Ohio Code 5139.55 – Office of victims’ services
(A)(1) The office of victims’ services is hereby created within the release authority of the department of youth services. The office of victims’ services shall provide assistance to victims, victims’ representatives, and members of a victim‘s family. The assistance shall include, but shall not be limited to, all of the following:
Terms Used In Ohio Code 5139.55
- Another: when used to designate the owner of property which is the subject of an offense, includes not only natural persons but also every other owner of property. See Ohio Code 1.02
- Child: includes child by adoption. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Discharge: means that the department of youth services' legal custody of a child is terminated. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Release: means the termination of a child's stay in an institution and the subsequent period during which the child returns to the community under the terms and conditions of supervised release. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Release authority: means the release authority of the department of youth services that is established by section 5139. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Revocation: means the act of revoking a child's supervised release for a violation of a term or condition of the child's supervised release in accordance with section 5139. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Secure facility: means any facility that is designed and operated to ensure that all of its entrances and exits are under the exclusive control of its staff and to ensure that, because of that exclusive control, no child who has been institutionalized in the facility may leave the facility without permission or supervision. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Supervised release: means the event of the release of a child under this chapter from an institution and the period after that release during which the child is supervised and assisted by an employee of the department of youth services under specific terms and conditions for reintegration of the child into the community. See Ohio Code 5139.01
- Victim: means the person identified in a police report, complaint, or information as the victim of an act that would have been a criminal offense if committed by an adult and that provided the basis for adjudication proceedings resulting in a child's commitment to the legal custody of the department of youth services. See Ohio Code 5139.01
(a) If the court has provided the name and address of the victims of the child‘s acts to the department of youth services, notification that the child has been committed to the department, notification of the right of the victim or another authorized person to designate a person as a victim’s representative under section 5139.56 of the Revised Code and of the actions that must be taken to make that designation, and notification of the right to be notified of release reviews, pending release hearings, revocation reviews, and discharge reviews related to that child and of the right to participate in release proceedings under that section and of the actions that must be taken to exercise those rights;
(b) The provision of information about the policies and procedures of the department of youth services and the status of children in the legal custody of the department.
(2) The office shall make available information to assist victims of delinquent children on supervised release or in a secure facility.
(B) The office of victims’ services shall employ a victims administrator who shall administer the duties of the office. The victims administrator shall be in the unclassified civil service and a managing officer of the department. The office shall employ other staff members to assist the members of the release authority and hearing representatives in identifying victims’ issues, ensure that the release authority upholds the provisions of section 5139.56 of the Revised Code, and make recommendations to the release authority in accordance with policies adopted by the department.
(C) The office of victims’ services shall coordinate its activities with the chairperson of the release authority. The victims administrator and other employees of the office shall have full access to the records of children in the legal custody of the department in accordance with division (D) of section 5139.05 of the Revised Code.