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“THANKING AILEEN ADAMS FOR HER SERVICE AS DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S3532-S3533 on April 23, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THANKING AILEEN ADAMS FOR HER SERVICE AS DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this year we have had to say farewell to Aileen Adams as she leaves the post of Director of Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and returns to California. Three years ago, Aileen was appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. During her time in Washington, I worked with Aileen and OVC on a number of matters and came to know Aileen as a dedicated advocate for crime victims. Her vision and dedication have been extraordinary. Aileen will be sincerely missed, although her legacy will benefit victims of crime for years to come.
Before coming to the Department of Justice, Aileen had served as the legal counsel for the Rape Treatment Center at Santa Monica Hospital for 10 years. In that position, Aileen demonstrated her leadership and innovation with the creation of Stuart House, an interagency center for sexually-abused children.
As Director of OVC, Aileen focused on assisting local and state crime victim programs around the country and improving crime victims services in the federal system. Aileen's leadership has helped over two million crime victims across the country and around the globe. In just this past year, OVC has administered over $528 million and supported more than 2,500 victim assistance programs.
Aileen's dedication has impacted rural areas such as Vermont. She has helped sharpen the focus on rural crime and domestic violence and supported a rural crime initiative which will study and enhance services available to rural crime victims.
Among the victim assistance programs pioneered by Aileen was the establishment of the National Victim Assistance Academy last year. This Academy provides training on victims' rights and services and draws upon expertise of professionals ranging from law enforcement officers to rape crises counselors. Over 200 victim advocates and professionals have graduated from the Academy and have taken their skills back to their communities, where they continue outreach work for the benefit of victims.
Under her leadership, a group of international experts joined to draft a manual to implement the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power. Among other things, this manual is a step toward ensuring that crime victims are treated fairly and that they are assisted throughout the globe.
I had the opportunity to work with Aileen and the many dedicated members of her staff on a number of matters over the last few years. In the aftermath of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Aileen and OVC were among those immediately on the scene to provide assistance to the victims. Together we have found ways to extend and expand that victims assistance over time and to enact legislation to allow victims and their families greater opportunity to attend and observe the trials of those charged in connection with that horrendous crime.
We worked together on the Victims of Terrorism Act that I added to the bill passed by the Senate in June 1995, in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, to improve our law recognizing the rights and needs of victims of crime. We also worked on the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act that was enacted in April 1996. We were able to make funds available through supplemental grants to the States to assist and compensate victims of terrorism and mass violence, which incidents might otherwise have overwhelmed the resources of Oklahoma's crime victims compensation program or its victims assistance services. We also filled a gap in our law for residents of the United States who are victims of terrorism and mass violence that occur outside the borders of the United States.
In addition, we allowed greater flexibility to our State and local victims' assistance programs and some greater certainty so that they can know that our commitment to victims programming will not wax and wane with events. Accordingly, we enacted an important provision to increase the base amounts for States' victims assistance grants to
$500,000 and allowed victims assistance grants to be made for a 3-year cycle of programming, rather than the year of award plus one, which was the limit contained in previous law. We were able to raise the assessments on those convicted of federal crimes in order to fund the needs of crime victims.
We worked to improve the church burning legislation and to increase the stability to victim assistance and victim compensation program funds.
Aileen was helpful in consulting with me and other Senators on the Judiciary Committee on the victims provisions of S. 15, a youth crime bill, so that the rights of victims of juvenile crime to appear, to be heard and to be informed would be protected. Those provisions have now been incorporated in the juvenile crime bill ordered reported by the Judiciary Committee.
In addition, Senator Kennedy and I incorporated a number of her suggestions in S. 1081, the ``Crime Victims Assistance Act.'' That bill would reform the Federal Rules and Federal law to establish additional rights and protections for victims of federal crime. In particular, the legislation would provide crime victims with an enhanced right to be heard on the issue of pretrial detention, on plea bargains, at sentencing, on probation revocation, and to be notified of a defendant's escape or release from prison. The legislation goes further than other victims rights proposals that are currently before Congress by including enhanced penalties for witness intimidation, an increase in Federal victim assistance personnel, enhanced training for State and local law enforcement and officers of the Court, development of state of the art systems for notifying victims of important dates and developments in their cases, and the establishment of ombudsman programs for crime victims.
I know that crime victim advocates in Vermont join me in thanking Aileen for her service. I was delighted that Aileen could come to Vermont to keynote the restorative justice conference in Vermont last June. Our Vermont advocates are well aware of the extraordinary efforts at OVC and have worked with OVC to create greater opportunities for rural programs. With support from OVC, Vermont has been able to implement its victims programs for outreach to underserved populations and coordinate among providers and allied professionals.
I was especially proud when the recent site visit to Vermont resulted in the Justice Department concluding that ``Vermont's programs are setting the standard for outreach to under served populations and service coordination among providers and allied professionals.''
Aileen Adams has dedicated her service to the needs of crime victims. She has made a difference. She has improved federal programs for victims of domestic violence, victims of terrorism, and crime victim assistance generally. She has helped create a strong funding source for crime victim compensation and assistance programs. She has worked to expand crime victims rights. Most importantly, she has made a difference in the lives of crime victims all across the country.
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