Incidental National Census of Victim Service Providers

National Census of Victim Service Providers
A study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics to better understand the range of
services available for and provided to different types of crime victims.

Federal agencies may not conduct or sponsor an information collection, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of
information, unless it displays a currently valid OMB Control Number. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated
to average 20 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining
the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate, or any other
aspects of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810
Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC 20531. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended (42 U.S.C. 3732),
authorizes this information collection. This request for information is in accordance with the clearance requirement of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1980, as amended (44 U.S.C. 3507). Although this survey is voluntary, we urgently need and appreciate your cooperation
to make the results comprehensive, accurate, and timely.

OMB Number: 1121-XXXX
Approval expires ______

National Census of Victim Service Providers

S1

Survey Instructions

Before you begin, please complete the following pieces of
information for your program.

SECTION A
A1

Agency Name:

The primary function of the organization is to provide
services or programming for victims of crime.
Skip to A2
Victim services or programming are one component of the
larger organization (e.g., a hospital, university, community
center, law enforcement agency or prosecutors’ office)
Proceed to A1a

Address:

Please mark your response with an “X” using blue or black ink, as in the examples below.

Address:
Example:

Example:
Right Way

City, State, ZIP:

Other, specify:

Wrong Way

Main business
phone number:
Director, Victim
Services:

 A1a. Does your organization have a specific
program(s) or staff that are dedicated to
working with crime victims?
Yes
No

Email address:


Survey Purpose and Sponsors

S2

General Instructions

The National Census of Victim Service Providers (NCVSP) is designed
to fill existing gaps in knowledge and information on the variety of
organizations that provide services to victims of crime, the types of
victims served and services provided, and staffing and resources
available for the provision of services.

Your organization is receiving this survey because it has been
identified as providing at least some services or assistance to victims
of crime. The survey should be completed by the person(s) in your
organization with knowledge of and access to information on the
provision of these services. To help you prepare to take the survey, we
will be asking for information about the number and types of services
your organization provided to victims in the past year, the types
of crimes for which victims sought your services in the past year,
the number of staff providing victim services at your organization,
and your victim services budget. The survey should take about 20
minutes to complete. Please respond to all questions.

This survey is sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S.
Department of Justice and funded by the federal Office for Victims of
Crime.

Important Definitions

Confidentiality Assurances

1) CRIME - An act which if done by a competent adult or juvenile would
be a criminal offense.

This survey does not ask you to provide information about individual
staff or victims, or any personally identifying information. This
survey will only ask you basic information about your organization,
for example where it is based (e.g., government, campus, medical
facility), types of victims served, and types of services offered.
The information you provide will be publicly available. This study is
voluntary, you may discontinue participation at any time and decline to
answer any questions.

2) ABUSE - Includes physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, or
economic actions or threats to control another.
2) VICTIM - Any person who comes to the attention of your organization
because of concerns over past, on-going, or potential future crimes
and other abuse(s). This includes victims/survivors who are directly
harmed or threated by such crimes and abuse(s), but also their…
a) Family or household members,

Burden Statement

b) Legal representatives, or
c) Surviving family members, if deceased

Federal agencies may not conduct or sponsor an information
collection, and a person is not required to respond to a collection
of information, unless it displays a currently valid OMB Control
Number. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is
estimated to average 20 minutes per response, including time for
reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering
and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing
the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden
estimate, or any other aspects of this collection of information,
including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Director,
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC
20531. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968,
as amended (42 U.S.C. 3732), authorizes this information collection.
This request for information is in accordance with the clearance
requirement of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, as amended
(44 U.S.C. 3507). Although this survey is voluntary, we urgently need
and appreciate your cooperation to make the results comprehensive,
accurate, and timely.

3) SERVICE ­- Efforts that…
a) Assist victims with their safety and security;
b) Assist victims to understand and participate in the criminal justice
or other legal process;
c) Assist victims in recovering from victimization and stabilizing
their lives; or
d) Respond to other needs of victims

2

Did you provide services to victims of crime or abuse
in the past six months? By ‘service to victims of crime or
abuse’ we mean direct assistance, including ­- but not limited
to - referrals, counseling, notices of court proceedings, legal
assistance, shelter, medical response, etc. Please remember
that if victim assistance is just one part of your agency’s
or organization’s activities, we are interested in collecting
information on those victim assistance efforts.
Yes
No

S2a

Which of the following best describes how your
organization is structured to provide services to victims
of crime or abuse?

