The JCVVS offered the "Foundations in Victim Services" program on contract the week of October 6- 10 in Reno, Nevada and again the week of October 20- 24 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The programs were provided by contract with the Washoe County (Nevada) District Attorney's Office and the Oklahoma District Attorney's Council. Based on the original NVAA, the program provides exposure to a broad array of topics that are necessary to form the core of basic education in victims' rights and services. Lori Fralick of the Reno Victim Services Unit commented about the course: "After 16 years in victim services, this was by far the most valuable, applicable, and beneficial training I have ever had. I was extremely moved and challenged this week." Karen Plants of the YWCA in Oklahoma City commented that the program was "Very professional and very inspiring."

For more information about the course and to discuss contract options, contact Thomas Underwood at (785) 670-1242.

Two individuals were awarded the JCVVS Professional Certificate in Victim Assistance: Critical Analysis. In addition to participation in the intensive course, successful completion of a comprehensive exam, and an analysis paper, the recipients presented their paper topic to other professionals.

The recipients and their topics were:
Shelly Ashley "Secondary Victimization of the Prosecution"

Nora Blackwell "An Analysis of a Government Program for Victims: The Consistency and Professionalism of U.S. Crime Victims' Compensation Programs"

These individuals join a small but prestigious group of professionals who have completed the requirements for this highly recognized professional certificate.
Congratulations!

The University of New Haven Victimology Club has reached a milestone. The club is a top-twenty student club. Top-twenty status indicates that the club's membership numbers and participation/sponsorship of university events qualifies the club for the distinction. Some of the events sponsored and produced by the club during the 2007-08 academic year included:

* Co-sponsorship of the Clothesline Project and a Survivors' Vigil for Domestic Violence Awareness month
* Production of "Unheard Voices of Crime" , a panel which addressed under-represented victims
* Organization of National Crime Victims' Rights Week events
* Donation drives

In October the Victimology Club presented a student- led research forum on sexual assault. The Club President, Nikita Carmona, presented research conducted by the club's advisor, Dr. Tracy Tamborra. The project titled, "Developing College-Campus Sexual Assault Policy: Considering Students as Major Stakeholders" represents Victimology research at its best. The project was supervised by an academic but driven by the students who were at risk for or survivors of on-campus assault.

JCVVS e-newsletter reviews offer a brief synopsis of research and programs relevant to violence and victim studies. Brevity does not allow for comprehensive analysis, rather key points and observations for further review and consideration. Reviews are provided by persons affiliated by the JCVVS and do not necessarily reflect the position of the JCVVS or the affiliate Universities.

The submission for this newsletter is not a review of an article or program, but reflections by someone who has offered education in this area for over twenty years.

Title: Reflections on Education/Training in Victim Services

By: Steven D. Walker, Ph.D.

I did my first workshop on Training Standards in Victim Services in August 1989 at a NOVA Conference. I had already done several surveys at New Horizons workshops and subsequently did several others at Frank Carrington's Civil Remedies workshops developed by Chris Edmunds who was then at NVC (now NCVC). I also worked closely with individuals in Massachusetts and South Carolina, who were developing training and early-day credential standards. At the time CSU, Fresno was the only gig in town. From these surveys, I developed a presentation about the skills and knowledge needed by victim advocates and also revised the content of our four victimology courses. Through the years, all four courses have obviously changed and the content expanded considerably, but the basic format is essentially the same for these courses. Now, the various academic programs have added other courses to expand the field's content into related and needed areas.

This reflection was precipitated by the fact that four of us from the Joint Center (Tom Underwood, Bernadette Muscat, Toni Dupont-Morales, and myself) did the basic academy ("Foundation in Victim Services") for the state of Oklahoma last week. In my many years in this field, it was one of the best with which I have been involved. Being the type of person I am, I tried to figure out why it was so satisfying to me, and why the advocate/student's responses included such critical analysis and numerous "ah ha" moments. It was a truly enjoyable process the entire week. All four of us confirmed our usual judgment that working with victim advocates in the field is almost always more rewarding than our regular students; we all enjoy our students, but there is an exponential difference in the learning/teaching experience.

At one point early in my career, I never expected to have a Victimology/Victim Services Major or students; then later (1995 or so), I expected to have majors all over the United States. For a history buff, I am obviously very poor at predicting the future. Neither became true.

However, while the quantity of education and training programs has not changed much since 2000, the quality has-thanks to the hard work of many in academe and that of the NVAA and SVAA faculties. We have solidified our content into a clear, developing body of knowledge. We are now basing it on credible research-not on hearsay, untested practices, or even "best practices." Another way of stating this is that we have our own research now in victimology; before we were borrowing from numerous other fields-only with some success.

I think the major change is the incorporation of adult learning techniques in which the "learner" is trusted to make the connections and to provide critical analysis. The "teachers" have to give up covering all their material in order to ask the critical questions and then wait to see where the process leads. Those teaching have to buy into the concept that content and process are both important. This is an extremely "hard sell" in academe as I have found, especially in the natural sciences, but for those of us working in an applied field, it is an important transition.

Last week, both the faculty and the victim advocates were focused, energetic, and open to the process of learning and critical analysis. All four of us were fortunate; it is tragic that this does not happen more often in the classroom. This brings me back to one of my original purposes in creating the Victim Services Summer Institute: getting advocates and students in the same room so the learning process for both is expanded and improved.

email: jcvvs@washburn.edu

phone: 785-670-1399

web: http://www.washburn.edu/ce/jcvvs/