Homicide & Other Violent Crimes
Our Services
Helping People Navigate the Criminal Justice System
We work with families of homicide victims, as well as victims and survivors of other violent crimes.
Our goal is to ensure survivors’ rights, safety, and healing are given priority and quality care. We understand these traumatic events often carry great physical, emotional and financial harm. Our Crime Victim Advocates can work with victims and survivors as long as needed. Our services are completely free and confidential. We can travel to meet with you because we’re mobile. If you’re unable to get to our office, we’ll come to you.
What Our Services Can Look Like
Our advocates help people throughout the court process by attending trials and communicating with law enforcement. We’re also able to help people through some emotionally difficult aspects of experiencing homicide, like listening to 911 calls and reviewing body cam footage from the responding officers. We help victims of violent crimes navigate trials, apply for crime victim compensation, regain emotional stability, and much more. The list below encompasses some of what we do, but please know, we’re here for you in whatever you need.
- 24/7 Emergency Crisis Support
- Funeral advocacy
- Assistance with immediate questions and concerns
- Helping connect with law enforcement
- Helping connect with prosecution
- Assistance with financial compensation forms for crime related expenses
- Victims’ rights
- Victim notification and safety planning
- Personal advocacy and accompaniment
- Criminal justice process information
- Transportation
- Court accompaniment
- Victim impact statement assistance
- Advocacy with parole hearings
- Referrals & resources
- Emotional Support
- Support Groups
What Are Other Crimes?
When reading “other crimes”, many people are left wondering what that means and if we can help them. While the list below is not all-inclusive, it’s a good starting point on what some other crimes are. If someone has been the victim of a crime that is not listed below, they can still call us. We want to ensure every person gets the help and support they deserve.
- Arson
- Assault
- Attempted Murder
- Burglary
- Child Abuse
- Domestic Abuse
- Hit & Run
- Hit & Run Homicide
- Homicide Witness
- Human Trafficking
- Kidnapping
- Murder
- Reckless Driving
- Robbery
- Sexual Assault
- Vehicle as a weapon
- Vehicular Homicide
- Vehicular Assault
- Others
Victims’ Rights in Iowa
Crime victims have rights in Iowa. Our Crime Victim Advocates can help explain your rights and answer any questions you may have about them. Your primary rights under Iowa law include:
- The right to a victim advocate.
- The right to apply for crime victim compensation.
- The right to notification regarding the criminal case.
- The right to victim restitution from the offender.
- The right to a victim impact statement.
What is Crime Victim Compensation?
Experiencing a crime can have a lot of emotional and physical consequences. What people don’t always realize is that it comes with a lot of financial burden, too. We help a lot of crime victims apply for crime victim compensation. It’s a program developed to help victims with costs related to homicide and violent crimes. Some expenses eligible for reimbursement may include, but are not limited to:
- Funeral expenses
- Lost wages
- Counseling
- Medical expenses
- Crime scene clean-up
- Child or dependent care
- Housing/shelter expenses