Important Regulations for Teleservices

Below are important laws and regulations pertaining to telehealth and teleservices. It is important to know and follows these federal regulations and policies when conducting teleservices.

Strategies for Virtual Implementation of Victims’ Rights

Each state has a Victims’ Bill of Rights and other rights relevant to all victims, and to specific survivor populations. These rights are legally afforded rights to victims of crime that may include things like the right to a victim advocate, the right to not be excluded from criminal proceedings related to victimizations, and the right to legal protection under the law. It is important for victim advocates to remember that teleservice delivery should not impact or infringe on victim’s rights; but rather serve a mechanism to improve delivery and communication with victims who may have barriers to traditional services.

Below are some tips and tricks for identifying ways to virtually implement victim’s rights initiatives:

I. Virtual Victim Impact Statements

Victims have the opportunity in legal proceedings to provide a victim impact statement. Part of this process may involve support in creating or drafting a victim impact statement, as well as virtual delivery of statements.

Introduction

Victim impact statements (VIS) provide victims and survivors with the opportunity to tell the criminal or juvenile court—including judges and/or juries—about the financial, emotional/psychological, physical, social and spiritual impact of the crime on their families and them. VIS provide victims with the opportunity to have vital input into sentencing decisions and to be validated as people who were harmed by crime. When a criminal defendant is convicted of a crime by a judge or jury or agrees to a plea agreement, or a juvenile offender is adjudicated, the VIS is provided to the court at the time of sentencing or adjudication.

VIS are mandated by laws affecting criminal courts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and at the Federal level.

VSPs must be aware of state laws and their jurisdiction’s court rules governing the implementation of VIS, for example:

• Are VIS included within the pre-sentence investigation (PSI) report (usually prepared by the Probation Department)?
• Are VIS implemented in coordination with the prosecutor/state’s attorney/U.S. Attorney and victim/witness staff?
  • In both cases cited above, does the court allow for video VIS?
  • If “yes,” are there any court policies or procedures to guide survivors in creating video VIS?
• Are there any court rules governing the use of video VIS (see below)?
• What is the court’s preferred VIS format (see below)?

Victim Impact Statement Formats Vary Across Jurisdictions

Preceding technology applications to support survivors in implementing their right to be heard, it is important to note that there is no one, universal VIS format. Some prosecutors’ and U.S. Attorneys’ offices provide guidelines, as well as support from their victim/witness staff, to help victims and survivors complete their VIS. In 1998, the OVC National Victim Assistance Academy developed a model victim impact statement that has been updated over the past 25 years. (LINK TO STANDARDIZED FORMAT – see page 3) This model can be easily adapted to meet a state’s laws or jurisdiction’s policies regarding VIS.

Technology Applications to Facilitate Victim Impact Statements

Both system and community-based VSPs often help survivors understand their right to be heard, and exercise that right in a way that is most effective for the court’s sentencing proceedings. Once victims and survivors are aware of their right to be heard by the court at sentencing and the recommended format for their VIS, technology applications relevant to VSPs include:

• Private communications via telephone and email that provide advice, upon request from victims, about how to complete their VIS and the content of the VIS
• Use of secure screen-sharing capabilities to review the VIS, and to provide any recommendations to strengthen its content
• If VIS are to be submitted to the court electronically, providing victims with guidance about how to facilitate this process

Video Victim Impact Statements

Many states allow victims to provide videotaped VIS. Though used more often in the context of parole hearings to minimize the physical, emotional, and financial burden placed on victims due to repeated parole hearings, videotaped impact statements have also been used when victims are otherwise unavailable to present such statements in court. The best examples are in cases where:

• The victim/surviving family members have concern for their personal safety or security, and do not want to face the convicted defendant in-person.
• The victim is deceased, and surviving family members wish to help the court understand the devastating impact of their murder.
• The victim is physically incapable of attending sentencing proceedings (e.g., they are hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated by injuries they received as a result of the crime).
• The victim is physically incapable of attending sentencing proceedings (e.g., they are hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated by injuries they received as a result of the crime)

Video Victim Impact Statements at Parole

Increasingly, paroling authorities allow for video VIS for their consideration prior to or in conjunction with parole release hearings. This supports victim autonomy in discussing the long-term impact of the crime on them, and provides a venue for victim input when the crime survivor has concerns about personal safety or security, pending the release of their offender.

For example, here is an overview of the Tennessee Board of Parole’s process for video victim impact statements, which is supported by Tennessee state law.

II. Automated Victim/Survivor Notification

Nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia sponsor some type of automated victim/survivor notification system or service. These include statewide systems that encompass jails, courts and/or Departments of Corrections (prison systems); and systems that are jurisdiction-specific (city or county jails and/or courts).

Such automated systems require that victim services and allied professionals:

• Ensure that eligible victims are provided with information about their rights to notification (it’s important to never assume that some other professional has done this).
• Be knowledgeable about the types of victim notification that are included within the system (see “The Range of Victims’ Statutory Rights to Notice: 75 Rights, Hearings and Events”).
• Provide support to victims and survivors who may need help registering for automated notification services.

