Compensation For Victims Of Crime Research Articles

Integration of medical legal services into a hospital-based violence intervention program: A survey and interview-based provider needs assessment.

Violent injury among trauma surgery patients is strongly associated with exposure to harmful social determinants of health and negative long-term health outcomes. Medical-legal partnerships in other settings successfully provide patients with legal services to address similar health-harming legal needs and may offer a promising model for the care of violently injured patients. An electronic survey tool was distributed to clinicians and staff affiliated with the hospital-based violence intervention program at a single urban level one trauma center. Semistructured follow-up interviews were conducted with participants, and interviews were coded using thematic analysis and grounded theory. Participants reported many health-harming legal needs among their violently injured patients. The most commonly identified needs were: health insurance denials (62.5%); difficulty accessing crime victims compensation funds (56.3%); trouble accessing official documents (50%); and problems with non-SSDI public benefits (50%). Participants reported inconsistent methods for learning about and responding to patients' health-harming legal needs. The most common barriers to addressing these needs included the following: lack of awareness that a lawyer could help with the issue (68.8%); prioritization of other needs (68.8%); previous negative legal experiences (62.5%); and cost (62.5%). Identified needs encompass issues traditionally addressed by MLPs as well as more novel challenges faced by violent injury survivors. This survey and interview-based study identifies complex health-harming legal needs present among violently injured trauma surgery patients. Medical-legal partnerships specially designed for the setting of violent injury appear well-suited to meet these needs, potentially reducing risk of violent reinjury, long-term negative health outcomes, and health care system costs. Prognostic and Epidemiological; Level IV.

Against the Clock: Crime Victim Compensation Law and Temporality Across the 50 United States

Violence can result in insurmountable losses for victim-survivors. Restitutive and compensatory measures have been historically and contemporarily implemented to address these harms. Crime victim compensation (CVC) is a means by which the state reimburses victim-survivors of violent harm without relying on offender restitution. Overall, the current study argues that CVC laws and regulations may marginalize victim-survivors by regulating the body through crime-reporting and application time limits, as well as through wait times for compensation receipt. With this argument, the current study aims to use a content analysis and quantitative analysis to examine the intricacies of crime-reporting and application time limits detailed within statutes and administrative regulations across the 50 United States, as well as benefit receipt wait times.

Assessment according to the Crime Victims Compensation Act (OEG) of victims of sexual assault in the area of responsibility of the Catholic Church

Assessment according to the Crime Victims Compensation Act (OEG) of victims of sexual assault in the area of responsibility of the Catholic Church

Rethinking Public Compensation to Crime Victims in Nigeria’s Jurisprudence: Justifications for State Compensation and A Comparative Analysis

As it stands today, Nigeria has no crime victims’ compensation or reparation schemes, and there are no laws throughout the thirty-six states of the Federation placing obligations or duties on governments, states or federal to pay compensation to crime victims who suffered crimes of violent nature. Although, crime victims have been instrumental in criminological discourse; they have been forgotten and neglected and therefore denied due recognition in Nigeria. The major research problems are the unavailability of state compensatory schemes for victims of crime in Nigeria. The second research problem is the lack of political will on the part of Nigerian government to enact into law the Bill before the Nigerian National Assembly since 2011 on the Remedies and Rights of crime victims. The purpose of the study is to hold the Nigerian government accountable like other nations of the world to fulfil its constitutional duties to the citizenry in terms of protecting innocent subjects from criminals. Several nations of the world have moved ahead with time in matters of crime victims’ compensations, Nigeria cannot afford to lag behind in such issue of international dimensions. In this connection, the article dissects the need for legislations in Nigeria’s jurisprudence with a view to making statutory provisions for Nigerian citizens who suffered criminal injuries such murder, rape, robbery, and carjacking etc as a result of crime. The paper further examined the genesis of crime victims’ compensation, and its justifications. The paper in addition beamed its search lens on foreign jurisdictions from a comparative point of view for the purposes of advancing legal arguments in support of crime victims’ compensation programmes in the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria. The research finds out that there is crime victim compensation provided by the state. The author adopted the desk top research methodology in the write-up.

