Legal advocacy & education
For Crime VictimsOur mission is to empower and inform North Carolina’s crime victims and the public of crime victims’ rights through legal advocacy and targeted community education.
Our mission
Our mission is to empower and inform North Carolina’s crime victims and the public of crime victims’ rights through legal advocacy and targeted community education.
To fulfill this mission, we provide legal representation to enforce crime victims’ rights throughout the state of North Carolina and offer victims’ rights trainings to the state’s victims’ advocates, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, jurists, other legal and allied professionals, and the public.
Our story
In November of 2018, North Carolina’s voters passed Marsy’s Law, a constitutional amendment intended to bolster victims’ rights throughout the state’s criminal justice system.
North Carolina attorney, Diva Edel, founded C.H.A.N.C.E. in 2023 after identifying a gap in access to legal services related to Marsy’s Law and crime victims’ rights generally throughout the state.
As a crime victims’ rights legal organization, C.H.A.N.C.E. provides North Carolina’s crime victims with legal advocacy throughout the criminal justice process. In addition, C.H.A.N.C.E. increases victims’ access to justice through targeted community education for professionals and the public.
Services
For Victims
Consistent with the parameters of North Carolina’s Marsy’s Law, C.H.A.N.C.E. provides legal services to victims of violent crimes and felony property crimes throughout the state. C.H.A.N.C.E. also assists victims with Title IX issues related to the same conduct underlying their criminal case.
Please note, at this time, C.H.A.NC.E. is a small startup nonprofit with limited resources. Currently, C.H.A.N.C.E. is limited to accepting only select cases with pending or soon to be pending litigation in addition to cases that are post-conviction.
Currently, cases outside Mecklenburg, and its surrounding counties, will only be accepted on a limited basis based on the resources available.
If you would like to learn about how to support C.H.A.N.C.E. in its goal to fully service the state of North Carolina, please visit the Ways to Give section.
Request for Assistance
If you have been a victim of a crime and need legal help, start by filling out Part I of our assistance request form. Keep in mind, this is the first step of a two-part form used by C.H.A.N.C.E. to collect basic details, check for conflicts of interest, and confirm eligibility for our legal services. Once Part I is screened and clears conflicts, we will send you Part II via email.
It’s important to note that completing Part I does NOT establish an attorney-client relationship with C.H.A.N.C.E. If you are not already a client, we cannot represent you until we ensure there are no conflicts of interest and our mission aligns with your needs. Therefore, avoid sharing confidential information until we confirm representation. Until then, confidentiality is not guaranteed. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Alternative Forms
A paper copy of C.H.A.N.C.E.’s intake form is available upon request. Please mail requests to:
P.O. Box 151, Pineville, North Carolina 28134.
Services
For Professionals
Legal Services and Assistance
To fulfill its mission, C.H.A.N.C.E. offers technical assistance to prosecutors, victims’ counsel, and allied professionals throughout the state of North Carolina.
If you are one of the above, who needs technical legal assistance, please email your contact information and brief description of your request to DivaEdel@outlook.com.
Victims’ Rights Trainings
C.H.A.N.C.E. is in the process of developing a victims’ legal rights training specific to North Carolina. This training will be available to prosecutors and other attorneys, jurists, law enforcement officers, victim advocates, and other justice system officials. Please contact DivaEdel@outlook.com to add your organization to the waitlist for the training and you will be contacted to schedule a training when the training is available.
Diva Edel
Executive Director
Diva Edel is a victims’ rights attorney dedicated to providing a voice to victims of crime.
Prior to founding C.H.A.N.C.E., Diva earned her Bachelor of Arts in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley, and Master of Social Work from California State University, Northridge. Diva first became passionate about victims’ rights after another student sexually assaulted her while she was attending the University of California, Berkeley. At age 20, Diva was shocked to learn just how unjust and often retraumatizing both the university disciplinary system and our legal system are for crime victims, especially when they lack an effective attorney. As a result, Diva began speaking out about these injustices, first as a survivor, and eventually as an attorney.
In 2015, Diva graduated from the University of Notre Dame’s Law School where she was the President of the Public Interest Law Forum and a Senior Articles Editor of The Journal of College and University Law. While attending law school, Diva earned the Dean’s Award in the law school’s human trafficking course and made the Dean’s Honor Roll.
After graduating law school, Diva started her legal career first as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in one of Ohio’s largest counties and later as a staff attorney at Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center, a nonprofit victims’ rights law practice, where Diva worked on cases throughout the state, including several that were litigated before the Supreme Court of Ohio. Inspired by her work in Ohio, Diva founded C.H.A.N.C.E. upon relocating to the Charlotte, North Carolina metropolitan area and discovering a gap in legal services for North Carolina’s crime victims.
Diva has also previously worked or volunteered as a Domestic Violence counselor, a member of Los Angeles Police Department’s Domestic Abuse Response Team, a certified Domestic Relations Mediator, and a Probate Investigator. Diva’s advocacy for crime victims has also been featured throughout the media, including in the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, and various local news sources throughout Ohio.
As a survivor of violent crime herself, Diva is passionate about using her education and experience to provide North Carolina’s crime victims with trauma informed legal services.
Give
Contribute to justice
As a crime victim herself, C.H.A.N.C.E. founder and Executive Director, Diva Edel, believes that one of the most significant ways our society can assist victims of crime is by supporting them as they navigate our complicated and all too often unjust legal system. In order to assist Diva and C.H.A.N.C.E. in providing this support, please see ways to contribute below:
VOLUNTEER
Volunteers are an essential part of our team. We greatly appreciate your interest in volunteering and look forward to working with you in the future.
If you are interested in volunteering, please email DivaEdel@outlook.com for more information.
TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS
| Tax Deductible status letter |
*Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 919-814-5400. The license is not an endorsement by the State.
Victim Request for Assistance: Part I (of II)
This is the first step of a two-part form used by C.H.A.N.C.E. to collect basic details, check for conflicts of interest, and confirm eligibility for our legal services. Once Part I is screened and clears conflicts, we will send you Part II via email.
It’s important to note that completing Part I does NOT establish an attorney-client relationship with C.H.A.N.C.E. If you are not already a client, we cannot represent you until we ensure there are no conflicts of interest and our mission aligns with your needs. Therefore, avoid sharing confidential information until we confirm representation. Until then, confidentiality is NOT guaranteed.
Please also note that for legal reasons, we can only provide legal services to adult victims, minor victims with the consent of a legal guardian, the legal guardians of minor victims with age-appropriate consent from the victim, and murder victims legal representatives pursuant to North Carolina law. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.