Are You Ready for National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW)?
Since 1981, NCVRW has celebrated the extraordinary work of those individuals and organizations that confront and remove barriers to achieving justice for all victims of crime.
In 2024, NCVRW will be commemorated April 21–27.
This year’s theme—How would you help? Options, services, and hope for crime survivors.—is a call-to-action for us all to create safe environments for crime victims to share what happened to them. By doing so, we’re able to offer support, options for life-saving services, and, most importantly, hope.
2024 NCVRW Artwork
Use the 2024 NCVRW English and Spanish artwork in your efforts to raise awareness of victims’ rights, services, and options.
Select artwork allows space for you to add your organization’s contact information, including a customizable theme poster.
For more information about NCVRW, including the release of the complete 2024 NCVRW Resource Guide, sign up for the NCVRW Subscription List.
The 2024 NCVRW materials were created by the National Center for Victims of Crime with funding from OVC.
Register to Attend OVC’s 2024 NCVRW Events
NCVRW Candlelight Vigil
Join OVC for the 2024 NCVRW Candlelight Vigil as we pay tribute to victims of crime and the many dedicated professionals and volunteers who advocate on their behalf.
Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Time: 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., eastern time
Location: Washington, D.C. – National Mall (Panel closest to the Capitol Building between 3rd and 4th Streets NW)
National Crime Victims’ Service Awards Ceremony
During this ceremony, OVC will recognize individuals and organizations that demonstrate extraordinary acts of service on behalf of crime victims and outstanding work in victim services.
Date: Thursday, April 25, 2024
Time: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., eastern time
Location: Washington, D.C. – National Mall (Panel closest to the Capitol Building between 3rd and 4th Streets NW)
Promote and Discover NCVRW Events
Visit our Events page to find NCVRW community awareness events, resource fairs, vigils, and other events across the Nation hosted by local service providers and allied professionals.
We also invite you to add your own event to our Events page. Your submission will be reviewed and, if approved, posted on the web for public view.
March 3–9 is National Consumer Protection Week
National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) is a time dedicated to helping people understand their consumer rights and avoid frauds and scams.
During NCPW, OVC joins the Federal Trade Commission and other agencies and organizations to help the public understand their consumer rights and avoid scams, identity theft, and other consumer protection issues.
Access resources for press and social media outreach, event planning, and more on the Federal Trade Commission’s NCPW website.
View the following resources to help you educate consumers and provide services to victims:
- Find guides about consumer rights and learn about common frauds and scams and how victims of fraud and identity theft can get help on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Resources website.
- Share information about the Identity Theft Resource Center's services with victims of identity theft. Hotline services are available Monday to Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., eastern time by phone at 888-400-5530 or live chat.
- Read the Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2023 Consumer Impact Report, which describes the emotional and practical effects on the day-to-day lives of identity theft victims.
- Take the OVC Training and Technical Assistance Center’s (OVC TTAC) Victim Assistance Training Online, which includes modules about cyber fraud, financial crimes, identity theft, and other crimes.
- Take the Identity Theft Victim Assistance Online Training, which gives users the knowledge and skills to more effectively serve victims of identity theft and assist with their financial and emotional recovery.
March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month
Use the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities’ campaign materials during Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month to raise awareness about—
- the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all aspects of community life, and
- awareness of the barriers that people with disabilities still sometimes face in connecting with their communities.
Visit our Victims with Disabilities topic page to view publications, training and technical assistance opportunities, and more resources on helping victims with developmental disabilities. Resources include the following:
- Just Ask: A Toolkit to Help Advocates, Attorneys, and Law Enforcement Meet the Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities
This OVC-funded online training toolkit, produced by the Vera Institute of Justice, was created in response to conversations with professionals working with survivors, many of whom are open to asking about accommodations, but don’t know how and are worried about saying the wrong thing.
The toolkit lays out four simple steps for providing accommodations to survivors with disabilities, and includes sample language that can be used when talking to survivors.
- Supporting Crime Victims with Disabilities
This OVC-funded online training toolkit, produced by the Vera Institute of Justice, provides comprehensive and culturally responsive informational and educational resources, tools, videos, and examples of best practices for victim advocates and professionals to prepare them to effectively respond to victims of crime with disabilities, including individuals with development disabilities, across the lifespan.
- Multidisciplinary Response to Crime Victims with Disabilities
This OVC publication features state-level and community-level replication guides on adapting multidisciplinary response models to serve crime victims with disabilities, including individuals with developmental disabilities.
New Infographics Highlight Data on Victim Service Providers Nationwide
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and OVC are pleased to announce the release of a series of infographics using data from the 2019 National Survey of Victim Service Providers.
This survey collects data from a nationally representative sample of programs and organizations that served victims of crime or abuse. The data capture the range of services being provided to victims, the types of organizations referring victims to victim service organizations, and where gaps in services exist.
The statistics included in the infographics are available in the BJS statistical report Services for Crime Victims, 2019.