The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics, and Training and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division formed the Victim Assistance Team in 2017 to work on environmental crime victim initiatives. Efforts advanced, and the Environmental Crime Victim Assistance Program was announced during the 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. Until the creation of the program, there were no national protocols or dedicated federal resources to ensure that victims of environmental crimes were identified, notified, and treated consistently nationwide.
This program has furthered environmental justice by strengthening tools for the detection of environmental crimes in overburdened communities, improving outreach to the victims of such crimes, and ensuring that investigations are structured to provide maximum assistance to the U.S. Department of Justice in its exercise of prosecutorial discretion and pursuit of remedies that will guarantee adequate protection for those communities.
The Environmental Crime Victim Assistance Team received the Federal Service Award. Visit the OVC Gallery at [ Ссылка ] for more information about their work to support victims of crime.
