WBA NewsroomThe State of Wisconsin goes to great lengths to help the victims of crime. One quick way to start to learn about how victims are treated in Wisconsin is at the Justice Department’s website, which is a jumping-off point to understand the complete array of services available to victims of crime, the extent to which the state goes to help compensate victims, and even a number of links to specific state laws that deal with the victims of crime.
Wisconsin has a separate part of the Justice Department called the Office of Crime Victim Services, which administers a number of programs designed for victims. Their mission is to assure that people who are affected by crime are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect. Their stated mission also involves providing information to the public about issues which affect crime victims, and the website has a number of tabs which will lead you to specific people you can talk to if you have questions as a reporter.
Most people are not aware of the huge array of programs which administer grants and specific programs targeted to victims of violence. At the Office of Crime Victim Services you can learn general facts about crime victim compensation in Wisconsin. You can get specifics about such programs as a grant to help victims of sexual assault pay for the medical procedure performed on victims who don’t want their insurance company to know they were a victim.
There’s another very interesting part of the victim protection website which is really intended to educate victims, not reporters, but it will help you get a grasp on what a victim’s rights are. You can find this very useful page of information. It even includes references to the Professional Journalists Society ethics code and the Radio Television Digital News Association’s ethics code.