CRIME VICTIM COMPENSATION
AN OVERVIEW

Crime victim compensation programs across the country offer crucial financial assistance to victims of violence. This overview provides information on how the programs operate and what victims can do to seek help.

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Victims of violent crime may suffer financial stress as devastating as their physical injuries and emotional trauma. Recovering from violence or abuse is difficult enough without having to worry about how to pay for the costs of medical care and counseling, or about how to replace lost income due to disability or death.

The good news is that every state has a crime victim compensation program that can provide substantial financial assistance to crime victims and their families. And while no amount of money can erase the trauma and grief victims suffer, this aid can be crucial in the recovery process. By paying for care that restores victims' physical and mental health, and by replacing lost income for victims who cannot work and for families who lose a breadwinner, compensation programs are helping victims regain their lives and their financial stability.

As compensation programs enter the 21st century, they are serving an ever-increasing number of victims with larger amounts of benefits than ever before. Despite a substantial decline in violent crime--a 34% drop since 1993--applications and payouts continue to grow in most states. The national total of benefits is at record-high levels, and programs are addng new compensable costs and expanding outreach to ensure that more victims' needs are met.

Crime victim compensation is the oldest type of organized victim assistance in the United States. The first compensation program was created in 1965, and nine states were operating such programs by 1972, when the earliest programs providing other types of victim assistance were established. Today, compensation programs across the country are paying out close to $265 million annually to more than 115,000 victims. Fittingly, most of this money comes from offenders, since a large majority of states fund their programs entirely through fees and fines charged against those convicted of crime, rather than tax dollars. Federal grants to compensation programs, providing close to 25% of the money for payments to victims, also come solely from offender fines and assessments.

Victims of rape, assault, child sexual abuse, drunk driving, and domestic violence, as well as the families of homicide victims, are all eligible to apply for financial help. Nationally, close to a third of the recipients of compensation are children, most of whom are victims of sexual abuse.

Compensation programs can pay for a wide variety of expenses and losses related to criminal injury and homicide. Beyond medical care, mental health treatment, funerals, and lost wages, a number of programs also cover crime-scene cleanup, travel costs to receive treatment, moving expenses, and the cost of housekeeping and child care. And states continue to work with victims and advocates to find new ways to help victims with more of the costs of recovery.

Telling victims about compensation is the responsibility of every individual who works in victim services and law enforcement. This resource also should be made known by those who provide medical and counseling services. Compensation programs depend largely on these professionals who work with victims daily to get the message out that financial assistance is available, and programs typically expend a great deal of time and effort in providing training and information to them. We encourage everyone with a role in helping victims to get more details from the program in their state by contacting it directly.

California established the nation's first compensation program in 1965, and five other states created programs in the next three years. By 1980, 28 states were providing victim compensation, and most of the rest of the states authorized programs during the next decade. Currently, all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, are operating compensation programs. (It's worth noting that a number of European countries, plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan also have victim compensation programs fairly similar to those in the U.S.)
California is the largest program in the country by far, paying out about a third of the total benefits paid by all programs combined. (California awards about $75 million annually, while the next largest program, Texas, pays out nearly $30 million each year.) The median annual payout per state is about $2 million (half the states pay a total less than that, and half pay more), but the range is considerable, with nine of the smallest states paying less than $500,000 annually, and 13 states paying more than $5 million.