Compensating victims of crime. (FE)

Under current law, DOJ may award up to $40,000 per injury or death. DOJ may make periodic payments in the case of a death or protracted disability. Current law also allows DOJ to provide, in cases of homicide, up to an additional $2,000 for funeral and burial expenses.

This bill makes several changes to DOJ's victim compensation award program.

Under the bill, if a victim suffers a disability as a result of the crime, covered expenses may include reasonable housing accessibility adaptations. The bill adds victims of certain crimes to the list of persons eligible for compensation and increases the funeral and burial allowance to $5,000. The bill also allows a parent of a child who was the victim to receive compensation up to $3,000 for economic losses and for mental health treatment.

Under the bill, DOJ will consider reimbursing crime-related expenses incurred within four years after the crime occurred, except that if a victim was a minor child at the time the crime occurred, he or she may receive payments for up to four years after he or she applies for compensation. The bill allows DOJ to make periodic payments without requiring death or a protracted disability.

The bill clarifies the method for determining the amount to compensate a dependent for the loss of the victim's economic support. Under the bill, DOJ multiplies the victim's annual net earnings by four and subtracts from that amount four years' worth of federal Social Security payments the dependents are expected to receive and any life insurance proceeds the dependents receive.

Under the bill, if the victim's losses or the relative's losses are due to certain crimes involving a motor vehicle and the victim did not carry the minimum insurance required by law, the bill allows DOJ to reduce the amount it pays by the amount the victim would have received in insurance proceeds if he or she had carried the mandatory insurance.