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Crime Victim Compensation
Helps Victims . . .
- Crime victim compensation can help victims of
violence pay for the costs of their recovery. Medical care,
counseling, lost wages and support, funeral bills, and a host
of miscellaneous expenses can be covered by these state programs.
Victim compensation can be good news for victims who need financial
assistance in the aftermath of crime.
- Victims and those who provide services to victims may
check our Program Directory to learn more about the program
in the state where the crime occurred. Click on the link in
the upper left of this page to access this information. Victims
should contact the state program directly (or the county programs
in Arizona, and the district programs in Colorado) to seek financial
assistance. Many victim-witness programs in prosecutors' offices
and police departments, as well as victim assistance programs
like domestic violence shelters and rape crisis programs, also
can provide information and assistance in filing claims.
- Victims of violent crime and their families received
benefits totaling $461 million in federal fiscal year 2008.
This was an increase from the $426 million paid in 2005, the
$444 million in 2006, and the $453 million paid in 2007.
- Programs paid $29 million for forensic sexual assault
exams, continuing a dramatic increase for this cost, reflecting
more states compensation programs' involvement in this area.
- Assault claims formed half the caseload, with more than
a third of those claims coming from domestic violence victims.
- Victims of child abuse comprised 19% of the recipients
of crime victim compensation.
- Domestic violence victims were 22% of all adult victims
compensated (crimes other than child abuse, drunk driving, and
international terrorism). Of all assault claims, 35% are paid
to domestic violence victims.
- Medical expenses were 52% of all payments; economic support
for lost wages for injured victims, and for lost support in
homicides, comprised 16% of the total; 11% of total payments
went for funeral bills; and 8% went toward mental health counseling
for crime victims.
Click here for a
FACT SHEET on Crime Victim Compensation. Click
here for a current
contact list of state compensation programs.
- For information about an individual state
victim compensation program, click on the Program Directory
on the menu in the upper-left-hand corner of this page.
Contact
NACVCB at (703) 780-3200; e-mail nacvcb@aol.com; P.O. Box 16003,
Alexandria, VA 22302.
Information for Crime Victim Compensation
Programs
Our next National
Training Conference is scheduled for Chicago, September
27 - October 1, 2010. The conference is open to personnel employed
by state, district and county government crime victim compensation
programs. Information will be sent to all programs early in 2010.
The Association's Newsletter: Crime
Victim Compensation Quarterly
The Association's latest
newsletter has
been mailed to all compensation programs. Information about national
health care reform and its effect on compensation programs; the
new nominee to direct OVC, VOCA grants, and our upcoming training
conferences is included, and we've got results from a recent survey
on which offices have gone "paperless." New outreach
materials are highlighted.
Remember that
our "members only" site, accessed by clicking
on the link in the upper left of this page, takes you to information
that may be useful in administering a crime victim compensation
program. Contact us at nacvcb@aol.com if you need help with your
ID and password.
REGIONAL Training
Conferences
Eastern-Southern Regional Conference: Boston, May 5-7, 2010
Our Eastern and Southern Regions will meet at the
historic OMNI Parker House in the heart of downtown Boston May
5-7, 2010. More information will be sent to all compensation programs
soon. Our Western Regional is still under development.
These conferences are open to personnel
working within state and local crime victim compensation programs.
Essential VOCA for Compensation Programs
An effort to capture in a one-page summary all
of the essential provisions relating to compensation programs
contained in the Victims of Crime Act --
Click here to see. For Word
document version, click here. (This is an Association summary,
not from the Office for Victims of Crime.)
States Face Budget Problems
State legislatures may be eyeing crime victim compensation program
funding in some states in efforts to meet substantial budget shortfalls
in the coming year. Forty-eight states -- nearly all, in other
words -- have addressed or are addressing budget shortfalls for
FY 2010, and in 26 of those states, falling revenues are creating
new shortfalls. According to the center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
states' fiscal problems will continue into FY 2011 and beyond
(see this link for further information http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=711)
In prior years, several compensation programs' funds have been
raided by legislatures. Reminding lawmakers that many more victims
could be seeking compensation; that mass violence is always a
threat and would require sudden greater outlays to victims; and
that some "reserve" is necessary to prevent backlogs
may be among the strategies useful in countering unwanted compensation
fund reductions.
Compensation programs have struggled to keep up
with demand in recent years, with some states facing dire fiscal
crises. Some programs that have managed to do well fiscally have
then faced having funds taken away from legislatures for other
purposes. With cuts in private insurance and on the Medicaid rolls
(a byproduct of state budget crises), an explosion in health care
costs, and an increase in the violent crime rate (after 10 years
of decline), state compensation programs continue to seek sufficient
funding to provide adequate financial assistance to victims of
child abuse, domestic violence, rape, assault, and murder.
VOCA
Fund Developments -- FY '10
President Signs $705 million cap into law
The President has signed into law the Congressionally approved
705 million cap on VOCA funding for FY 2010. The amount is well
above the FY 2009 cap of $635 million, and will mean significant
new amounts for states to spend on victim assistance programs.
State compensation grants will remain at 60% of state payouts.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would increase
the cap by 23% over the next four years. "The Crime Victims
Fund Preservation Act," S. 1340, and an accompanying bill
in the House, H.R. 3402, focus on freeing up for the states, and
the service programs they support, more of the increasing amounts
going into VOCA's Crime Victims Fund. The Crime Victims Fund takes
in all federal criminal fines, and a number of very large corporate
assessments has swelled the Fund to record levels.
The economic-stimulus law signed by President Barack Obama on
February 17 included supplemental grants to state victim compensation
programs totaling $47.5 million.
The website of our collegial organization, the National
Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators, is a superb
source for detailed information on VOCA budget and spending issues.
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