Policy Considerations that Could Justify the Enactment of a Crime Victim Compensation Fund in South Africa

It may be argued that the current legal position relating to crime victim compensation is unsatisfactory. It should therefore be asked whether there is a potential alternative for crime victim compensation. Many foreign jurisdictions have elected to enact a statutory compensation fund. In its report on the viability of enacting a similar type of fund for crime victims in South Africa, the South African Law Reform Commission stated that a justification for the establishment of a statutory crime victim compensation fund in South Africa remains absent. This article focusses on the justification issue. To determine whether a fund could be established in the South African context the following two-step approach has been outlined. First, a general theoretical framework must be advanced based on which future statutory reform of the law of delict may be justified. Elsewhere I have already done this by identifying policy considerations which the legislature has used to reform specific areas in the law of delict. These considerations include the risk of harm and the concomitant risk of receiving no compensation if the risk of harm materialises; the promotion of the right to social security and the evidentiary difficulties associated with proving fault (in the form of negligence). The second step towards justification is to establish whether these considerations could also justify the proposed development of the law through the enactment of a crime victim compensation scheme in South Africa.

Practical issue about providing Crime Victim Compensation for overseas crime damage

세계화와 국제화 속에 대한민국 국민의 해외 체류가 증가하고 있다. 취업, 유학, 출장 이외에도 영주권을 얻어 대한민국 국적을 유지하면서 해외에 체류하는 국민이 2019년 기준으로 268만 명이 넘는다. 그러나 현행 범죄피해자보호법은 범죄피해 발생 시 지원되는 경제적 지원 중 하나인 범죄피해구조금의 지급 대상을 대한민국의 영역 내와 선박, 항공기로 한정하고 있다. 이에 따라 재외국민이 해외에서 범죄피해를 입은 경우에는 구조금의 사각지대에 놓이게 된다. 해외 범죄피해에 대한 국가의 보호 필요성은 지속적으로 논의되어 왔으며, 해외 범죄피해에 대해 구조금을 지급하는 범죄피해자보호법 개정안이 발의되기도 하였다. 그러나 해외 범죄피해에 대해 구조금을 지급하는 것은 정책적 판단이 필요하고 구체적인구조금 지급 범위, 구조금 지급에 필요한 사실관계 확인, 구조금 지급의 관할 등의 실무적 쟁점들에 대해서는 연구가 부족한 상황이다. 본 논문은 범죄피해자보호법 개정을 통한 구조금 지급을 확대 필요성을 살펴보고 해외 범죄피해에 대한 구조금 지급 시 발생할 수 있는 실무적 문제점들을 검토해보려 한다.

Reforming the Compensation Model to Victims of Crime in Indonesia

Indonesia has an obligation to place the protection of human rights against all its citizens, as well as in ensuring compensation for certain victims of crime. Ironically, the conceptual issues such as the inclusion of compensation on the existence of criminals who provide restitution, the unclear technical implementation in the normative legitimacy, as well as the financial problems of the state for compensation show that the compensation for crime victims in Indonesia is still problematic. This study focuses on the ideal idea of reforming the model, form and mechanism for providing compensation to victims of crime in Indonesia. This research uses normative research with secondary data. The approach taken include philosophical, legislation and conceptual, and analyzed descriptively qualitative through literature study. The results of research are; first, the state compensation of crime victims conceptually, juridically and practically has not been able to show the effectiveness of providing compensation for victims of crime; second, reconceptualizing the compensation model through an extra-judicial path, with a material and non-material compensation shape, and using a mechanism that focuses on the involvement of all parties as the concept of restorative justice is an alternative solution to compensation for crime victims in the future.

Victims' Compensation as a Tool of Therapeutic Justice: Examining the Physical and Mental Health Needs of Victim Compensation Applicants and the Role of Health in Receiving Compensation.

