Evaluation of the Office for Victims of Crime Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project, 5 U.S. states, 2013-2018 (ICPSR 38187)

Version Date: Jan 30, 2024

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Principal Investigator(s):
Samantha Lowry, ICF International

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38187.v1

Version V1

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Summary

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) created a new demonstration grant program, the OVC Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project, to address the wide range of legal needs victims of crime have in relation to the victimization they experienced. The original four-year demonstration, which was increased to six years, included two phases: (1) a 15-month phase for planning, designing a new service delivery model in collaboration with local partners, and conducting a needs assessment, and (2) a second phase for grantees to implement the model as designed. The program originally funded six sites to plan and implement a new model of legal assistance for victims:

  1. Alaska Immigrant Justice Center (entire state of Alaska)
  2. Council on Crime and Justice (entire state of Minnesota)
  3. Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (Los Angeles County, California)
  4. Lone Star Legal Aid (72 counties in East Texas)
  5. Metropolitan Family Services' Legal Aid Society (Cook County, Illinois)
  6. Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center (City of Denver, Colorado)

The new wraparound service delivery models were expected to facilitate the implementation of wraparound pro bono legal assistance networks to provide legal services to victims. Because victims often receive legal services from a variety of uncoordinated organizations (e.g., victim legal clinics for help with enforcing rights, and legal aid offices or law school clinics for help with other specific civil legal needs), integrated networks may be better able to provide a wide array of legal services from a single, coordinated system. The demonstration grant requirements included: creating and actively engaging a steering committee, working cooperatively with technical assistance provider(s) as needed, and employing a local research partner to help perform the needs assessment and work closely with the evaluation team.

Citation

Lowry, Samantha. Evaluation of the Office for Victims of Crime Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project, 5 U.S. states, 2013-2018. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-01-30. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38187.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2012-VF-GX-0001)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

State

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2013-01-01 -- 2018-12-31

Data Collection Notes

  1. For additional information on the Evaluation of the Office for Victims of Crime Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Study, please visit the Evaluation of the Office for Victims of Crime Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project website.
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Study Purpose

The national evaluation used a mixed methods approach to answer two main research questions: (1) Are coordinated, collaborative, and holistic approaches to legal assistance effective in meeting the needs of crime victims, and (2) What elements of these models work best and under what conditions?

Study Design

ICF developed a series of instruments and protocols that gathered information from network participants, service providers, and victims of crime, as well as administrative information from each network, resulting in six components:

  1. Annual site visits and steering committee observations
  2. Annual administration of the Network Partner Survey to steering committee members and other closely involved partners
  3. Administrative client services data from partnering service delivery organizations
  4. A Service Provider Survey administered once before and once after implementation to direct service providers from legal aid and victim service organizations
  5. A Crime Victim Survey administered once before and once after implementation to crime victims receiving assistance for legal needs
  6. Interviews with crime victims

Network Participants: Data were collected from network participants in a variety of ways, including annual site visit interviews, an annual survey, observing steering committee meetings, and monthly calls with the grantee in each site. The ICF research team visited each site annually to interview network partners in person, when possible, and attend steering committee meetings. The goals of the visits were to understand the project goals, progress, challenges, lessons learned, and strengths from those who are closely involved in network development and implementation. Another annual data collection piece was a survey conducted with steering committee members and other partners who were closely involved with the network with the goal of understanding how the partnerships function and the level of service integration among the network partners. Each month, ICF research staff hosted phone calls with the grantee at each site to learn more about how the site is progressing and any external factors that were influencing the development of the network.

Service Providers: Surveys were disseminated twice to all direct service delivery staff from legal and social service providers within each jurisdiction, once before the networks implemented and once after. The purpose of the surveys was to understand and measure change in perceptions of service delivery to victims, how services were delivered, resources that were available or needed for service providers, and, in the second survey, their awareness of the network.

Victims of Crime: Surveys disseminated at two time points and phone interviews were used to collect information from victims of crime. The Crime Victim Survey was disseminated once before the networks implemented and once after they had been in implementation for at least two years. The purpose of this survey was to understand and measure changes in perceptions of service delivery, types of assistance received, how services met the victims' needs, barriers to accessing or receiving services, and satisfaction with those services. The crime victim interviews, which were conducted at the same time point as the second crime victim survey, were intended to gather more in-depth information on the experiences victims of crime had while seeking and receiving services within each network.

Administrative Information: ICF gathered administrative data on services delivered, clients seen, and the true cost of planning and implementing the networks. These data were collected via an Excel database that ICF developed based on service delivery and client indicators that most partners were able to track.

Time Method

Longitudinal: Cohort / Event-based, Longitudinal: Trend / Repeated Cross-section

Universe

Network partners, service providers from legal service and victim service organizations, and crime victims receiving services from participating organizations.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individuals

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

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Original Release Date

2024-01-30

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.