ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702240055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
SO MUCH MONEY has been paid in fines that crime victims' programs expect to grow.
Local battered women's shelters and rape crisis programs may see a windfall in the coming year, thanks in part to a Japanese bank's legal troubles last year.
Federal funding for Virginia programs that help or compensate crime victims more than tripled this year. Programs that often run on a shoestring may afford some extras, and new programs will be started.
"It's nice. We weren't expecting it," said Linda Nisbet, the domestic violence program coordinator at the state Department of Social Services. "But we're aware this money isn't forever."
Money in the national Crime Victims Fund, made up of fines and penalties paid by federal criminals each year, reached a record $528 million last year, thanks to a $340 million fine against Daiwa Bank Ltd. The bank was charged with hiding $1.1 billion in irregularities from regulators.
About 90 percent of the money in the fund is distributed directly to the states, with a record $9.7 million going to Virginia, the U.S. attorney's office announced this week. The money goes to battered women's shelters, rape crisis programs, child abuse programs and victim-witness coordinators in local prosecutors' offices. Both Roanoke and Roanoke County have victim-witness coordinators.
Another $382,000 was put into a state program to compensate crime victims for losses.
"Through the Crime Victims Fund, the fines and penalties paid by those who have broken the law go right back into the community to assist crime victims," U.S. Attorney Bob Crouch said in a news release.
The money will be distributed beginning July 1, the start of the state's fiscal year. The Turning Point, a Salvation Army program for battered women, is asking for $50,000, twice the amount it received last year from the fund. The shelter hopes to add a second crisis intervention specialist for the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift to counsel women who work during the day and to be on hand at night, when most abuse occurs, director Darlene Young said.
"We're at the place where we've really got to have some more staff," Young said. "Domestic violence episodes are getting worse."
Mandie Patterson is chief of the victims services section at the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, which will allocate the $9.7 million through a competitive grant process.
She said the department will probably start several new programs, particularly in rural areas such as Southwest Virginia, as well as increasing funding to existing programs.
"These programs, they run so cheap," said Nisbet, who is encouraging shelters and programs to ask for money to create benefits programs for their employees.
Nisbet said she told the programs that get grants to look 10 years down the road and think about what they might need, since funding may go down in coming years.
Funding from the Crime Victims Fund next year should be up as well, with a $100 million fine paid this year by Archer Daniels Midland Co. for price fixing.
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