Victim Information and Notification Everyday for Appellate Cases of the Office of the Attorney General

The Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification (SAVIN) program (authorized by Pub.L. 111-8, and guided in part by the general principles of 42 U.S.C. §10603e) ensures victims of crime receive accurate and timely information regarding the status of offenders and events related to their cases. Through SAVIN, victims are able to participate in the judicial process and make sound decisions to protect themselves from further victimization while maintaining total anonymity. This information-sharing capability is also available to courts, corrections, and law enforcement officials.

The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC), in partnership with the Florida Office of the Attorney General, Department of Legal Affairs (DLA), will utilize its Fiscal Year 2009 Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification (SAVIN) Program to enhance and expand the Florida Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) program by adding automated notifications of upcoming judicial appellate proceedings to victims of crime through direct service activities and systems-level improvement. This expansion will allow the VINE notification system to be inclusive of all victims and permit the DLA to provide notification of judicial appellate proceedings. The DLA will achieve the aforementioned goal by: becoming an additional participating entity to utilize the current VINE service to integrate judicial appellate proceedings data; join an extensive network of cooperating agencies; and reach a group of victims served by no current notification system- judicial appellate victims and allowing victims access to information through VINE's toll-free number where they would register to obtain automated notification concerning a change of status of the offender including judicial appellate proceedings filed. Establishing a new VINE toll-free number option where judicial appellate victims could access offender specific information would assist the program in expanding VINE services for more crime victims. The grantee also proposes that crime victims who register for automatic notification for an offender and who have been scheduled for a judicial appellate proceeding, should be notified for one of the following events: notice of direct appeal, notice of oral argument, notification of the date, time, and location of the oral argument, notification of the appellate decision, notice of discretionary appeal, and notice of collateral attack. In addition to the new option, the judicial appellate victims will also receive the aforementioned notifications when calling the VINE toll-free number. In an effort to reach as many victims as possible, DLA will complete an extensive mailing campaign to inform victims, and community organizations statewide that have contact with victims, about the registration process and availability of this feature in the VINE system. Since many of the victims may already be registered in VINE, when calling about the status of a perpetrator, the victim will be given the option of registering to receive judicial appellate proceeding notification in addition to the options already available. To further educate the public, the regional victim advocates of DLA will present formational/training sessions statewide to victim advocate organizations, other victim advocates of local law enforcement, and victim advocates at the state attorney's offices within their regional assigned area. Additionally, information regarding the automated notification of judicial appellate proceedings will be included in the DLA statewide Victim Services Practitioner Designation training.

CA/NCF