Crime Victims’ Services Office.

(1) There is hereby created within the Department of Legal Affairs a Crime Victims’ Services Office, which shall be the organizational unit through which the department exercises its duties and responsibilities pursuant to this chapter.

(2) The Crime Victims’ Services Office is established for the following purposes:

(a) To emphasize the rights and needs of crime victims statewide.

(b) To ensure that the rights of victims are properly publicized and encouraged.

(c) To administer federally funded victim assistance services programs.

(d) To coordinate the flow of information between all agencies and organizations which provide services for victims of crime.

(e) To assist the development and administration of crime victim programs and services.

(f) To seek to identify the victims of crime and inform them of the provisions of this chapter.

(g) To serve as a clearinghouse for information relating to the problems encountered by the victims of crime.

(h) To enlist the assistance of public and voluntary health, education, welfare, and rehabilitation agencies or groups in a concerted effort to aid persons who are victims of crime.

(i) To assist public agencies and local governments to provide assistance for victims of crime.

(j) To act as an advocate for the victims of crime to obtain aid and services from public or private health, education, welfare, or rehabilitation agencies or groups to treat persons who have been victims of crime.

(k) To receive from the state attorney or from the law enforcement agencies involved such investigation and data, including confidential records, as will enable the department to determine if, in fact, a crime was committed or attempted, and the extent, if any, to which the victim or claimant was responsible for his or her own injury or death.

(l) To investigate all claims for awards filed with the department pursuant to this chapter, considering all other available programs providing valid and collectible benefits to the claimant, and to reinvestigate or reopen cases as the department deems appropriate and equitable.

(m) To require the submission of such records as are required and, when necessary, to direct medical examination of the victim or intervenor.