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SCVAA > Academy Topics > Topic Abstracts > ProfessionalizationPrint

Professionalizing the Discipline of Victim Services

As an occupation, victim assistance is characterized by a variety of organizations and agencies with a wide range of functions, as well as by a variety of practitioners with diverse backgrounds, qualifications, and perceptions of practice. This diversity provides a challenge to the conceptualization and realization of victim assistance as a professional discipline.

Learning objectives include:

  • The dynamic concept of professions.
  • Characteristics of professions, especially as they pertain to victim assistance.
  • Barriers to the professionalization of victim assistance.
  • Professionalism as exhibited in fields other than victim assistance.
  • Practical applications in crime victim services.
The SC Victim Assistance Academy is sponsored by a grant from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Office of Justice Programs (State Victims Assistance Program #1W07023).  The grant was awarded to the Office of the Governor, State Office of Victim Assistance.  This is a collaborative project between SOVA, MUSC, and SCVAN.