Pacific McGeorge to Launch New Victims' Program

May 01, 2004

For Immediate Release - May 1, 2004
Contact: Julise Johanson, Director, Victims of Crime Resource Center, 916.739.7050

The University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law has been chosen as one of five sites nationally for a new crime victims’ rights program. The school will receive a planning grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to create a new statewide legal clinic providing direct representation to victims of crime.

Pacific McGeorge has operated the Victims of Crime Resource Center, with its toll-free telephone information service for California residents, with funding by the state and the University of the Pacific for 20 years. Law students, under attorney supervision, provide approximately 7,000 victims annually with a wide range of information and assistance.

The Portland, Oregon-based National Crime Victim Law Institute will oversee federal funding of the new project and others in Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico and South Carolina. There is one clinic up and running in Arizona.

“These clinics will begin to fill the gap in the criminal justice system by providing free legal representation to victims of crime to ensure enforcement of their rights,” said Doug Beloof, executive director of the institute at Lewis & Clark Law School.

Thirty-three states, including California, have state constitutional amendments and all states have statutes guaranteeing victims of crime specific rights during the criminal justice process. Many of these rights are not actively enforced.

Funding for the project is made possible through a grant of nearly $775,000, provided to the institute by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The office was established by the 1984 Victims of Crime Act to oversee diverse programs that benefit victims of crime.

“These clinics are designed to ensure that victims of crime have independent, pro bono, legal representation throughout the criminal justice process,” Beloof said. “Pacific McGeorge and other locations were chosen because the applicant organizations have a demonstrated dedication to victims’ issues, their state laws provide strong rights for crime victims, and, taken together, the clinics present a geographic distribution that will help victims nationally.”

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