Federal Victims of Crime Act funding continues to decrease annually
Congress passed the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) in 1984. The goal was simple: provide direct financial support to victims of crime. Agencies and organizations from domestic violence shelters to child abuse prevention organizations like Child Advocacy Centers rely on much of their funding from VOCA grants.
VOCA is not funded by tax dollars and is “only” $1.2 billion — the same as a single prison in Indiana
VOCA is not funded with your income or other tax dollars. VOCA is funded from fines and penalties paid by federal criminal charges, forfeited bail bonds, and penalties and special assessments collected by U.S. Attorney’s Offices, federal courts, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. As of February 2024, the fund has about $1.2 billion.
$1.2 billion sounds like a lot, and it is, but $1.2 billion does not go far. The Indiana Legislature appropriated about $1.2 billion to build a single state prison in Westville to house 4,200 male inmates. VOCA’s entire national fund of $1.2 billion is spread across every state and every community and the roughly 2.7 million American victims of violent crime each year. Because crime is sometimes a “lagging indicator” – like in the case of a child who is abused for many years — VOCA usually serves roughly 4 million crime victims annually.
If VOCA funds continue to deplete, vital services like forensic interviews of child victims of crime become more challenging to provide.
VOCA funds risks being exhausted in a few years
VOCA has fluctuated a lot over the last few years, but has had eight straight years of declines. Congress sometimes steps in to lift caps or revise small parts of the law to allow for additional funding. And while the number of victims of crime served by the fund is relatively stable year-over-year, the number of organizations drawing from it has grown rapidly.
In many Indiana communities, VOCA may be the single largest source of non-tax federal funding. But all that is at risk as grant cycles decrease.
What does VOCA help fund in Indiana?
- Domestic violence shelters
- Crisis intervention
- Legal advocacy for children and abuse victims
- Funeral and burial expense reimbursement for low-income victims of deadly crime
- Child Advocacy Centers
- Victim advocacy programs at CACs and Prosecutor’s offices
Over 590 professional Hoosiers are funded mostly or entirely by VOCA.
Tight budgets operating even tighter
In Indiana, the average CAC uses the bulk of their VOCA funds for their Victim Advocacy services which represents about 25-35% of the average CAC’s budget. This is partly because Indiana does not directly fund CACs at the state level, though many CACs receive about 20-35% of their budget from Indiana Department of Child Services grants. The rest is funded by county councils, private fundraisers, or grant applications to other public or private sources.
Each time a forensic interview is conducted, a victim advocate connects a family with therapy or medical care, and an investigation begins into reported crimes against kids, CACs pay for these services through VOCA. It’s how CACs offer all of their direct services at no cost to families.
Since state funding and other municipal sources are also flat, inflation is increasing, and the number of children served in CACs is either steady or growing, CACs rely on private donations to continue serving kids at the same level of service they deserve and our National Accreditation standards demand.
As the number of organizations drawing from VOCA increases and the revenue flowing into VOCA is either flat or declining, an already small pie generates increasingly smaller slices.
CACs are tightly-run operations with funding that often demands a lot of their staff
Almost no CAC in Indiana offers direct health insurance to any of their staff.
The average CAC in Indiana has a staff of just 3. Some operate with as few as one or two part-time employees. The largest operates with a staff of 26.
The average Executive Director salary — the highest paid position in any center — is about $40,000-60,000. The median annual salary in Indiana is $55,500.
CAC staff spend most of their time providing direct service to kids and families, but decreasing VOCA funds means more time fundraising, which leaves less time for core services.
Indiana CACs have been diversifying their funding sources as much as possible for years owing to the risks associated with relying on a single large source. But like businesses and households that frequently rely on one or two primary sources of income or customers, it’s sometimes impossible to have a “no risk” funding source.
Here’s what you can do to support CACs and organizations like them in your community
- Find your local CAC and ask how VOCA is impacting them directly
- Contact your state and federal legislators to ask how they’re working through this problem and what, if anything, they intend to do.
- Learn more about federal bills and debates happening in Congress
- Consider ways to support your local CAC and help them by serving on their board, hosting events, volunteering, or educating others about their work