[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]]



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