Jackson Free Press

Mississippi's victims and survivors of violent crime have a wide network of support available to them, including a state compensation fund, Attorney General Jim Hood said today, speaking at an awards ceremony and rally to commemorate National Crime Victims' Week.

"We want victims to know that people care about them," Hood said. "There are agencies and nonprofit organizations that are all over the state that can help them. Many people who have a family member murdered--they haven't heard that there are organizations (for them)."

Hood called his office "the hub" for a victim's network that includes victim-assistance counselors in all district attorneys' offices and nonprofit organizations. Jackson-based domestic-violence education nonprofit Heather's T.R.E.E. was among the organizations honored for its work with crime victims.

Hood also highlighted the state's Crime Victim Compensation Division, which provides innocent crime victims and their families with financial assistance. Victims can apply for compensation for counseling, medical expenses, funeral expenses, lost wages and other costs.

"We gave out $3.5 million last year, not one penny of taxpayer money," Hood said. "It all came from the criminals themselves. They paid into that victims' compensation fund."

The fund draws its money from federal grants and state fees assessed on convicted criminals. The federal grant money also comes from fees paid by federal offenders, said Amy Walker, assistant director of the division,.

The Mississippi attorney general's office has managed the compensation fund since 2004, taking over from the Department of Finance and Administration. Walker said that the switch made sense, as most other states maintain their victims' compensation funds in their attorney general's offices. The Attorney General's office, with its close ties to local law enforcement, can more easily access law enforcement records to check the backgrounds of applicants, Walker said.

"I'm extremely pleased with the advances we've made since we came over to the attorney general's office," Walker said. "We have increased the maximums on the benefits that were already in place, (and) we've added brand-new benefits."

Since 2009, the division's Address Confidentiality Program has allowed eligible victims of domestic violence the opportunity to keep their new addresses private, to better protect themselves from abusers and stalkers. Under the program, the attorney general's office maintains records of a participant's confidential address, but the address is otherwise kept private and is exempt from public records requests.

"It's not anything as fancy as (federal) witness protection, but it adds an extra layer of protection for a victim who is trying desperately to keep their new location a secret from the perpetrator," Walker said.