often feel exposed, scared, and
vulnerable. It can trigger a variety of emotions and reactions as they
prepare to testify about the specific events related to the crime.
There are other harmful effects of the travel work. Advocates are
unable to regularly participate in victim-centered meetings with state,
local, and federal agencies. This limits the Advocates' ability to
learn about new resources, work together in adapting new strategies to
help victims, share in information that is necessary to assist victims
in the process, develop best practices, planning to reduce stress and
trauma, learning about specific victim issues and current research to
address some of the issues, provide community outreach, and develop
training tools to educate the community to increase awareness on victim
rights issues.
It is the intent of Congress by this amendment to make it clear that
the funds authorized for victims services under section 42 U.S.C.
10601(d)(3) be clearly limited to those purposes including the work of
victim advocates, victim advocate supervisors, and their direct support
staff so that none of the money available is used for purposes that do
not benefit crime victims.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a letter of support and
the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
December 14, 2012.
Senator Dianne Feinstein,
Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
Senator Jon Kyl,
Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Senators Feinstein and Kyl, I served as the Director,
Office for Victims of Crime, U. S. Department of Justice from
September, 2001 to January, 2009. During that period it was
our ongoing struggle with EOUSA to restrict spending VOCA
funds to victims of crime and not to use funds for witnesses
who were not victims of crime.
Travel services required of Advocates have included
approving fact witness travel, making or authorizing travel
arrangements or cancellations, making changes to travel and
lodging arrangements for witnesses, reconciling errors,
handling issues with hotels, and seeking approval for
government employee witnesses. This runs counter to the law
and is a matter of serious concern.
Respectfully,
John W. Gillis,
Former Director, Office for
Victims of Crime,
U.S. Department of Justice.
____
S. 3704
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. CRIME VICTIMS FUND.
Section 1402(d)(3) of the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (42
U.S.C.10601(d)(3)) is amended by--
(1) inserting ``(A)'' before ``Of the sums''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(B) Amounts made available under subparagraph (A) may not
be used for any purpose that is not specified in subparagraph
(A).''.
____
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to join my friend and
colleague, Senator Kyl, in introducing legislation that will ensure
that monies in the Crime Victims Fund are used for their intended
purpose, to help victims of crime.
Senator Kyl and I have long worked together to improve the treatment
of victims in our criminal justice system. In 2004, we passed the Crime
Victims' Rights Act. Because of that legislation, for the first time,
victims were given the right to be heard in what is really their own
case, and to participate in the proceedings against the accused.
The legislation we are introducing today will strengthen another area
of federal law that has a profound impact on the ability of victims to
navigate the criminal justice system. In 1984, Congress established the
Crime Victims Fund to provide support for victim compensation and
assistance programs. This past year, $37 million from the Crime Victims
Fund was used to support over 300 victim-witness coordinators and
specialists within the Department of Justice's 93 U.S. Attorney's
Offices and the FBI's 56 field offices. These personnel advise victims
of their rights, update victims on the status of criminal proceedings
against the accused, and otherwise assist victims with understanding
the operation of the judicial system.
However, it was recently brought to the attention of Senator Kyl and
myself that these victim-witness coordinators and specialists are being
asked to perform duties unrelated to the provision of services for
victims. The diversion of funds from victim services prompted the
National Organization for Victim Assistance to send a letter this past
June, which I am submitting for the record, calling on Congress to
clarify the purposes for which monies in the Crime Victims Fund may be
used. Senator Kyl's and my legislation would do just that. It will make
clear that resources available under the Crime Victims Fund may be used
only to support services for victims.
A person who is a victim of a crime may have never stepped foot
inside a courtroom or had any other interaction with our legal system
prior to the commission of the crime. Yet, so much is at stake for that
victim when the accused is prosecuted. Congress established the Crime
Victims Fund to ensure that victims are able to fully participate in
their case. We must make certain that 100 percent of these funds are
used to support victims during their time of great need.
The legislation Senator Kyl and I are introducing today has already
passed out of the Judiciary Committee as part of the Justice For All
Reauthorization Act of 2011. While that broader legislation has
unfortunately stalled, it is my hope that the Senate and House can
quickly pass this one specific, uncontroversial piece, to ensure that
victims of crime have all the support that they need and deserve.
[[Page S8305]]
____________________