What is the role of a local Victim Services Policy Board?
Since the beginning of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s victims services efforts under the state Victims Rights Program, the Victims of Juvenile Offenders Program and the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Program in 1984, the Commission has required the establishment of local victim assistance policy boards as a prerequisite for participation in those programs. The policy boards were created to encourage collective decision-making on the improvement of local services for victims of crime. The boards provide an opportunity for individuals in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and victim services to collaborate on meeting the needs of victims at the local level and an opportunity to recommend the distribution of state and federal dollars to address those needs.
