Criminal Compensation

The right to compensation for victims of crime.

If you are the victim of a criminal act, there are three ways in which you can obtain compensation for from the offender:

A compensation order made by the court as part of a guilty verdict. This is not an Order you can apply for yourself, and it is essential that you inform the prosecution at the trial that you are seeking compensation, and provide full information on your injuries or loss.
A civil action suing for damages. If the Respondent has been found guilty of a criminal act which resulted in your injury or loss, this evidence will be sufficient to enable you to obtain a civil judgment pf damages for all loss you can prove as arising from the criminal act. The problem however is in enforcing the judgment, as this will often prove impossible against a criminal.
An application under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, This is set up to assist those injured by crimes of violence. You may apply for an award even if the offender has not been arrested and convicted so long as you have not been awarded compensation by either of the first two methods above.

Factors to Consider

• The scheme will not pay compensation assessed at under a certain amount - about £1,000;
• The scheme will not accept claims made if the offence was not promptly reported to the police or if any information was held back from them.
• Claims made more than two years after the event are also inadmissible.
• The Board can take other factors into account in deciding whether to award and how much to award, including whether or not they consider the injuries to be your fault.
•The Board can also refuse or reduce the compensation if you have a criminal record or if you associate with criminals.
• Different rules also apply to situations where the victim making the claim is in the same family as the offender.

Road Traffic Offences

If a claim arises from a road traffic offence, which was not a deliberate attempt to run you over, the claim should be made against the offender's insurance company.

If the offender is uninsured, payments can be made by the Motor Insurers' Bureau, an organisation funded by the insurance companies.

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