A2

Go to A1
Proceed to S2a

Which of the following best describes your organization?
Select one response.
a. Tribal government or other tribal organization
or entity
b. Campus organization or other educational
institution (public or private)
c. Hospital, medical, or emergency facility
(public or private)
d. Government agency

Which of the following best describes your
organization? Select one response.
a. Tribal government or
other tribal organization or
entity

G
 o to Section B
[Tribal], page 4

b. Campus organization or other
educational institution (public
or private)

G
 o to Section C
[Campus], page 4

c. Hospital, medical, or
emergency facility (public or
private)

Go to Section G
[Services for
Victims],
page 5

d. Government agency

Go to Section D
[Government],
page 4

e. Nonprofit or faith-based entity
(501c3 status)

Go to Section E
[Nonprofit or faith
based], page 4

f. For profit entity

 o to Section F
G
[For profit],
page 5

g. Informal entity (e.g., some other

Go to Section G
[Services for
Victims],
page 5

e. Nonprofit or faith-based entity (501c3 status)
f. For profit entity

type of program or group, not formally
a part of an agency, registered
nonprofit, or business; Independent
survivor advocacy and support
groups; volunteer, grassroots, or
survivor network)

g. Informal entity (e.g., some other type of program or

group, not formally a part of an agency, registered nonprofit,
or business; Independent survivor advocacy and support
groups; volunteer, grassroots, or survivor network)

Thank you! You do not need to complete the rest of this
survey.
Please see mailing instructions after page 8.

3

SECTION B
Tribal Agencies and Organizations Only
B1

D2

Law enforcement
Prosecutor
Court
Juvenile justice
Offender custody and supervision
Advocacy program
Coalition
Other justice-based agency (please specify)

E1

Which designation best describes your campus
organization? Select one response.

G1

Does your organization operate/report data on a calendar
year or fiscal year?

E2

In what service area/jurisdiction does your non-profit
organization operate? Select one response.
Nationwide
Statewide
Regional/Multi-county/Multi-city
County wide only
City wide only
Specific neighborhood only
Other (please specify)

Go to section G [SERVICES FOR VICTIMS],

SECTION D
Government Agencies Only

DD

For the remainder of the survey, unless indicated otherwise,
provide your answers based on the most recent 12 months
of data – calendar year or fiscal year, depending on how
your organization operates as answered in Question G1.

G3

Did your organization provide (…)

b. Material assistance? (e.g., emergency
or transitional shelter; food; clothing;
utility assistance; employment
assistance; etc.)

Law enforcement
Prosecution
Courts
Juvenile justice
Offender custody and supervision
Multi-agency (e.g., task forces, response teams, etc.)
Other government agency (please specify)

4

Yes

No

Financial and material assistance services

a. Monetary assistance? (e.g., providing
funds or offering assistance in seeking
victim compensation; public benefits
assistance; other emergency funds
assistance; etc.)

All responses
Go to section G [SERVICES FOR
VICTIMS], page 5

Which designation best describes your government
agency? Select one response.

No

b. Service or victimization information
and referrals? (e.g., information about
crime and victimization; medical referrals;
legal referrals; financial counseling
referrals; other referrals; etc.)

/
MM

Yes

a. Justice related information and
referrals? (e.g., information about the
justice system and the victim’s role;
notification of events and proceedings;
justice referrals; etc.)

G1.1. W
 hat is the date of the beginning of the fiscal year at
your organization?

Information and referral services
Did your organization provide (…)

G2

Calendar year
skip to G2
Fiscal year
proceed to G1.1
Both
proceed to G1.1

D1

SECTION G
Services for Victims

Which designation best describes your non-profit
organization? Select one response.
Coalition (e.g., State Domestic Violence or Sexual Assault
Coalition)
A single entity (may or may not have multiple physical
locations)
Other (please specify)

We recognize that victim service organizations provide a
wide array of services to victims. For the purposes of this
survey, we are asking about general categories of services
you provided to victims, which may not capture your
victim service offerings in detail. Do your best to place
the services you provided within the general categories
provided.

All responses
Go to section G [SERVICES FOR
VICTIMS], page 5

SECTION E
Non-Profit or Faith-Based
Organizations Only

SECTION C
Campus Organizations Only

All responses
page 5

For the remaining questions, please think about staff
members and other resources within your organization
who regularly work with victims of crime and abuse and
about the victims who received services during the past
calendar/fiscal year. From here on out, if we ask about
your organization, we mean just those staff members and
resources.

What designation best describes your for-profit
organization? Select one response.
Private legal office/law firm
Private counseling service or other mental health care
provider
Funeral home
Other commercial or professional entity (please specify)

Go to section G [SERVICES FOR
All responses
VICTIMS], page 5

Go to section G [SERVICES FOR VICTIMS],

Law enforcement/campus security
Campus disciplinary body or student conduct body
Physical or mental health service program
Victim services or advocacy group
Other campus-based program (please specify)

The following questions concern services your
organization provided to victims of crime or abuse during
past calendar/fiscal year.

