Abstract

Because crime victims are not monolithic, programs established to serve one set of victims can sometimes injure another. The somewhat provocative title of this essay refers to the possibility that one program designed to benefit victims, the Crime Victims’ Fund administered by United States Department of Justice Office for Victims’ of Crime, may cause victims of federal crimes to go without full compensation for the harm they’ve suffered, while assets seized from their offenders are channeled to a different group of people altogether: victims of state crimes such as rape, domestic abuse, and child sexual abuse. Since 1985, over 2 billion dollars in fines, asset forfeitures, and other special assessments—generated mostly by white collar, corporate crime—have been deposited into the Crime Victims’ Fund. This money in turn supports federal courts as well as programs to compensate and assist victims of state law crimes, principally rape, domestic abuse, child abuse and child sexual abuse. The recipients of these benefits—many in underserved rural areas and inner-city neighborhoods—could not be more deserving. The Crime Victims’ Fund is a brilliant

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