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You are here: Protection from Abuse > Domestic Violence > Domestic Violence and the Criminal Justice System > Victim Witness Assistance Center

Victim Witness Assistance Center

Click on a topic below:

How the Victim Witness Assistance Center Can Help You

How to Find Your Victim Witness Assistance Center

If Someone Calls You About the Case

Plea Agreements

Dispositions of the Case

How the Victim Witness Assistance Center Can Help You
If you're a victim of a violent crime, you have the right to get money for medical expenses, lost wages, and counseling for yourself or your children.

The Victim Witness Assistance Center can help you get:

• Emergency services, like food, shelter, clothes, and transportation
• Counseling
• Someone to be with you at court
• Restitution

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How to Find Your Victim Witness Assistance Center
Click below to find your local Victim Witness Assistance Center:

Alameda through Lassen Counties
Los Angeles through Mendocino Counties
Merced through San Francisco Counties
San Joaquin through Trinity Counties
Tulare through Yuba Counties

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If Someone Calls You About the Case
If someone calls you about the case, ask the caller who they work with. Unless there's a specific court order that says you must talk with the caller, you have the right to talk to or refuse to talk to anyone. This includes:

• The defendant's attorney or investigator
• The public defender's office
• The district attorney's (or "DA's") office or the police

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Plea Agreements
Most domestic violence cases don't go to trial. Usually, there's a plea agreement.

This means the DA's office, the defense attorney, and the defendant agree on the charges and the conditions of the sentence.

Charges may be reduced or dismissed during the plea agreement process.

The victim can ask the DA's office to be notified about any plea agreement in a felony case involving violence.

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Disposition of the Case
The victim has the right to ask the district attorney (also called the "DA") about the outcome of the case.

If the defendant gets formal probation, the probation department will send the victim a written notice saying what the charges were and what sentence the judge gave the defendant.

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Last modified: 03/17/2008

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