Victim Compensation Programs

Running head: VICTIM COMPENSATION PROGRAMS 1

Victim Compensation Programs

Name

Institution

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Victim Compensation Programs

Victim Compensation Programs are designed to offer financial support to the victims

who directly face particular crimes by providing compensation for losses. Protecting and serving

crime victims is more about prosecution and investigation than helping those affected by crime

and their families to recover their expenses for such crimes. The program assists victims and

provide its Victim Compensation Program report at the end of every year. Most state victim

compensation programs produce an annual report detailing the number of claims filed, number of

awards and denials, amount of monies awarded, and other items. The paper will compare the

incurred physical injury except for elderly individuals over 60 years and minors under the age of

18, relatives or people next of kin to the deceased, individuals who might have incurred costs

like burial expenses, victims of unlawful kidnapping and imprisonment and victims of terrorist

activities outside the US but are residents of New York or Massachusetts among other eligibility

requirements (New York Office of Victim Services., 2019). However, some of the filed claims in

both states get denied for several reasons, including lack of information supplied, duplicate

claim, inability to locate claimant, lack of compensable loss, case of lack of physical injury, lack

of cooperation with law enforcement agencies, lack of funeral loss, victim not from the specific

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states, and in case of a pending trial time of filing the claim among other reasons. Individuals

whose claims get denied are given 30 days to appeal for their claims to be revised again.

During the Fiscal ending 2019, the state of Massachusetts spent more money on

compensating crime victims, $46,944,817 (Massachusetts Office for Victims of Crime., 2019),

while the New York state spent $22,466,506 (New York Office of Victim Services., 2019),

(New York Office of Victim Services., 2019) crime victims in the fiscal year ending 2019 (New

York Office of Victim Services., 2019). The compensation covered crime victims under the main

categories, including death, essential personal property, forensic rape exam direct reimbursement

are subject to financial audits under the directive of the Office of the Attorney General to

evaluate and assess the accountability of the taxpayers' money pumped into the programs.

The New York State Office of Victim Services awarded crime victim assistance

organizations, while the Massachusetts services did not award victim assistance organizations

within the state. According to the New York Office of Victim Services (2019), some of the

victim assistance programs that were awarded in New York state in the fiscal year ending 2019

include the Brooklyn Chinese American Association, A New Hope Center, Brighter Tomorrows

Inc., Catholic Charities of Fulton & Montgomery Counties, Cattaraugus Community Action,

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Crime Victims Assistance Center, Crime Victims Center Inc., DBA Parents for Megan's Law

Inc., among other victim assistance organizations.

The data provided by the Massachusetts crime victim program in 2019 compared to that

obtained from New York Victim Services proves that the level of criminology in Massachusetts

is higher than in New York State. The conclusion is based on the higher numbers of crime

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References

Massachusetts Victim Assistance Formula Grant Program | Office for Victims of Crime. (2019,

December 20). Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance (MOVA).

https://ovc.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh226/files/media/document/va-fy-19-

massachusetts-annual-report-508.pd