Increasing Legal Access to Rural Victims of Crime

While many of us think of rural America as idyllic, data tells a story of high rates of victimization and myriad hurdles, including a lack of services, limited infrastructure to aid access to the services that do exist, geographic challenges, and language access.  Gaps in the availability of legal services in rural areas are particularly profound – although 20% of the country lives in rural areas, just 2% of small law practices are located in rural areas.

To address this gap, the federal Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) envisioned a national effort that would build upon existing models of victim services and use of technology to strengthen access to legal services, establish new no cost and low- and pro bono service delivery models, and expand community partnerships to holistically serve the legal needs of rural crime victims.  NCVLI was the recipient of this grant and through it had issued three subgrants. See Project Partners for more information about our subgrant partners. 

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This project is supported by Grant No. 2017-VF-GX-K130, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Project are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.