W000782
Congress of the United States
Washington, DC, 20515
October 16, 2001
The Honorable John Ashcroft
Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:
We are writing to draw your attention to unmet crime victim service needs of family
members, friends, and colleagues of Massachusetts victims of the terrorist attacks at the World
Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.
Over 70 residents of Massachusetts were aboard the two flights that crashed into the
WTC. Massachusetts, through its proximity to New York City, is home to many family members
of victims who worked in the WTC. In addition, several of the companies that had office space in
the WTC were Boston-based companies. As a result, Massachusetts organizations and agencies
that provide service to victims of crime are providing needed assistance to hundreds of family
members, friends, and colleagues of victims of the September 11 attacks.
As you know, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) was established by the 1984
Victims of Crime Act and provides substantial funding to state victim assistance and
compensation programs. We urge you to consider allocating some funds from the $40 billion
emergency supplemental bill that Congress passed to respond to the terrorist attacks to OVC to
support critical victim services. OVC funds two major formula grant programs -- Victim
Compensation and Victim Assistance. Through these initiatives, it directs funding to victim
services programs on the front lines that provide specialized homicide bereavement, crisis
response, and hate crime victim services to the many families across the country who need and
will be needing services as a result of the attacks on September 11.
In Massachusetts, victim services programs were already stretched beyond their capacity
with the general crime victim population before September 11, but the demands being made on
these organizations since then are enormous. Without the assurance of additional federal or state
funding, Massachusetts crime victim service agencies have stepped up to meet the needs of the
families of the over 70 victims from our state on the two doomed flights that originated from
Boston's Logan Airport and the Massachusetts residents and companies in the WTC. Counselors
have logged tremendous hours of overtime working directly with families of victims; one agency
has established a Terrorist Attack Support Group; another has dispatched bilingual counselors to
schools to calm the special fears of immigrant children.
To meet the overwhelming and continuing demand for victim services in the wake of the
terrorist acts, agencies in Massachusetts and nationwide are in need of emergency funding. It is
our sincere hope that additional funding will be allocated to OVC for these purposes. We
appreciate your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
John F. Kerry Edward M. Kennedy
Edward J. Madrey Barney Frank
Richard E. Neal John W. Olver
Martin T. Meelan John F. Tierney
William Delahint James P. McGovern
Michael Capuano