Report on Victims’ Use of Victim Service Agencies

According to a recent report by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 9% of victims of serious violent crimes from 1993 to 2009 received direct assistance from a victim service agency (whether public or private). The data is drawn from the National Crime Victimization Survey.

The report also compared rates of assistance across different demographic and other variables. For example, from 2000 to 2009, victims who reported the crime to the police were more likely to receive direct help from a victim service agency than victims who did not report the crime. The rates of assistance were 14% for those who reported the crime and 4% for those who did not. During that same time period, a greater percentage of female victims (15%) than male victims (6%) received such assistance. Victims living in rural areas (12%) were also more likely to receive assistance than those in urban areas (9%).