Victims' compensation programs are positioned to serve an important therapeutic role. Their use by persons with physical and mental health problems has not been investigated. This study evaluates the extent to which applicants have physical and mental health needs and whether receiving compensation is related to these needs. Data were part of a larger study designed to assess satisfaction with victim compensation in Georgia. The sample included 500 victim compensation applicants. Individuals were surveyed about their experiences applying for compensation as well as their current wellbeing. Descriptive and multivariate analyses investigated the link between physical and mental health problems and denial of victim compensation. Applicants for crime victim compensation in Georgia experienced a range of physical and mental health problems. Almost half of applicants had been diagnosed with a mental health condition, and 60% had been diagnosed with at least 1 physical health condition. Co-occurring disorders were common. In addition, being denied compensation was significantly related to having a mental health condition and to the number of diagnosed mental health conditions. Crime victim applicants have clear physical and mental health needs. Being denied compensation benefits is related to having a mental health disorder. These results suggest that victim compensation programs can be an intervention point for victims and their families for either receipt of direct service or referral to needed services. In addition, changes in program administration may need to be made to alleviate disparity in award benefit related to mental health status.

Suggestions to the Government's Review of the Sex Purchase Act (Sweden)

Submission to the Swedish government's evaluation of the Sex Purchase Law (confirmed receipt by government commissioner, March 17, 2010). The submission argues that the government should clarify that the existing sex purchase offense (Criminal Code, Chap. 6, Sec. 11) since 1999 is a crime against the person purchased. The victim of crime therefore has, as a consequence, a right to raise damage claims against the offender, and, if the offender is unknown or lacks ability to pay damages, a right to receive crime victim compensation from the public. The compensation for the prostituted persons should primarily be borne by those who exploit their vulnerability and destitution; i.e., purchasers of sex. This principle is consistent and in line with the recognitions and conclusions of the state of research that were made in the 1998 Women’s Sanctuary Bill (Prop. 1997/98:55 Kvinnofrid). Purchase of sex should be a “crime against person” of which the prostituted person is recognized as victim. It is not an issue of primarily crime against the public order, as under current case law. In addition, the submission asks that the government clarifies that prostituted persons have equal access to criminally and civilly protected rights under law as nonprostituted persons. Prostituted persons’ rights should not be denigrated or ignored by official entities as they presently often are. Review of case law on purchase of sex, procuring, and human trafficking reveals that prostituted persons are widely discriminated against by the judicial system, where they are regarded as a second class citizen without the same rights as non-prostituted persons, including when they have been raped or victimized by “gross” abuse. Transforming such unequal assumptions in law was a major motivation of the Sex Purchase Act. In light of failures to apply existing criminal law legislation as it was intended, the in Parliament proposed division between “gross” and “normal” risks either not being applied, or being applied in cases where more appropriate and powerful sections such as rape, sexual coercion, or unlawful deprivation of liberty, should be used. The submission (and its signatories who support it) opposes the proposals to divide the Sex Purchase Act in a range of punishments that differentiate between “gross” and “normal” purchase of sex. A better alternative is to clarify that the injured party’s protection under other offenses in the Penal Code, including rape, holds for prostituted persons equally as for other persons. Discrimination against prostituted women is a form of discrimination on the basis of sex and should be recognized as such and never accepted.Moreover, the submission argues that in order to strengthen the prostituted persons’ protection under law, and at the same time take an initiative against human trafficking, the government's evaluation should clarify that the purchaser of sex involving a person who is pimped is engaging in an act of human trafficking by Swedish legal definition. Research and cases demonstrably show that people enter and stay in prostitution in conditions of vulnerability, which pimps exploit. The prerequisite for these conditions to last is that there are purchasers who, for payment, take over the control of a person, prostituted by a pimp with the purpose to exploit her for sexual use.In Support of the Submission (March 17, 2010):MELISSA FARLEY, PhD, Executive Director, Prostitution Research & Education, San Francisco EBON KRAM, Former Chair, National Organization for Women’s and Girls’ Shelters (ROKS), LecturerKVINNOJOUREN: En Fristad i Ingenmansland [The Women’s: A Sanctuary in No Man’s Land] (Ostersund) KVINNOJOUREN ANNA [The Anna Women’s Shelter] (Upplandsbro) through Kerstin Akare EWA LARSSON, MP 1994-2002, Green Party (mp), Chairperson of Green WomenCATHARINE A. MACKINNON, Professor of Law, University of Michigan / Harvard University, Special Gender Adviser to the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court, The Hague (*)BERNARDITA NUNEZ, Executive Director, Terrafem Women's Shelter for Immigrant WomenS-KVINNOR (Social Democrat’s Women’s Federation) through Carina Hagg, MP (s) GUDRUN SCHYMAN, Former Leader (Left Party) and MP (v), Spokesperson for Feminist Initiative (F!)SWEDISH ASS'N of WOMEN'S SHELTERS and YOUNG WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT CENTERS (SKR), Lotta Sonemalm (secretary), on instruction by SKREVA-BRITT SVENSSON, MEP, Left Party (v), Chairperson of the Committee on Women, Member of the Left Party Executive Board CARINA SALLBERG, Chairperson, Association KOBRA [Women, Children, and Rule of Law: A Community Responsibility] MAX WALTMAN, PhD Candidate, Political Science, Stockholm University(*) Affiliations for identification purposes only

