Victim Advocacy

Abstract

A victim advocate is one who is intent on assisting the victim in responding to and recovering from a crime‐related incident. While their primary goal is to help victims, they also engage with actors within the criminal justice, medical, social service, and other fields to ensure the fair treatment of victims and, when applicable, help to secure victim participation in the justice process. A victim advocate is one who walks the recovery walk with victims, as needed and as invited, to both decrease the deleterious impact of crime and improve the recovery outcomes for victims overall. This entry will describe the history of victim advocacy, the roles of victim advocates in the public and private sectors, the utilization of victim advocacy, the perceived effectiveness of services, and remaining challenges for those in the victim advocacy field.