22 U.S.C. § 2507c — Office of Victim Advocacy

Page 1006 TITLE 22—FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE § 2507c 1 So in original. Probably should be ‘‘Victim’’. for providing the services described in subsection (c)’’ before semicolon at end. Subsec. (a)(7) to (10). Pub. L. 115–256, § 303(2)–(4), added pars. (7) to (10). § 2507c. Office of Victim Advocacy (a) Establishment of Office of Victims 1 Advocacy (1) In general The President shall establish an Office of Victim Advocacy in Peace Corps headquarters headed by a full-time Victim’s Advocate who shall report directly to the Director. The Of- fice of Victim Advocacy may deploy personnel abroad when necessary to help assist victims. (2) Prohibition Peace Corps Medical Officers, Safety and Se- curity Officers, and program staff may not serve as Victim’s Advocates. The Victim’s Ad- vocate referred to in paragraph (1) may not have any other duties in the Peace Corps that are not reasonably connected to victim advo- cacy. (3) Exemption The Victim’s Advocate and any additional Victim’s Advocates shall be exempt from the limitations specified in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2) and paragraph (5) under section 2506(a) of this title. (b) Responsibilities (1) Victims of sexual assault The Office of Victim Advocacy shall help de- velop and update the sexual assault risk-re- duction and response training described in sec- tion 2507a of this title and the sexual assault policy described in section 2507b of this title, ensure that volunteers who are victims of sex- ual assault receive services specified in sec- tion 2507b(c) of this title, and facilitate their access to such services. (2) Other crimes In addition to assisting victims of sexual as- sault in accordance with paragraph (1), the Of- fice of Victim Advocacy shall assist volunteers who are victims of crime by making such vic- tims aware of the services available to them and facilitating their access to such services. (3) Priority The Office of Victim Advocacy shall give pri- ority to cases involving serious crimes, includ- ing sexual assault and stalking. (c) Status updates The Office of Victim Advocacy shall provide to volunteers who are victims regular updates on the status of their cases if such volunteers have opted to pursue prosecution. (d) Transition The Office of Victim Advocacy shall assist vol- unteers who are victims of crime and whose service has terminated in receiving the services specified in section 2507b(c) of this title re- quested by such volunteer. (e) Policymaking The Director of the Peace Corps shall include the head of the Office of Victim Advocacy in agency-wide policymaking processes in the same manner and to the same extent as the directors or associate directors of other offices within the Peace Corps. (Pub. L. 87–293, title I, § 8C, as added Pub. L. 112–57, § 2, Nov. 21, 2011, 125 Stat. 739; amended Pub. L. 115–256, title III, § 304, Oct. 9, 2018, 132 Stat. 3658.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 2018—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–256, § 304(1), (2), sub- stituted ‘‘Victim’s Advocate’’ for ‘‘victim advocate’’ and ‘‘Victim’s Advocates’’ for ‘‘victim advocates’’ wherever appearing. Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 115–256, § 304(3), amended subsec. (e) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: ‘‘This section shall cease to be effective on October 1, 2018.’’ § 2507d. Establishment of Sexual Assault Advi- sory Council (a) Establishment There is established a Sexual Assault Advisory Council (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Council’’). (b) Membership The Council shall be composed of not fewer than 8 and not more than 14 individuals selected by the President who are returned volunteers (including volunteers who were victims of sexual assault and volunteers who were not victims of sexual assault) and governmental and non- governmental experts and professionals in the sexual assault field. At least one member should be licensed in the field of mental health and have prior experience working as a counselor or therapist providing mental health care to sur- vivors of sexual assault in a victim services agency or organization. No Peace Corps em- ployee shall be a member of the Council. The number of governmental experts appointed to the Council shall not exceed the number of non- governmental experts. (c) Functions; meetings The Council shall meet not less often than an- nually to review the sexual assault risk-reduc- tion and response training developed under sec- tion 2507a of this title, the sexual assault policy developed and implemented under section 2507b of this title, and such other matters related to sexual assault the Council views as appropriate, to ensure that such training and policy conform to the extent practicable to best practices in the sexual assault field. To carry out this sub- section, the Council may conduct case reviews and is authorized to have access, including through interviews, to current and former vol- unteers (to the extent that such volunteers pro- vide the Peace Corps express consent to be inter- viewed by the Council), to volunteer surveys under section 2507e of this title, to all data col- lected from restricted reporting, and to any other information necessary to conduct case re- views, except that the Council may not have ac- cess to any personally identifying information associated with such surveys, data, or informa- tion.