Victims Compensation Plans
As discussed in Module 4, victimization costs a significant amount of money to victims and their families. These costs include medical expenses, mental health care, and lost wages, among other things. The cost of victimization can be a significant additional burden on victims, especially those who do not have healthcare. These costs can also cause additional stress for the victim and their support system to figure out how to pay for these expenses. The history of victims’ funds in the United States harkens back as far as the 1925 Federal Probation Act, which allowed restitution to be ordered as part of probation conditions, although it was not mandatory and the language was vague (Sever, 1985).
Victims’ funds, in their current incarnation, began with the 1984 federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), which established the Crime Victims Fund. The VOCA expanded the 1925 Act to include sentences that were not just probationary and created a dedicated fund for victims restitution. This fund is contributed to by fines, fees, and assessments in federal criminal cases, forfeited bail bonds, as well as by private donations. The U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) administers the fund, which supports thousands of programs nationwide. According to the OVC (n.d.), as of 2013 more than $9 billion had been deposited to help fund victims’ recovery.
The administration of the fund goes from the OVC to federal, state, and tribal agencies who administer the fund locally. By 2002, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam had established crime victim compensation programs. Although some variations occurs across these programs, some basic requirements must be met in order to get compensation. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime (n.d.), in order to qualify for victims compensation, most states require adherence to the following:
• Report the crime promptly to the police. • Cooperate with the police and prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of the offense. • Submit an application for compensation within a specific time frame. • Were not been committing a crime at the time or involved in other serious misconduct that lead to the injury or death.
• Have expenses that are not covered by insurance or some other program, such as Workers’ Compensation or Medicaid.
In addition, the United States has a fund for victims of state-sponsored terrorism, including those who have been held hostage.
Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. This was the impetus for creating the Victims of State-Sponsored Terrorism Fund. Image: Two American hostages in Iran hostage crisis. Authored by: unknown. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Two_American_hostages_in_Iran_hostage_crisis.jpg. License: CC-0
Compensation
Victims funds have specific requirements as to who can qualify for compensation and limitations as to the amount of compensation someone can receive. Some of these limitations restrict the amount that can be spent on funerals, counseling, or medical expenses. According to the OVC, the total amount someone can receive is capped, which can range from $10,000 to $100,000, although states set the guidelines for their own programs.
For example, the state of North Carolina limits the total amount awarded to $30,000 for medical expenses and $500 for funeral expenses (NC Public Safety, n.d.). In contrast, the state of California will pay up to $70,000 per victim and will cover the following:
• Crime scene clean up • Funeral and burial expenses • Home or vehicle modifications for victims who became disabled • Income loss • Medical and dental treatment • Mental health services up to 40 hours • Relocation • Residential security system (CalVCB, 2017)
Compensation plans are meant to help the victims and their families through some of the stress, both emotional and financial, that victimization causes. Although these compensation plans can help, it still may take a long time for a victim to realize the full extent of the issues they face from their victimization. One limitation, of course, is that because many crimes are not reported, this type of formal assistance is not an option, leaving victims and their families to cover all of the short- and long-term costs of victimization. The goal of the victims’ rights movement, restorative justice, and compensation plans is to help victims become empowered and recover from their victimization as much as one can. As the victims’ rights movement continues to advocate for victims’ rights, it is hoped that future victims will have access to even more avenues for healing and recovery.