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Master List of
New Directions Recommendations
Chapter 14
New
Directions from the Field:
Victims'
Rights and Services for the 21st Century
| Recommendations
for Crime Victim Compensation |
The recommendations below, which
appear in the May 1998 New Directions Report, have been reformatted
for replication and distribution.
| Compensation for victims of crime is one of the
earliest forms of victim assistance. As of May 1998, victim compensation programs operate in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands to help crime victims deal with some of the financial losses they incur as a result of criminal victimization. Although many compensation programs have sponsored extensive efforts to increase benefits, expand services and public awareness efforts, and eliminate minimum loss requirements, gaps in coverage still remain in some States that must be addressed. In an effort to encourage compensation programs to increase their efforts for outreach and advocacy on behalf of crime victims, and to improve overall operation and efficiency, the following recommendations are set forth by the field:
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- Every State victim compensation
program should establish goals to process claims, including emergency
awards, in the most expeditious manner possible.
- States should examine the nature,
level, and scope of benefits they provide for mental health treatment
to ensure that all victims traumatized by crime receive financial support
for adequate and culturally meaningful counseling services or healing
practices. To achieve this goal, victim compensation programs should
consult with advisory groups composed of mental health experts to develop
guidelines for counseling benefits, including appropriate treatment
lengths and types of mental health providers, docu mentation requirements
for treatment plans and progress reports, and payment levels.
- Victim compensation programs
should expand the types of victims eligible to receive counseling benefits.
- Victim compensation programs
should increase medical benefits for victims of catastrophic physical
injury.
- Victim compensation programs
should eliminate restrictive statutory reporting requirements and permit
victims to report the crime within a reasonable period of time and to
agencies other than law enforcement.
- Statutorily mandated time restrictions
on filing claims that require crime victims to apply for compensation
within one year of the crime should be reevaluated. State compensation
programs should consider eliminating filing restrictions or at least
extending the time limit to three years, as was done in Texas and Massachusetts.
- Every victim compensation program
should coordinate with victim assistance programs to develop an effective
community outreach strategy to increase public awareness about the purpose
and availability of crime victim compensation. This strategy should
include extensive outreach efforts to ensure that all victims, regardless
of their race, culture, or language, have knowledge of and access to
compensation program benefits.
- Victim compensation programs
have a responsibility to listen to and address the issues of the victims
they serve. All programs should establish advisory boards that include
victims. When developing policies for eligibility and benefits, compensation
programs should seek the input of victim service groups, and criminal
justice and allied professionals.
- Victim compensation programs
should establish multidisciplinary cross-training programs to ensure
that victim advocates and allied professionals are fully informed of
the scope of compensation programs and that compensation professionals
are kept up to date on the services victims need most.
- Victim advocacy should be institutionalized
in victim compensation programs. Every program should include an advocate
on staff to help victims access services and resources that are not
available from the program.
- States should maximize a victim's
ability to recover losses and cover expenses, and should institute mechanisms
for ensuring sufficient funding sources for victim compensation programs.
- All State compensation programs
should evaluate themselves to determine whether: (1) there are barriers
to compensation that should be removed, (2) the program's outreach efforts
are effective, (3) the services provided are effective, (4) the scope
of victims that qualify for compensation is broad enough, (5) claims
are processed as efficiently as possible, (6) available benefits for
mental health treatment are sufficient, and (7) reasons for denial of
compensation claims.
- Compensation programs should
make effective use of advanced technologies such as automated claims
management systems and electronic linkages with medical providers, insurance
companies, and criminal justice agencies.
- State compensation programs
should work with other State programs that provide funding for victim
services to ensure that victims needs are met comprehensively throughout
the State.
- Compensation programs should
consider the effects that more universal health care coverage (through
expanded public benefits and broader private coverage) might have on
their eligibility and benefits structures.
- Compensation programs throughout
the world should agree to compensate victims of crime within their borders
regardless of nationality. The U.S. Departments of State and Justice
should continue to work together to establish this principle as a basis
for coverage in all countries.
- Compensation programs should
consider providing funds to cover transportation costs for victims who
must travel across State lines to attend criminal proceedings.
- Compensation programs should
use excess funds to support victim assistance.
| New Directions from the
Field:
Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century |
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The information on this page is archived and provided for reference purposes only.