IowaVINE(Victim Information and Notification Everyday) is now available to victims who want current information about the status and location of an incarcerated offender.
IowaVINE is a free and confidential program service of the Attorney General’s Crime Victim Assistance Division. The program monitors the status and location of offenders in County Jails and Iowa Department of Corrections prison facilities.
IowaVINE provides you with instant email and telephone access to public information about incarcerated offenders in Iowa. In addition, you can register for automated telephone and/or computer notification when a specific offender is transferred, released, escaped, returned from escape, or dead.
IowaVINE registrationisNOTthe same asstatutory victim rights registrationthrough the prosecuting County Attorney for notification from throughout the criminal justice system. Both methods of registration result in victim notification, but there are significant differences.
- Only victims of crimes higher than a simple misdemeanor are eligible forstatutory victim rights registrationwith the County Attorney for criminal justice system notification.
- Victims of all crimes and other interested parties, in other words everyone, are eligible forIowaVINE registration.
There is no fee for either method of registration. And you may, if eligible, want to register both with the County Attorney for statutory victim rights notification and with IowaVINE for automated victim notification.
See the following chart for the differenced betweenIowaVINE registrationandstatutory victim rights registration.
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Statutory Rights Registration |
IowaVINE Registration |
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Who can register? |
A victim of a crime except crimes that are simple misdemeanors |
Any victim of crime and any interested person |
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How do I register? |
In writing on a form provided by the prosecuting County Attorney |
By phone or on the Internet with IowaVINE |
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What is the registration for? |
Notice of dispositions, court dates, and some DOC status changes for the offender. |
Notice of status change for an incarcerated offender and community supervision closures |
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Who will I be registered with? |
The County Attorney, Clerk of Court, Department of Corrections, Attorney Generals Criminal Appeals Division, and possibly with the Board of Parole |
The IowaVINE automated notification system operated at the Crime Victim Assistance Division |
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Who will know I am registered? |
Registration is confidential and only the justice professionals listed above will know you are registered |
Registration is confidential and you may register anonymously |
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How will I be notified? |
By official letter and in certain circumstances a telephone call. |
By automated telephone call and/or email. |
For further information about IowaVINE registration, contact the Crime Victim Assistance Division at 1-800-373-5044.
For more information about your statutory victim rights registration, contact your County Attorney or the prosecutor in the case or the Restorative justice Program in the Iowa Department of Corrections at 1-800-778-1182.
IowaVINE 1-888-7-IAVINE (1-888-742-8463) www.vinelink.com
