Criminal injuries compensation for abused children.

Abstract

An introduction to the topic of compensation for children who have been physically or psychologically abused Discretionary schemes to compensate the victims of violent crime have been in place in Great Britain since 1964. The original framework provided that compensation would be awarded on a “common law basis” whereby awards were assessed in exactly the same way as if being made by a court—that is, adhering to principles of restitution, seeking to put the victim back, so far as possible, into the same position that they would have enjoyed had the crime and the injury not occurred. Apart from compensation for the actual injuries, awards would therefore also include full and future care costs, provision of therapies, equipment, transport needs, special accommodation, loss of earnings, and future earnings. There was no limit on an award and each case would be assessed on its individual merits. In 1996, a statutory scheme (the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 1996) was introduced under the provisions of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1995 to replace the earlier discretionary ones, with awards for pain and suffering to be made on a tariff basis with a limit of £250 000 for catastrophic injury and an overall limit of £500 000 in total, inclusive of care needs, loss of earnings, etc. The scheme was revised slightly in 2001, and is now administered by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). Compensation may be paid to an applicant who has sustained a criminal injury after 1 August 1964. If the victim has since died, payment can be made to a qualifying dependant claimant. A criminal injury is defined as a personal injury directly attributable to a crime of violence. Personal injury includes physical (incorporating fatal) injury, mental injury (being a temporary mental anxiety, medically verified, or a disabling mental illness …