Preparation

For the Week 5 assignment, Victim Advocacy and Social Policy, you explore a victim advocate role and examine how social policies can impact that role.

Search for a victim advocate role in your geographic area, or other nearby larger area if there are no victim advocates where you live. (Some smaller counties may not have victim advocates.) I LIVE IN SWAINSBORO, GA!!!

Victim advocates are placed in many types of organizations. For example, there may be a victim advocate who works in the police department and goes with officers on calls where there is a victim of violent crime. Victim advocates may have a role in a prosecutor’s office, a domestic violence or protective order court, a shelter, a hospital, or in a community agency such as a crisis center or a victim advocacy agency.

Assignment Resources

The scholarly articles listed below are samples that can help you to think about the practical and political challenges facing victim advocacy. Select two to read. If the articles pertain to your topic, you may use one of them if you choose. For your assignment, you will need a minimum of four sources:

At least one on a victim advocate role from the Internet.

At least one professional source, such as the textbook.

At least two scholarly articles.

If you use one of the articles below, you will also need to find at least one additional scholarly article from the library to support your work.

Bell, J. G., & Perry, B. (2015). Outside looking in: The community impacts of anti-lesbian, gay, and bisexual hate crime. Journal of Homosexuality, 62(1), 98–120.

Marques, O., Couture-Carron, A., Frederick, T. J., & Scott, H. (2020). The role of trust in student perceptions of university sexual assault policies and services. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 50(2), 39–53.

Scott, J. T., Ingram, A. M., Nemer, S. L., & Crowley, D. M. (2019). Evidence?based human trafficking policy: Opportunities to invest in trauma?Informed strategies. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(3/4), 348–358.

Spilsbury, J. C., Phelps, N. L., Zatta, E., Creeden, R. H., & Regoeczi, W. C. (2017). Lessons learned implementing community-based comprehensive case management for families surviving homicide. Child & Family Social Work, 22(3), 1161–1174.

Youstin, T. J., & Siddique, J. A. (2019). Psychological distress, formal help-seeking behavior, and the role of victim services among violent crime victims. Victims & Offenders, 14(1), 52–74.

Assignment Instructions

Once you have found your specific advocate role and your minimum of four sources, write an APA-formatted 4–5-page paper that addresses the following:

Explain the specific victim advocate role. (What agency does it represent? What victims does it serve? What are the duties of the role?)

Apply one or more psychological theories to understand the psychology of the relationship between the victim advocate and victim.

Identify more than one social policy that impacts the work of the victim advocate and explain how those social policies impact the work of the advocate and the victim. Provide examples to illustrate that impact.

Identify more than one type of support that a victim advocate needs to perform their jobs well and explain how those supports make a difference. Provide examples to illustrate. Be sure to use professional or scholarly sources of information that support your thinking about those supports.

Provide in-text citations in your work and matching references on a references page.