Offender and state compensation for victims of crime

This article comprises an overview of the principal normative and operational issues that arise in both common and civil law states’ arrangements for the compensation and reparation of victims of crime. Balancing what are inevitably generalized statements about jurisdictions within federal common law countries and within the European Union, the article illustrates these issues with details drawn from the civil and criminal justice systems of England and Wales. The article begins with some general observations about the ways in which compensation and reparation by offenders and compensation by the state form elements in a state’s overall objectives for victims within its criminal justice system, and addresses the question of what we might understand by ‘compensation’ in a criminal justice context, and how that sits with civil justice. For this purpose ‘compensation’ may be understood both in the compendious sense of any offender or state financial payment in respect of a victim’s loss or injury or of the offender’s direct or indirect restoration of stolen or damaged property, and in its discrete sense of a purely monetary response distinct from the non-monetary responses that characterize ‘reparation’ − responses now widely associated with restorative justice. The article provides some detail on compensation and reparation by offenders as forms of criminal justice disposals, and on the scope and the functions of state compensation schemes.

Does access to compensation have an impact on recovery outcomes after injury?

To conduct a descriptive study investigating the effect of access to motor vehicle accident (MVA) compensation on recovery outcomes at 24 months after injury. Longitudinal cohort study conducted in two Level 1 trauma hospitals in Victoria, Australia. Participants were 391 randomly selected injury patients with moderate-to-severe injuries. Compensable and non-compensable patients were compared at 24 months after injury on a number of health outcomes. Health outcomes at 24 months, including anxiety and depression severity, quality of life and disability. Medical records identified two groups of compensation patients: MVA-compensable and non-compensable patients. After controlling for baseline variables, the MVA-compensable patients, at 24 months, had higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, and were less likely to have returned to their pre-injury number of work hours. However, some patients in the non-compensable group had accessed other forms of compensation (eg, private health care or compensation for victims of crime). When these were removed from the non-compensable group, the differences between MVA-compensable and non-compensable groups all but disappeared. Our findings do not support previous research showing that access to compensation is associated with poor recovery outcomes. The relationship between access to compensation and health outcomes is complex, and more high-level research is required.

Monetary Remedies for Victims During Illinois Criminal Cases

The Illinois Crime Victim's Rights Amendment, added to the Illinois Constitution by the legislature and the voters in 1992, includes a 'right to restitution'. The amendment spurred some new legislation, now within the Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act. But most crime victims still have little chance for restitution or other monetary remedies during criminal cases. Other remedies include recoveries from a state fund guided by the Crime Victims Compensation Act and recoveries ordered at sentencing under the Unified Code of Corrections Act. The paper first examines the Illinois constitutional right to restitution and the three separate acts recognizing possible monetary remedies for crime victims during criminal cases. Upon concluding that the constitutional right to restitution has not been adequately implemented by the legislature or the courts, the paper looks to other American state approaches to crime victim recoveries. For Illinois it proposes that the three acts be combined into a single statutory scheme, organized by the stages in a criminal case. Integrated provisions would held better secure the goal of enhanced recoveries by crime victims established by the overwhelming majorities of constitutional amendment drafters and voters.

An Analysis of the Crime Victims Compensation System in the State of New York

An Analysis of the Crime Victims Compensation System in the State of New York

Rethinking the routine provision of psychotherapy to children/adolescents labeled “sexually abused”.

