Meeting Victims' Needs Post-Conviction Study Group
January - June 2003
Contact: Michael Bischoff, michael@clarityfacilitation.com, 612-521-1889

In January 2003, staff from the Minnesota Department of Corrections and the Minnesota Center for Crime Victims convened the “Meeting Victims’ Needs Post-Conviction Study Group.”  The Study Group met six times, from January to June of 2003, with the following goals:

• Identify crime victims’ needs post conviction
• Review how those needs have been met in Minnesota so far (with ongoing or previous services and pilot projects)
• Learn what other states are doing to meet those needs
• Make recommendations about what Minnesota could do to better meet those needs

The report from the Study Group is available here, in Microsoft Word format::  
Download the full report from the Study Group (last modified: 1/15/04).  

Here is a PowerPoint slideshow that can be used as part of a presentation about the Study Group Report.

The report includes recommendations for many agencies in Minnesota.  Excerpts from the full report of recommendations for particular types of agencies are listed in their own Word documents in the following files: 

• Recommendations for the Minnesota Department of Corrections
• Recommendations for the Minnesota Office on Justice Programs
• Recommendations for All Probation Agencies in Minnesota
• Recommendations for Judges 
• Recommendations for Prosecutors 
• Recommendations for Victim Service Providers and Victim Advocates
• Recommendations for Local Law Enforcement

In addition to these groups of agencies, the report also contains at least one recommendation for each of the following groups:

• Restorative Justice Practitioners
• Colleges and Universities Offering Criminal Justice Programs
• County Court Administrators
• Statewide Corrections' Associations (Minnesota Association of County Probation Officers, Minnesota Corrections Association, Minnesota Community Corrections Association, Etc.)
• Minnesota Association of Jail Programs and Services AND Minnesota Sheriffs' Association

A central recommendation of the report is that all the agencies that interact with victims post-conviction collaborate to provide a holistic response to post-conviction victim needs.  A protocol for that collaboration is included in the report:

• Collaboration Protocol for Addressing Post-Conviction Victim Needs in Local Jurisdictions 

When downloading these files, you might be prompted for a password, but you don't need a password to access the files.  Just cancel the box that asks for a password.  If you have trouble downloading any of these files, please contact Michael Bischoff.