National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
FBI Victim Specialists Support Victims in Crisis
When a terrorist strikes a community, a pedophile targets children online, or a fraudster victimizes an unsuspecting person or business, the FBI works to investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Yet the FBI’s work doesn’t stop there. One of the most important additional roles we play is assisting victims of federal crimes.
Whether providing emotional support to a child victim testifying in court or assisting with family travel logistics after a mass shooting, the FBI’s victim assistance program, managed by our Victim Services Division, connects victims of federal crimes with the services they need during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
“While our special agents are investigating, the victim specialists across the country are partnering with them to support the victim or the victim’s family and to attend to their needs,” said Victim Services Division Assistant Director Kathryn Turman. “The victim specialists also ensure the lines of communication remain open with the investigative team.”
An important aspect of the victim assistance mission is the forensic child interviewing program, in which experts who are highly trained in child development conduct court-admissible interviews with child, adolescent, and young adult victims of crime. More than 9,000 child interviews have been conducted since the program was created, many of them involving human trafficking, sexual exploitation, or violent crime.
As the country marks National Crime Victims’ Rights Week this week, the FBI’s victim specialists are working every day—as they do all year long—to ensure victims and their families get access to the resources they need.