"Quality Victim Advocacy: A Field Guide," is the title of a book published this month by David L. Voth of Bluffton.

Crime victim advocacy is a subject that Voth come into contact with daily as director of Crime Victim Services, Lima.

The author said that the field guide explores the needs of crime victims and how to create and evaluate victim-centered services.

The book is published by workplaypublishing.com, a Bluffton book publishing company. The book is also available from Amazon.com, bn.com, e-junkie.com (marketplace), workplaypublishing.com and other bookstores.

In 2008, Voth began writing a crime victim services guide to share his expertise with local and state service professionals. Even before the manuscript was finished, Voth discovered that his peers outside of Ohio considered his book worthwhile and necessary, and he earned eight endorsements from national victim service leaders prior to publication.

Voth drew upon his long and successful tenure to produce his field guide. Since 1985 he has been director of Crime Victim Services, a comprehensive victim advocacy agency. He is a state and national trainer on outcome measures and victim rights, and is a founding board member of the National Victims Constitutional Amendment Network. Special interests include victims with disabilities, drunk driving, sexual assault, domestic violence, spiritual issues, and victim offender mediation.

Voth has been a victiim offender mediator and victim service provider for 25 years. In 1981, the second Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP) in the United States, was launched by churches in Bluffton, Pandora and Elida. Those churches included First Mennonite, Bluffton, St. John Mennonite, Pandora, and Salem Mennonite, Elida. Voth expanded the agency to be a comprehensive victim advocacy program serving victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, violence, homicide and property crimes.

Voth is a 1978 Bluffton University graduate. He holds a master's in peace studies from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind. He and his wife, Laura, live in rural Bluffton.

Workplay Publishing is a Bluffton-based publishing company seeking excellent fiction and nonfiction by local authors. To read Workplay's submission guidelines or to learn more about the growing independent publishing market, go to workplaypublishing.com.