A broad, brief history of victim services

A Crime Victims Reparations Program was established in Louisiana in 1982 to assist victims of violent crimes with unrecovered costs associated with personal injury, death, or catastrophic property loss. The geographically diverse Crime Victims Reparations Board, supported by staff of the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice (LCLE), receives applications and makes awards.  Every sheriff's office has a Crime Victim Reparations investigator, who works with victims locally to help them file claims. 

For many years, law and policy have required the Parole Board and the Pardon Board to notify victims/survivors before holding a hearing. 

The Division of Probation and Parole boasts the Department’s longest history of direct service to crime victims. A basic duty of probation and parole officers has always been to interview victims in order to make their experiences and losses part of the pre-sentence, pre-parole, and other reports prepared for decision makers. Officers help the courts and the Parole Board set restitution and manage its payment by offenders, notify victims when offenders are being scheduled for parole hearings, and inform victims about the possibility of registering for notification.

In the early 1990s, based on stringent new sex offender reporting requirements, the Office of Adult Services put in place mechanisms to identify and notify victims regarding the release of sex offenders whose victims were under age 18 at the time of the crime. This capability provided a base for the current, much broader program of automated victim notification letters.

In November 1993, the Crime Victims Services Bureau (CVSB) was established at Headquarters to offer crime victims easy access to information and registration.  In 1995 basic bureau functions (registration, notification, and information) were added to law, witnesses were granted some of the same rights as victims, and the Children’s Code was amended to include rights for victims of certain felony-grade delinquent acts.  In 1997 the CVSB established a toll-free telephone number (888-342-6110).

In the mid 1990s the legislature funded positions for victim assistance coordinators in the state’s District Attorneys’ offices.  In 1997 the legislature proposed a victims rights amendment to the state’s constitution. In 1998 voters approved the amendment, which became Article I, Section 25.  In 1999 legislators enacted laws to implement the constitutional provisions (Act 783 of 1999, effective January 1, 2000).  Most of those provisions appear in La. R.S. 46:1841-1844 .  Victim access to information about their rights received a significant boost from procedures implemented at this point, especially the requirement that crime scene officers direct victims to a local contact person or agency for additional information and registration.

Other helpful resources:

Crime Victims Reparations/Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcment