Mr. Jeff Dion has led the charge for expanding the scope of victims’ rights for more than a decade. Focused on enacting high-level legislative changes, Jeff Dion has successfully pushed 13 victims’ rights bills into law over the course of his career. Thanks to Jeff Dion’s efforts, crime victims now enjoy the right to be present in the courtroom during criminal trials, the right to confer with the prosecution and offer oral impact testimony at the time of sentencing, and the expansion of the legal definition for the term “victim.” Jeff Dion’s work also led to a civil cause of action against stalking and an expansion of the civil statutes on the limitations of victim rights.

Jeff Dion’s work in victims’ rights extends beyond legislation to encompass education and legal training as well. A talented and widely sought lecturer, Jeff Dion, as Director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association, an affiliate of the National Center for Victims of Crime, has spoken to attorneys, judges, mental healthcare providers, police officers, and elected officials in 37 different states. Following the September 11th terrorist attacks, Jeff Dion helped over 1,500 victims of the attack, as well as surviving family members, understand their legal options for compensation. Jeff Dion also helped train more than 2,000 attorneys to help them understand the effects of victimization and the special needs of attack survivors.

Beyond his work with the National Center for Victims of Crime, Jeff Dion maintains a number of prominent affiliations with victims’ rights-related task forces and policy groups. Currently, Jeff Dion serves on the Virginia Criminal Justice Services Board, to which he was appointed in 2002 by Gov. Mark Warner and again in 2006 by Gov. Tim Kaine, the Victim Services Grant Review Committee, and the Victim-Witness Issues Advisory Committee. Jeff Dion also serves on the Board of Directors for the Sexual Assault Victim Advocacy Service of Prince William County, Inc., a rape crisis center that serves close to 500 victims of sexual abuse every year. He is an advisory board member and former board member for the National Association to Prevent the Sexual Abuse of Children.