Victim-Witness Assistance
Join us in commemorating National Crime Victims’ Rights Week April 23-29, 2023!
Embedded in our office’s mission to do justice is to prioritize responding to the needs and honoring the rights of crime survivors. When we listen to survivors, we learn that experiencing victimization can be traumatizing, or can compound existing trauma, or can even induce new trauma in having to participate in the criminal justice system. We believe that elevating crime survivor voices, respecting their experiences and upholding their rights is paramount to holding offenders accountable. It is how we can help deepen healing and recovery.
Please take a moment to listen to some survivor voices
Mission: to respond to the needs and uphold the rights of victims and witnesses.
The Victim-Witness Unit responds to the needs and upholds the rights of victims and witnesses by implementing and carrying out the requirements of Federal Law and Department of Justice regulations. The United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington is committed to ensuring that federal crime victims are afforded all the rights to which they are entitled by law.
Being the victim of, or witness to, a crime can be a difficult and even devastating experience. Victims and witnesses may feel frustrated, confused or overwhelmed trying to negotiate unfamiliar ways of the justice system alone. The Victim-Witness Unit is here to help.
The Victim-Witness Unit is designed to provide federal crime victims and witnesses with information, case status, education, services and support during federal prosecution. Our office is committed to ensuring that victims and witnesses of crime are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect throughout their contact with the federal criminal justice system.
For more information, please click on one of the following links:
Note: The Victim-Witness Unit cannot represent anyone personally, or provide legal advice or direct compensation. However, it will advocate on the behalf of a victim or witness as far as the law allows.
If you have been the victim of a federal crime or have been called as a witness in a criminal federal proceeding, and/or if you have any reason to believe your rights have not been honored please contact the Office of Victims' Rights Ombudsman.
Contact Information
Victim-Witness Unit
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington
Seattle, Washington
Toll-free: 1-800-797-6722 or (206) 553-7970