Victim Services – Victims of Crime
Providing Peace of Mind for Victims of Crime
We empower crime victims and concerned citizens with confidential inmate custody status alerts
Victims of crime need immediate and long-term safety and support in a variety of areas, including emotional, physical, financial, psychological, and legal services. In addition to the victim, a crime impacts their extended network of family and friends, including parents/guardians, relatives, advocates, and support providers.
While coping from the after-effects of a crime, victims are often fearful of re-victimization. Not knowing when their offender could be released from custody can leave them feeling extremely powerless and vulnerable.
To start the healing process, it is critical that victims receive timely access to accurate custody status information. Support doesn’t end with an offender’s incarceration.
24/7 Inmate status alerts and support services
VINE® is the nation’s leading automated victim notification service, empowering victims and concerned citizens with offender incarceration information, real-time alerts, and access to relevant victim assistance. VINE is a solution that lets victims of crime and other concerned citizens access timely and reliable information regarding inmates. It is offered free of charge to registrants, is completely confidential, and features multiple language support.
Offering peace of mind, VINE gives victims the option to call a toll-free telephone number, visit www.vinelink.com, or use the VINELink™ mobile app to anonymously check on an inmate’s custody status. Victims can also register to receive automated notifications about changes in status via their choice of format: phone, email, or text. TTY (hearing impaired) service is also available.
You are not alone
VINE provides custody status information to over 25 million people each year. In this video Chief Justice (Retired) Richard Barajas, Executive Director of NOVA (National Organization for Victim Assistance) tells a powerful story of his brother’s devastating murder, and how VINE gave him a much-needed sense of peace and security.
VIEW ADDITIONAL VIDEOS IN THIS SERIES :
There were over 4.2 million registrations, 41.2 million notifications sent and over 87.1 million searches for inmates and service providers on the VINE platform during the past year.
Enhanced VINE: A victim’s link to safety
The Enhanced VINE platform leverages cutting-edge technology to give crime victims complete control and the ability to identify and directly connect with relevant service providers. Going beyond notifications, Enhanced VINE* enables a greater degree of information-sharing between public servants, victims, and service providers. Last year Enhanced VINE connected victims of crime to assistance through over 11.4 million searches.
Enhanced VINE Features:
- A nationwide service-provider directory
- “Guide me,” a self-guided workflow that directs users to appropriate service providers
- A customizable inmate “watch list”
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology
*Enhanced VINE participation varies by state.
VINE Resources
Other VINE Solutions
VINE Protective Order helps keep victims of crime informed by automatically notifying them when protective orders have been served against a respondent.
VINE Courts is a powerful tool that can remind court staff, personnel and law enforcement officers of upcoming court appearances reducing the amount of ‘no-shows.’
24-Hour Assistance
Questions after normal business hours? Our CustomerFirst Center is equipped to answer common product-related questions. Call 1-866-277-7477 at any time.