VOCA Funding
 

Current Status/Action News:

FY 2011
The Obama Administration is requesting a 2011 VOCA cap of $800 million, an increase of $95 million over 2010.  However, the proposal also includes new and expanded funding for other programs that will reduce the amount of funds that would otherwise be available for state VOCA victim assistance grants:

  • Increase funding for United States Attorneys' Office victim witness coordinators: $32.6 million
    (compared to $22.4 million in FY 2010; increase number of positions from 170 FTE to 240 FTE);
  • Increase funding for FBI victim assistance specialists: $21.4 million (compared to $14.6 million; increase number of positions from 112 FTE to 155 FTE);
  • Reduce funding for Federal victim notification system: $5.4 million (down from $6.4 million in FY 2010); and
  • Create a new earmark of $100 million from the Fund "for discretionary grants to aid victims of domestic violence and violence against women, including grants to support domestic violence shelters, transitional housing assistance, and other services."

Based on current information, it appears that under the Administration's proposals, grants for state VOCA victim assistance grants could be cut by as much as $20 million.  A 2011 cap of $867 million would ensure a modest growth in state victim assistance grants.

FY 2010
On Dec. 16, 2009, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 which includes a VOCA cap of $705 million, a $70 million increase over 2009.

Thanks to all victim advocates who worked very hard to explain to their Senators and Representatives why these funds are so important to providing essential services to crime victims.

It is expected that the Administration's FY 2011 budget proposal will be released sometime in early February 2010

[Top]
Documents:
(All documents in PDF format unless otherwise indcated in square brackets.) (rev [Top]

FY 2010 Appropriations

[Top]

Media Coverage:

[Top]

Background:
  • The Crime Victim Fund helps more than 4 million victims of all types of crime every year.
  • The Fund comes from the collection of Federal criminal fines; not taxpayer revenues.
  • Congress has repeatedly pledged that all amounts deposited into the Fund would remain available for victim services.

The Victims of Crime Act of 1984 is the Federal government's principle means of providing support for programs that serve victims of all types of crime. Each year, Federal criminal fines, forfeitures and special assessments are deposited into the Crime Victims Fund (the Fund). These offender generated revenues -- NOT TAXPAYER DOLLARS -- are used to support these programs:

  • Children’s Justice Act -- to improve the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases;
  • U.S. Attorney’s victim/witness coordinators -- to provide assistance to victims involved in Federal criminal prosecutions by funding 170 FTE United States Attorney Office victim assistance coordinators;;
  • F.B.I. victim assistance specialists-- to help victims during Federal criminal investigations by funding 112 FTE victim assistance specialists;
  • Federal victim notification system -- to provide automated notification to victims of the status of Federal criminal investigations and prosecutions and the offender's status in the Federal prison system;
  • OVC discretionary grants -- to support national scope training and technical assistance and to provide services to victims of Federal crimes;
  • State compensation formula grants -- to supplement State funds used to reimburse victims of violent crimes for medical expenses, mental health counseling, lost wages, loss of support and funeral/burial costs;
  • State victim assistance formula grants -- to support direct victim assistance services -- such as counseling, emergency shelter, rape crisis centers, help in participating in the criminal justice system. Approximately 3.8 million crime victims receive these services by 4,400 agencies annually;
  • Antiterrorism Emergency Reserve -- to replenish a special reserve to assist victims of domestic and international terrorism and mass violence. The needs for this reserve is demonstrated by Minnesota's request for supplemental compensation funding in response to the Red Lake, MN school shooting

Prior to FY 2000, all of the money deposited into the Crime Victims Fund from the collection of Federal criminal fines, forfeitures and assessments, was allocated the following fiscal year according to a formula in the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) statute. Because of wide fluctuations in the amount deposited, beginning in FY 2000, Congress began imposing a limitation or "cap" on the amount of Fund deposits that could be obligated the following year.

Fiscal Year
Prv. Yr. Deposits
Cap
  
Fiscal
Year
Prv. Yr. Deposits
Cap
2000
$985,185,354
$500,000,000
  
2006
668,268,054
625,000,000
2001
776,954,858
537,500,000
  
2007
649,631,046
625,000,000
2002
544,437,015
550,000,000
  
2008
 1,017,977,475
590,000,000
2003
519,466,480
600,000,000
  
2009**
   896,316,825
635,000,000
2004
361,341,967
621,312,500*
  
2010
1,745,677,602
705,000,000
2005
833,695,013
620,000,000*
  
* Includes rescissions.
** Does not include $100 million in Recovery Act funding

Congress said it was delaying use of the deposits above the cap in order "to protect against wide fluctuations in receipts into the Fund, and to ensure that a stable level of funding will remain available for these programs in future years." [Conference Report 106-479] Congress also amended the VOCA statute to reflect the preservation of all deposits for future VOCA programs.

The amounts remaining in the Fund are carried over from year to year to be used when Fund deposits are less than the next year's cap. Three times since caps were imposed -- in FYs 2002, 2003 and 2004 -- Congress has relied on this "rainy day reserve" because of insufficient deposits. However, thanks largely to a handful of very large cases, deposits into the Fund have escalated at unprecedented levels.  As a result, the balance in the Fund will continue to grow:

Fund Opening Balance (millions)
FY
    
FY
  
2000
485
  
2006
1,307
2001
1,300
  
2007
1,333
2002
1,330
  
2008
1,730
2003
1,311
  
2009
1,852
2004
1,080
  
2010 est
3,148
2005
1,261
  
2011 est
4,304

This is important because the VOCA statute contains a rather complicated formula that determines how much each of the above programs will receive. Under this formula, grants for state VOCA victim assistance programs  -- the grants that support thousands of direct victim services -- gets whatever's left over after the other VOCA-dependent programs are funded. As a result, unless the cap is high enough, state VOCA assistance grants are cut as new programs are added or other VOCA-dependent costs increase.

[Top]

Find Federal Officials 
Enter ZIP Code:

or Search by State

Find State Officials
Enter ZIP Code:

or Search by State

Contact The Media 
Enter ZIP Code:

or Search by State

Contact Congress

Call, email or fax your Congressional delegation and urge them to SAVE THE FUND by opposing the Administration’s proposal to rescind the Crime Victims Fund. Find out how to contact your Senator and Representatives (often just by entering your zip code) by going to these web sites:

Connect to their offices through this toll-free number: 1-800-247-2971
or call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

For media inquiries about VOCA and the Crime Victims Fund: contact: NAVAA Executive Director Steve Derene at voca@navaa.org or call 608-233-2245.

[Top]
Last Updated: July 2, 2010