Writer: VOCA cuts will ‘decimate’ services provided to crime victims

Dear editor, I am writing on behalf of Judicare Legal Aid to shed light on the situation facing victim service providers in northern Wisconsin, due to impending cuts to the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding. Simply, these cuts will decimate the services provided to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence across Wisconsin.

VOCA funds support victim service providers, offering crucial services like safety planning, counseling, crisis intervention and legal advocacy. However, devastating cuts will begin in October 2024, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) expecting to award only $13 million per year – a 70-percent reduction from the current $44.5 million per year. These cuts could reduce the total number of agencies funded from 135 down to just 52 statewide.

These cuts will devastate victim services across the state, including programs like our direct legal services for victims of crime. In 2023, Judicare received over 5,350 applications for service and was forced to deny three out of every five. These cuts will further limit our ability to work with sexual assault (SA) and domestic violence (DV) victim service providers to offer legal help across northern Wisconsin. Even at existing funding levels, victim services fall short of meeting the needs of survivors in Wisconsin. The reductions in VOCA funding will create a crisis in sexual and domestic violence services and prevention. The removal of increases for both DV and SA funding in the last state budget exacerbates this loss.

The upcoming hearing on the VOCA Funding Bill (SB 877) on Thursday, Jan. 25, at 11 a.m., will allow Judicare and other service providers to talk about how VOCAcuts will severely impact our ability to provide direct legal services to crime victims in the Northwoods.

Beth Ann Richlen

Executive director, Judicare Legal Aid Wausau