Did you provide any of the following services to
victims within the past calendar/fiscal year?

Other agency that is NOT justice-based (e.g., human
services, health, education, etc.) (please specify)

C1

F1

Nationwide
Statewide
Regional/Multi-county/Multi-city
County wide only
City wide only
Specific neighborhood only
Other (please specify)

Which designation best describes your tribal agency or
organization? Select one response.

All responses
page 5

SECTION F
For-Profit Organizations Only

In what service area/jurisdiction does your agency
operate in terms of victims served or services delivered?
Select one response.

5

Emotional support and safety
Did your organization provide (…)

G4

G8

Yes

No

a. Mental health services? (e.g.,
individual; group counseling support
groups; other therapy; social
programming for children; etc.)

Yes
No
G9

b. Crisis Counseling?
c. Safety services? (Safety planning;
witness protection; address
confidentiality; self-defense; etc.)
(Does NOT include protective orders)

G10

Yes

No

a. Emergency medical care or
accompaniment?

Yes

No

b. Child sexual abuse/sexual assault
c. Rape/sexual assault (Other than sexual
victimizations against children)
d. Stalking

H1

e. Child witness of violence
f. Child physical abuse or neglect
g. Elder physical abuse
h. Domestic violence/dating violence

Current Staff

Thinking about your organization’s paid staff
responsible for working with victims, how many paid
staff currently work at your organization as fulltime (35 hours or more/week)? Count each person
only once. Enter ‘0’ if there are no paid staff of that type.
Include contractual workers in your counts. Estimates are
acceptable.

i. Assault (Other than domestic/dating
violence or child/elder abuse)

Check box if estimate
H2

n. Victim witness intimidation

Thinking about your organization’s paid staff
responsible for working with victims, how many paid
staff currently work at your organization as parttime (less than 35 hours/week)? Count each person
only once. Enter ‘0’ if there are no paid staff of that type.
Include contractual workers in your counts. Estimates are
acceptable.

o. DUI/DWI crashes

Check box if estimate

p. Identity theft
q. Financial fraud and exploitation (Other
than identity theft)

H3

r. Motor vehicle theft

t. Other property crimes

Staff at the beginning of the most recent
fiscal year

u. Hate crimes
v. Forced marriage

Yes

H4

w. Honor related violance (honorrelated domestic violence, including
that perpetrated by family members,
other honor-related violence,
female genital mutilation.) Specify:

Other services
No

a. Case management?
b. Supervised child visitation?

y. Other (specify)

d. Education classes for survivors
regarding victimization dynamics?

Thinking about your organization’s paid staff
responsible for working with victims, how many paid
full-time staff worked at your organization at the
beginning of the past calendar/fiscal year? Count each
person only once. Enter ‘0’ if there are no paid staff of that
type. Include contractual workers in your counts. Estimates
are acceptable.
Check box if estimate

x. Other violent crimes

c. On-scene coordinated response?

Does your organization use volunteers to provide direct
services to victims?
Y
 es
No

s. Burglary

c. Immigration assistance? (e.g.,
assistance seeking special visas;
continued presence applications; other
immigration relief; etc.)

Did your organization provide (…)

Excluding hotline/helpline or crisis line calls, how
many unique victims received direct services from
your organization/program during the past calendar/
fiscal year? Estimates are acceptable. (Exclude services
provided through a hotline/helpline or crisis line and victims
who only received information through the mail)

a. Adults molested as children

m. Survivors of homicide victims

b. Civil justice related assistance? (e.g.,
protective or restraining order; assistance
with family law matters; assistance with
landlord/tenant matters; etc.)

G7

How many calls did you receive from victims in the past
calendar/fiscal year? Estimates are acceptable.

No

l. Human trafficking (Sex)

a. Criminal/juvenile/military/tribal
justice related assistance?
(e.g., representation; advocacy;
accompaniment; assistance in exercising
victims’ rights; etc.)

Yes

The following questions concern staff dedicated to
working with victims of crime during past calendar/fiscal
year. Provide your answer based on the past fiscal
year or the past calendar year depending on how your
organization operates as answered in Question G1.

k. Human trafficking (Labor)

Legal and victims’ rights assistance
Did your organization provide (…)

SECTION H
Staffing

During the past calendar/fiscal year did victims of
the following crime types seek services from your
organization?

j. Robbery

c. STD/HIV testing?

G6

G11

Crime type for which victims sought services

Check box if estimate

b. Medical forensic exam or
accompaniment?

proceed to H9
skip to H10

Check box if estimate

Medical and health assistance
Did your organization provide (…)

G5

Did your organization operate a hotline/helpline or crisis
line at any time during the past calendar/fiscal year?