Abstract Whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, children labeled sexually abused are routinely offered treatment at considerable financial cost. One result of this is that mental health professionals are being charged with exploiting the problem of child sexual abuse (CSA). Is the routine provision of psychotherapy for children and adolescents labeled sexually abused warranted? In this paper, it is argued that the evidence indicates it is not warranted. Further, its provision is not in the best interests of either the children or mental health professionals. It is argued it is time to rethink the routine provision of psychotherapy to children and adolescents labeled sexually abuse. A number of recommendations are given which follow from the evidence. Keywords: sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, therapy, trauma, children. Introduction Whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, children and adolescents labeled sexually abused are routinely provided psychotherapy. A 1986 nationwide survey of sexual abuse treatment programs found that in most settings nearly every child/adolescent labeled sexually abused was put in treatment (Beutler, Williams & Zetzer, 1994; Macdonald, Higgins, & Ramchandani, 2006). Finkelhor and Berliner (1995) estimated that among substantiated cases of child sexual abuse (CSA) up to 73 percent receive treatment. A 1996 report of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) indicated that up to 50 percent of the victims of CSA receive treatment (Miller, Cohen & Wiersema, 1996). This compares with the no more than 4 percent of victims of other crimes. It is, then, common practice to place children and adolescents labeled sexually abused in therapy regardless of whether or not they evidence symptoms. A. A Lucrative Form of Practice Providing psychotherapy is quite lucrative. According to the NIJ, the average cost of mental health services for the typical victim of CSA was nearly sixty times greater than that for the victim of another crime ($5,800 vs. less than $100). In the now infamous Manhattan Beach case, also identified as the McMartin day-care case, the Children's Institute International interviewed about 400 children from late 1983 through 1984. It received $455 for each of the interviews (Nathan & Snedeker, 1995, p. 83). Moreover, the California Victims of Crime Fund will have paid at least $200,000 to a handful of therapists for therapy for the accusers of Dale Akiki (Cantlupe & Hasemeyer, 1994). This occurred despite the fact that experts had testified at trial that the interviews of the children by these very same therapists were experimental, unproven, and had contaminated the children's statements. Akiki was acquitted. He had spent two and a half years in prison prior to trial. One can add to this the cost of treating adults who recalled abuse during treatment through the recovered memory therapies. In Washington State's Crime Victims Compensation Program, the average cost associated with treating adults whose claims were based on repressed memory (RM) of childhood sexual abuse was approximately four times the average cost of other mental health claims (Loftus, 1997; Parr, 1996). average cost of non-RM claims was less than $3,000. average cost of RM claims was more than $12,000. In just more than four years, the citizens of Washington paid out to mental health professionals more than 2.5 million dollars for 325 RM claims. recent child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has proven to be a multimillion dollar bonanza for therapists. Alleged victim treatment costs were at least thirty million dollars (Terry, 2004, Table 6.1.1, p. 105). Thus, providing psychotherapy to children and adolescents labeled sexually abuse is a lucrative form of practice for mental health professionals. B. Exploitation by the Mental Health Industry or The of Abuse As a consequence, critics, both professional and lay, have charged mental health professionals with exploiting the problem of CSA. …

Domestic Violence and Crime Victim Compensation

An analysis of state-by-state data available on the U.S. Department of Justice Web site revealed that more than 50% of clients served through federally funded crime victim assistance programs in 1999 were domestic violence victims. However, only 13.4% of all crime victim compensation claims were awarded to victims of domestic violence. This disparity provides the basis for a comprehensive research agenda to learn what barriers prevent domestic abuse victims from submitting eligible claims.

Mental health service utilization by victims of crime.

Records of 318 adult and 608 child victims of crime, eligible for Crime Victims Compensation (CVC) in Washington State, were examined. Demographic, crime, and mental health information was collected. A majority of child victims had experienced sexual assault (88%); adults were victims of both sexual (38%) and physical assault (40%). The median number of mental health sessions used by children was 23 sessions, at an average cost of $975 per case to the CVC program. Adults used a median of 15 mental health sessions at a cost of $905. Patterns of treatment utilization were associated with some demographic, crime, and psychological variables. Sexual assault and PTSD diagnosis were associated with greater use for both children and adults. Therapist variables were unrelated to use. Findings are discussed in light of concerns about coverage of mental health services.

