Every day, survivors of violent crime suffer not only physical, psychological, and emotional harm, but they often are burdened with financial impacts for years or even decades after the attack. These impacts include costs related to medical care, mental health counseling, lost wages, and funeral and burial costs. However, there are some mechanisms in place to alleviate these costs. These are called Victim Compensation programs.
What is victim compensation?
Victim compensation programs were created with the fundamental underlying belief that victims of crime should not have to solely bear the cost of crime committed against them. These programs provide direct financial assistance to victims to cover a wide variety of crime-related expenses such as medical costs, mental health counseling, lost wages, and funeral and burial costs. Compensation is not intended to erase trauma, but to make space for survivors to heal without avoidable worries.
Today, every state gives victims the right to compensation. However this right is sometimes inaccessible to survivors of sexual violence, due to the time that elapses between when a kit is collected and when it is tested. Even for survivors in current cases, getting compensation can be too difficult. In fact, only 8% goes toward sexual assault victims.
What is the problem?
Deadlines to apply are a significant hurdle for survivors of rape. Most compensation policies require that an application for compensation be made within two years after the crime; some as short as one year. In cases with renewed action after a backlogged kit was tested years or decades later, these deadlines may force survivors to bear the cost of therapy they want and deserve.
Another barrier for sexual assault survivors, particlulary in communities that fear interaction with law enforcement, is the requirement in many states to report the crime to police and “cooperate” with law enforcement. Additionally, many survivors were never informed about victim compensation at the time of the crime – despite laws that require them to be informed by certain criminal justice system professionals – and many were not offered it when they were reengaged with law enforcement in a case where testing of their backlogged kit led to renewed action.
What can we do?
First, the federal government guidelines can be amended to address current obstacles and generally make the process more survivor-centered. The last federal guidelines were developed in 2001. We have a greater understanding of trauma and how it impacts survivors, why they delay reporting, or don’t report at all, and that some survivors will choose a path that does not include the criminal justice system. We also know now that there are many barriers to coming forward and working with law enforcement, including immigration status, cultural or linguistic barriers, and more.
Only one meaningful change has been made to the VOCA funding rules. In 2021, H.R.1652, the “VOCA Fix” bill was enacted. Among other things, the new law allows states to waive the requirement for victims to “cooperate with authorities” if a program determines such cooperation may be impacted due to a victim’s age, physical condition, psychological state, cultural or linguistic barriers, or any other health or safety concern that jeopardizes the victim’s wellbeing.” This change was welcomed by victim advocates, and is one step toward a more trauma-informed and victim centered compensation program.
The Fairness for Survivors of the Backlog Act, a Joyful Heart priority bill, was enacted as part of the Violence Against Women Act in 2022. This law requires states to ensure that survivors whose cases are delayed due to their kit being untested have clear access to compensation.
We must create a system that recognizes that most survivors don’t report to law enforcement, when they do it’s delayed, and many do not choose to participate in the criminal justice process. It’s time for a trauma-informed victim compensation laws that accurately reflect sexual assault surviors’ reality and healing process.