National Helpline Expands Services to Reach Spanish Speaking Victims of Crime

Hispanics Represent 11 Percent of Victims of Violent Crime. New service allows crime victim advocates to assist victims in more than 180 languages

Washington, DC – The National Center for Victims of Crime today announced that its victim service toll-free Helpline, for the first time since the Helpline was established 10 years ago, will be able to serve callers in Spanish and 180 other languages.

By calling the National Center’s Helpline, 1-800-FYI-CALL, victims of crime can receive help dealing with the impact of crime, accessing victim compensation, making safety plans, understanding their legal rights, finding an attorney, and locating local services. The National Center for Victims of Crime maintains a database with almost 8,000 organizations across the country that serve crime victims, many of which provide multi-lingual services.

“With one single phone call, victims of crime receive a level of support rarely found elsewhere,” said Susan Herman, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime. “We’re delighted to now be able to reach Spanish-speaking victims whose needs go unmet because of language barriers.

The Latino population grew nationally by 60 percent during the 1990s and approximately one in eight people in the United States is of Hispanic origin, according to the U.S. Census. In the year 2000, persons of Hispanic origin experienced 11 percent of all violent crime against persons age 12 or older in the United States. Hispanics were victims of about 690,470 rapes, sexual assaults, robberies, and aggravated and simple assaults.

The National Center partnered with Language Line Services to provide professional, on-call translators for more than 180 different languages. Translation takes part via a conference call that links the National Center advocate, the victim, and the Language Line Services translator. As with all callers to the Helpline, the confidentiality of anyone using the service is assured.

The National Center for Victims of Crime is dedicated to forging a national commitment to help victims of crime rebuild their lives.

Rel. No. 02-14