Integrating a Victim Perspective within Criminal Justice: The Swedish Approach

After World War II public opinion in Sweden gradually recognised the need for a crusade against crime as a threat to the state and its inhabitants. The police and responsibility for public prosecution were nationalised, reorganised and placed within the Ministry of Justice. A new authority was established in the Ministry to investigate crime prevention activities (BRÅ). A new Code on Judicial Procedure, 1942 (in force 1948) had replaced previous legislation on civil and criminal court procedure. The legislation on crime and penal sanctions was gradually reformed and a new Criminal Code was adopted 1962 (in force 1964). Tort law, which had for long been unco-ordinated was finally collected in the Tort Liability Act, 1972 supplemented by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act, 1978. These codes and Acts have later been amended, sometimes to the benefit of victims of crime. During this period the need for state compensation to victims of crime slowly attracted special attention. From a cautious beginning in 1948 the state gradually took on responsibility for adjudged economic compensation to the victim, not obtained from the offender. The social welfare system covers costs for medical and social treatment and care and losses by industrial injury etc. Other economic losses are often compensated by the victim's insurance. The remaining need for compensation mainly refers to criminal violation of the victim's integrity and the effects of harm caused by the offence. This article describes the implementation of the Crime Victim Compensation Authority which was established in 1994. It analyses the place of the victim in the Swedish criminal justice system, the injuries that attract compensation from the Authority, levels of payment, and proposals for reform. These developments are set within the context of a feminist political agenda.

Patterns of Reinvention

This study considers how states change policy innovations as they diffuse. This process of policy evolution during diffusion, known as reinvention, has been the focus of recent work on innovation diffusion in the states (Clark, 1985; Glick, 1992; Glick & Hays, 1991; Mooney & Lee, 1995). This manuscript focuses on differences in the patterns of reinvention for three different policy innovations with different rates of diffusion: child abuse reporting laws, crime victim compensation laws, and public campaign funding laws. Moreover, how the pattern changes after states amend their initial laws is examined. The data show evidence of reinvention during diffusion but provide only limited support for the first hypothesis that the pattern of reinvention is one of increasing comprehensiveness over time. Consistent with expectations, the data reveal little relationship between the date of adoption and the current law's comprehensiveness, including amendment.

Improvement in cost recovery at an urban level I trauma center.

With escalating health care costs and health reimbursement reorganization, the greatest danger to trauma centers will remain expensive uncompensated care. This is caused primarily by costs incurred in treating complex, life-threatening injuries and to the large population of trauma patients with no, or inadequate, means of compensation. In 1986 and 1987, this urban level I trauma center experienced an operating loss totaling $2,335,200. To attempt to reverse this expense, annual tracking of the trauma service's financial performance was begun in 1989. In addition, changes were made. Early multidisciplinary baseline assessment of each admission was instituted for financial profiling and discharge planning. Attempts were made on admission to identify health and vehicular insurance information. Processing for Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement was begun as soon as possible, and coding for diagnoses was checked by medical records personnel and the trauma nurse coordinator. If appropriate, Missouri Crime Victims Compensation was sought. Base on costs incurred in providing trauma services, as required by the state of Missouri and the American College of Surgeons, a trauma response charge was developed and instituted. Over a 5-year period, 1989 to 1993, financial audits were conducted. The cost recovery ratio (CRR) (collections/cost) was utilized as the measure of financial success. The CRR improved from 0.74 in 1989 to 0.93 in 1993, and in 2 years, 1991 and 1992, was 1.03 and 0.99. Over this period, the acuity of injury, as measured by the Injury Severity Score, remained essentially the same, but length of hospital stay decreased from 10.0 to 8.7 days. The CRR was greatest for private insurance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

From Gag Rules to Blindfolds: The Pornography Victims Compensation Act

Attempts to limit the content of sexual and sexually related material did not end when President Clinton dismantled the ban on abortion counseling (the “gag rule”) in federally funded clinics. The Pornography Victims Compensation Act of 1992 permits suits by alleged victims of pornography against the manufacturers and distributors of erotic material. The author asserts that the Act represents continued efforts to limit and to “chill” the flow of sexually explicit material. The author describes this Act in the legal context of obscenity law, media liability for the violent acts by third-parties, and other crime victims compensation acts. Finally, this article suggests ways to protect continued access to erotic material for clinical, education, and research use.