Hope After Harm: An Evaluation of State Victim Compensation Statutes

By Chandler Hall and Alice Hamblet

  We all have a right to feel safe and be free from violence as we go about our daily lives. However, when violence does occur, few are prepared for the unexpected trauma, injury, and expense that can result. When someone experiences violence in the United States, the criminal legal system too often neglects the immediate and long-term needs of survivors of violence, instead disproportionately focusing resources on punishing the person or persons responsible for causing the harm. To address this imbalance, Congress passed the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) in 1984, which established the Crime Victims Fund (CVF) to provide financial support to state crime victim compensation (CVC) programs and victim service providers. Currently, there is a 75 percent federal match for state CVC programs, meaning that for every dollar that a state spends on victim compensation grants to survivors, it receives 75 cents from the federal government. Despite the key role that financial relief can play in healing after violence, America continues to fail to make necessary investments supporting victims and survivors of violence. In fiscal year 2021, state and local governments spent a combined $274 billion on police, corrections, and criminal-legal proceedings. That same year, the federal CVF was capped at slightly more than $2 billion. Too often, survivors are left to deal with the lasting and compounding effects of their victimization without support; the results—which can include bankruptcy, chronic illness, depression, and anxiety—are devastating. While financial support alone cannot eliminate the lifelong pain and trauma associated with victimization, research shows that financial-induced stress following harm is a stronger predictor of the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than victimization itself. As such, victim compensation can be lifesaving. By federal law, CVC programs must cover out-of-pocket expenses such as medical bills, burial costs, and lock replacement that are not covered by other means, including private insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. As such, CVC programs have the potential to aid survivors who have no other means of support. Moreover, victim compensation programs can help to break cycles of violence. The adage “hurt people, hurt people” rings true. While most survivors do not engage in future violence, the fact remains that people who commit violence often have experienced it themselves. This may be the case especially for people living in neighborhoods that experience frequent violence and who, due to systemic disinvestment and inequities, do not have access to healing resources such as adequate social services or medical or mental health care. When survivors receive the support they need to heal, they are less likely to commit harm. What is more, healed people, heal people. Providing survivors with victim compensation to meet unexpected costs associated with experiencing violence opens doors for intergenerational and community healing, as the impacts of untreated trauma and economic instability can ripple and compound to their families and communities at large. Victim compensation programs, therefore, have the potential to not only deliver on the promise to make survivors safer, but to help break cycles of violence, thereby making entire communities safer.   

Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2025. 73p.