Dr. Young was a member of the founding board of the US National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA). She served as its President from 1979 to 1981, and was its Executive Director from that year until her retirement from that position in 2005.
She is a past President of the World Society of Victimology (WSV) and the President of the International Organization for Victim Assistance (IOVA). She was the chair of the 12th International Symposium on Victimology held in 2006 by the WSV.
Dr. Young has published some 200 articles, chapters, and monographs. She has traveled throughout the United States and to Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America speaking out on victim-related issues. She has served as a consultant to six different U.S. Cabinet-level Departments and the United Nations. The conferences and training seminars at which she has spoken in her travels now numbersover 2,500.
Her leadership in the victims" movement has brought her many honors. She was the youngest person ever to receive the Hans von Hentig Award of the WSV in 1985 for her scholarship. The World Federation of Mental Health established the Marlene A. Young Public Policy Award in honor of her contributions to public policy and presented it to her in 1987. In 1988, she received one of the annual awards of the Foundation for Justice Improvement. In 1992, she was specially honored at a Rose Garden ceremony held by President George Bush in commemoration of National Victim Rights Week. She became the fourth person (the only non-citizen) to receive the National Merit Service Award for contributions to victim assistance in New Zealand in 1997. In March, 1999 she was presented with the National Association of School Psychologists' President's Award. In April of the same year the Ohio Victim Witness Network created the Marlene A. Young Leadership Award. In 2002, the NOVA Board of Directors created an award of the same title to honor annually an extraordinary national leader in the cause of victim justice. In 2009 she was honored in her home state of Oregon for her leadership in victim advocacy.
Marlene A. Young's Resume
A Sample of Her Written Contributions to the Field
Other IOVA Board Members