Highlights

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• In 2008, 766 victim service providers and 5 agencies offering only criminal injuries compensation programs or other financial benefits programs to victims of crime took part in the Victim Services Survey. The largest proportion were police-based agencies (40%).
• From April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008, 686 victim service providers helped almost 406,000 victims.
• Nearly 9,900 victims were served by a victim services agency on the Survey snapshot day, May 28, 2008. The majority of victims who received assistance from a victim services agency had experienced a violent crime.
• The types of assistance that were most often provided directly by victim service agencies included general information (95%), emotional support (93%), liaising with other agencies on behalf of clients (91%), information on the criminal justice system (91%), and public awareness and prevention (90%).
• Among the services offered through referrals to other agencies, long-term housing (87%), child protection services (86%), assistance finding housing (79%), emergency shelter (78%) and health care (75%) were most frequent.
• While most victim service providers were able to accommodate clients with physical (95%) or mental (88%) disabilities, lower proportions were able to provide services to victims with hearing impairments (67%) or visual impairments (63%).