Victim compensation is symbolic policy that has justified strengthened police forces, provided political advantages to supporters, facilitated social control of the population, and yet substantially failed in providing most victims with assistance. Compensation has been largely a failure to victims not only because it has failed to compensate but also because it has failed to achieve its goals of crime control and improving victim attitudes and cooperation with law enforcement. It is difficult to justify substantive improvements in victim compensation, however, because victim assistance has been very closely associated with enhancing counterproductive criminal-justice policies that produce more, not less, victims. (Author abstract)