Section 21-M:8-b Office of Victim/Witness Assistance.
I. In this section:
(a) ""Victim'' means a person who suffers direct or threatened physical, emotional or psychological harm as the result of the commission or the attempted commission of a crime. ""Victim'' also includes the immediate family of any victim who is a minor or who is incompetent, or the immediate family of a homicide victim, or the surviving partner in a civil union.
(b) ""Witness'' means any person who has been or is expected to be summoned to testify for the state in a criminal case or who by reason of having relevant information is subject to call or likely to be called as a witness for the state, whether or not any action or proceeding has yet been commenced.
II. There is hereby established within the criminal justice bureau of the department of justice, the office of victim/witness assistance. The office shall provide information and services to victims and witnesses in criminal cases prosecuted by the attorney general and shall develop and coordinate a statewide victim/witness rights information program. The victim/witness rights information program shall:
(a) Provide victims or their representatives with information about the availability of social and medical services, especially emergency and social services available in the victim's immediate geographical area.
(b) Provide victims or their representatives with information about how to contact the appropriate county office of victim/witness assistance and the appropriate state or county prosecutor's office.
(c) Gather information from victim/witness assistance programs throughout the country and make that information available to county offices of victim/witness assistance, police departments, hospitals, prosecutor's offices, the courts, and other agencies that provide assistance to victims of crime.
(d) Sponsor conferences to bring together personnel working in the field of victim/witness assistance to exchange methods and procedures for improving and expanding services to victims.
(e) Provide victims or their representatives with information about the availability of and access to restorative justice programs including victim-initiated victim-offender dialogue programs offered through the department of corrections.
III. The office of victim/witness assistance shall seek to coordinate efforts with the county attorneys and the various law enforcement agencies in the provision of information and services to victims and witnesses.
IV. Notwithstanding RSA 9:17-c, salary and benefits moneys from any existing vacancy in the department of justice may be used to fund the positions in the office of victim/witness assistance.
Source. 1987, 310:1, eff. July 1, 1987. 2003, 319:37, eff. July 1, 2003. 2009, 283:3, 5, eff. Sept. 27, 2009.