In 1980, there were 27 victim compensation programs in the United States. By 1998, there were 50 state programs as well as ones in the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NOVA’s involvement in helping to expand compensation programs was evidenced in 1995 by its suggestion to the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma to seek an increase in the amount of money available in the State’s fund in order to compensate the large number of eligible crime victims in the aftermath of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building bombing. The legislative effort to do so was successful.

To a similar end, the Anti-Terrorism Act, enacted after the bombing of the Murrah Building, allows the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) in the U.S. Department of Justice to use federal funds to serve victims of terrorism and mass violence. That provision, which NOVA helped devise, helped underwrite the costs of some 9,000 people deeply affected by the bomb blast.

In 1980, there were only a few jurisdictions, which took into consideration the impact of the crime on the victim when determining the offender’s sentence. By 1998, virtually every state allowed victim input at sentencing as well as parole, and many allow spoken testimony as well as written statements.

In 1980, many victim service programs faced shutdowns due to the termination of a Federal criminal justice grant program. In 1984, as a direct result of NOVA’s consistent work to help draft and ensure passage of the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) of 1984 – and to help amend it when needed – the picture changed dramatically for the better. Over VOCA’s first twelve years, its Crime Victims Fund transferred some $2.2 billion in Federal criminal fines to state compensation and local assistance programs – these in addition to the far higher contributions of states and localities made to the same programs. The Violence Against Women Act also provides financial support for victim services. NOVA is justly proud of its involvement in these efforts to ensure funding for programs to help rehabilitate crime victims.

In 1980, the concept of "victim rights" was merely that – a concept. By 1998, virtually every state had enacted some form of a bill of rights for crime victims, as had the Federal government. As of this writing, 29 states have passed a victim rights amendment to their constitutions. Again, NOVA has been in the forefront of this effort. NOVA’s senior staff helped to co found the National Victims Constitutional Amendment Network (NVCAN), a body of which NOVA’s Deputy Director is currently an Executive Board Member. The hard work of NOVA and the other Network members was illustrated in April 1996, when a federal constitutional amendment was introduced in Congress and later received the support of both major parties and their Presidential candidates.

In 1980, NOVA proclaimed "National Victim Rights Week," exercising a leadership role on behalf of crime victims. President Reagan adopted a similar proclamation in 1981. Since that time, the President has proclaimed, under various names, a national "victim rights week" seventeen times, and a Presidential Task Force on Victims of Crime in 1982 produced 68 recommendations for improving the treatment of victims. The Clinton Administration published an updated version, entitled New Directions From the Field: Victim Rights and Services for the Twenty-First Century, which is based in part on five topical papers drafted by NOVA staff.

As part of NOVA’s efforts to highlight the plight of crime victims and the need for legislative reform, NOVA has hosted a National Forum on Victim Rights for 18 years. The Forum is held on Capitol Hill, and is co-hosted each year by many Senators and Representatives who support the need to give victims of crime a voice in the decisions that affect them.

NOVA maintains an active Litigation Committee to assist in filing amicus curiae motions and briefs, most recently illustrated by briefs filed on behalf of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.

NOVA also strives to make legislative issues clear to our membership. NOVA Newsletters often explain the strengths and pitfalls of current or potential legislation. Two recent examples of such writing are a Newsletter charting out the many victim-related provisions of the 1994 Crime Control Bill and one reviewing efforts to pass the Federal Constitutional Amendment in the 104th Congress.