Measuring Outcomes in Response to Victims of Crime

Defining and designing the most useful and impactful measures for the outcomes of crime victim services is an essential step to assess the effectiveness and quality of those services for victims, to justify funding allocations and demonstrate responsible stewardship of funds, and to advocate for additional resources as necessary. Outcome measurement helps move the field from measuring level of effort in victim response (outputs) towards measuring the impacts of those efforts. Important considerations in outcome measure selection and design include identifying the key outcomes and impacts desired, the preciseness and accuracy of the measures selected to capture those outcomes, the on-the-ground practicality of collecting meaningful data for those measures without creating undue burden. This webinar will be useful for victim services professionals, evaluators, academics, and funders alike.

This webinar will present three federally funded projects examining the development of appropriate outcome measures for victim response. The first two presentations will showcase conceptual modeling processes that were undertaken to define the ultimate goals of services and how provision of those services is intended to promote those goals. “What Constitutes Success? Evaluating Legal Services for Victims of Crime” is a project to measure outcomes related to law enforcement responses to domestic/dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. “Measuring Success in the Criminal Justice System’s Response to VAWA Crimes: A Pilot Project” is related to legal services for victims of crime. “Developing a Self-Report Survey to Measure the Impact of Victim Services on Victims’ Lives” will encompass a compilation of existing work around logic models and outcome measures for victim responses representing a larger spectrum of victim services, which will culminate in the development of a standardized methodology and set of instruments to measure outcomes for victims across all types of victim service providers. Presentations will be followed by time for Q&A and discussion.

Presentations:

• What Constitutes Success? Evaluating Legal Services for Victims of Crime
  • Karen Souza and Kris Lugo-Graulich, Justice Research and Statistics Association
  •  Meg Garvin, National Crime Victim Law Institute
• Measuring Success in the Criminal Justice System’s Response to VAWA Crimes: A Pilot Project
  • Elizabeth Snell and Sarah Goan, University of Southern Maine
• Developing a Self-Report Survey to Measure the Impact of Victim Services on Victims’ Lives
  • Lynn Langton and Stacey Cutbush, RTI International
  • Bailey Maryfield, Justice Research and Statistics Association

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