H5

e. Culturally and ethnically specific
services?
f. Specialized services for specific
settings? (e.g., military; school; college/
university; etc.)
g. Culturally competent services for the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
and/or queer (LGBTQ) community?

Thinking about your organization’s paid staff
responsible for working with victims, how many paid
part-time staff worked at your organization at the
beginning of the past calendar/fiscal year? Count each
person only once. Enter ‘0’ if there are no paid staff of that
type. Include contractual workers in your counts. Estimates
are acceptable.
Check box if estimate

6

7

New staff since the beginning of the most recent fiscal
year
H6

I2

Thinking about your organization’s specific program(s) or
staff responsible for working with victims, how many paid
full-time staff dedicated to working with victims did you hire
in the past calendar/fiscal year, whether to fill new positions
or to fill vacancies? Count each person only once. Enter ‘0’ if

there are no paid staff of that type. Include contractual workers
in your counts. Estimates are acceptable.

b. Other Office for Victims of
Crime (OVC)

Thinking about your organization’s specific program(s) or
staff responsible for working with victims, how many paid
part-time staff dedicated to working with victims did you
hire in the past calendar/fiscal year, whether to fill new
positions or to fill vacancies? Count each person only once.
Enter ‘0’ if there are no paid staff of that type. Include contractual
workers in your counts. Estimates are acceptable.

c. Services, Training, Officers,
and Prosecutors (STOP)
d. Sexual Assault Services
Program (SASP)

Check box if estimate

e. Other Office on Violence
against Women (OVW)

SECTION I
Funding
I1

I3

f. Family Violence Prevention
Services Act (FVPSA)
g. Other federal funding
(please specify)

Thinking about your organization’s specific program(s) or
staff responsible for working with crime victims, how much
total funding did your organization receive for victim-related
programming and services (including direct services,
prevention, outreach, training, and education efforts) during
the past calendar/fiscal year? Please include direct services,
prevention, outreach, training and education efforts. Estimates
are acceptable.

Thinking about your organization’s specific program(s)
or staff dedicated to working with crime victims, did
your organization receive any federal funding for victim
programming or services in the past 5 years? This could
include funding from VOCA, OVC, OVW, a STOP or SASP grant,
or some other funding coming from a federal agency.

SECTION J
Record Keeping

Check box if estimate

$

J1

Check box if estimate

$

J2

Check box if estimate

$
Check box if estimate

K1

K2

K3

Y
 es
No

Check box if estimate
K4

Check box if estimate

h. State government funding
(NOT state disbursement of
federal grant)
i. Local government funding

Check box if estimate

j. Tribal government funding

k. Source of funds unknown

l. Other funding sources (e.g.,
foundations, corporate funding,
individual donations, insurance
reimbursements, etc.)

Check box if estimate
K5

Check box if estimate

Check box if estimate

$

$
Check box if estimate

How concerned are you about your organization’s ability
to access technology?
Very concerned
Somewhat concerned
A little concerned
Not concerned at all

$

Check box if estimate

How concerned are you about the burden of grant
reporting?
Very concerned
Somewhat concerned
A little concerned
Not concerned at all

$

$

How concerned are you about the predictability of future
funding for your program?
Very concerned
Somewhat concerned
A little concerned
Not concerned at all

$

$

How concerned are you about the amount of victim
service funding that your organization received in the
past year?
Very concerned
Somewhat concerned
A little concerned
Not concerned at all

Skip to Section K

Does your electronic records system track individual
cases?

How concerned are you about your organization’s ability
to retain staff?
Very concerned
Somewhat concerned
A little concerned
Not concerned at all

Does your organization use an electronic records system to
maintain case files?
Y
 es
No

Check box if estimate

$

SECTION K
Current Issues of Concern to
Victim Service Providers

Y
 es
No

C
 heck box if information on amount of funding by source
is not available
a. Victims of Crime Act
$
Assistance Grant (VOCA)

Check box if estimate
H7

How much funding allocated for providing services to
victims did your organization receive from each of the
following sources during the past calendar/fiscal year?
Estimates are acceptable. Enter ‘0’ if you did not receive
funding from the source. The total amount across all sources
should equal the amount provided in item I1.

Thank you for your participation.

Mailing Instructions
Please place the completed questionnaire into the postage-paid return envelope. If the
envelope has been misplaced, please mail the questionnaire to:
National Census of Victim Service Providers
NORC at the University of Chicago
1 North State Street - 16th Floor
Chicago, IL 60602

8

If you have any questions, please call NORC toll free at
1-877-504-1086 or email [email protected]
9