Similarly, VSPs must be aware of the scope of their community’s or state’s automated victim notification services, in order to be able to explain the system to survivors. Is the service/system:

• Free to survivors?
• Confidential?
• Available to survivors 24/7/365?
• Available for registrations via:
  • Telephone
  • Text
  • Email
  • An App
• Available in multiple languages?
• Able to provide referrals to registrants for additional information and services, via a toll-free telephone number or online portal?

It’s also very important to find out what happens when an automated system temporarily fails or experiences technical glitches. Will registrants be notified that the system is down? Is there a VSP whom they can contact if they need support, or have any concerns for their safety? If so, how do they reach them?

Finally, in high-profile cases, or in cases where survivors have concerns about their personal safety and security, victim service professionals can also register to receive the automated notification at the same time the survivor does, in order to quickly follow- up with support or additional safety planning.

“Tele-Fatigue”: Strategies for Burnout Prevention in Teleservice

“Tele-Fatigue”: Strategies for Burnout Prevention in Teleservice Burnout and fatigue are topics that are familiar to many in the victim/survivor services profession. While teleservice can address many barriers that victims face to accessing service, it can have an impact on service providers, particularly if they are spending the majority of their day connected to screens. In this section, we highlight some strategies for managing and mitigating burnout and fatigue when conducting teleservice calls.

Create pre- and post- Call Routines:

Creating a pre- and post- call routine can help teleservice providers to transition out of calls and away from screen time. This can also help to separate virtual meetings from personal space if providers are completing teleservice visits from home. This is also something you can share with clients to help them orient to meetings and transition out of meetings.

Example of Pre-Call Routine:

• Go to the bathroom
• Get a glass of water
• Pull up documents or programs and have ready for meeting
• Close out of unnecessary documents or programs
• Take a breath

Example of a Post-Call Routine:

• Save documents
• Update documentation
• Step away from screen
  • Take a five-minute walk or stretch break
  • Grab a cup of coffee or tea
  • Debrief with colleague or supervisor
• Move to a different physical space for a few minutes

Schedule Screen Breaks:

It can be very easy to schedule back-to-back video calls due to the convenience of teleservice. By intentionally scheduling small screen breaks, it can give your eyes a break from the backlighting of screens. These breaks do not need to be long. However, intentionally putting in a few minutes to step away from the screen can help with physical fatigue that sometimes occurs with full-days of teleservice.

Schedule non-screen meetings (if possible):

With teleservice, providers often feel tied to their desks. Natural breaks and movement that occur during in-person settings may not exist when providing teleservice (e.g. walks to waiting rooms, intra-office meetings with team members in various spaces). In some settings, you can create space for movement during the day. This could be through utilizing a stand-up or modified desk setting. In other settings, you might be able to adjust locations throughout the day to create movement in your routine.

Consider limiting meeting times:

While the convenience of video calls is widespread, prior to this technology, it was not uncommon for agencies to utilize phone conferences. For calls that are not victim-facing (e.g. internal), it may be helpful to schedule some meetings via phone or in-person to reduce screen time between teleservice meetings.

Guidelines for Virtual Trainings or Meetings

Planning for Technology Glitches:

While technology can serve as a great tool for trainings or meetings, just as with working clients, it can also create access barriers in different ways. Technology glitches happen, so it is important for service providers to expect these occurrences and plan ahead for how to address them.

Create tip sheets for your virtual platforms on basic troubleshooting techniques. It may also be helpful to have a team member on the training or meeting who is solely responsible for addressing connection issues or helping to problem-solve access barriers. Be sure to provide alternative contact mechanisms for attendees (e.g. email or phone) that will be monitored to ensure they are able to reach someone if they are unable to join the virtual meeting. Also, make sure that detailed minutes of meetings are documented and disseminated for people who may experience connectivity issues.

Incorporate Engaging Activities:

Often in virtual spaces, engaging activities are often forgotten. It can create a more engaging environment to utilize these tools available in many platforms. Some of these tools include:

• Providing a brief “homework” assignment that is either due to the meeting organizer prior to the meeting (to summarize “homework” feedback for presentation); or used as an icebreaker to begin the meeting (both strategies validate members’ input and pre- engages them in the topic of the meeting)
• Breakout sessions
• Polls feature
• Whiteboard feature
• Chat feature
• Utilizing other websites within the platform (e.g. PollEverywhere, Jamboards)

Note: Many platforms have free video tutorials that show you how to utilize some of the engagement features.

Take Scheduled and Frequent Breaks:

Scheduled breaks are particularly important for longer meetings or trainings. It is important to schedule time for attendees to step away from their computer. During in-person trainings, there are often natural breaks for coffee or going to the bathroom; however, this can be forgotten in a virtual world.

Distribute Written Materials:

If documents will be shared or referenced during the meeting or training, it is helpful for these to be made available to attendees prior to the meeting to allow them to take notes or reference. These can be shared via email or through a cloud program (e.g. Dropbox) where folks can return to those materials, as needed.

Request Video Engagement:

While there are circumstances that may prevent an attendee from being on-camera (e.g. connection issues), it can be very helpful in meeting and training scenarios to request that all attendees have video cameras turned “on.” This allows for participants to be more present, reduces likelihood for other distractions to occur during trainings, and allows for trainers/presents to gauge non-verbal cues from the audience.