USC - Crime victim compensation

View all text of Subchapter I [§ 20101 - § 20111]

§ 20102. Crime victim compensation

(a) Authority of Director; grants

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Director shall make an annual grant from the Fund to an eligible crime victim compensation program of 75 percent of the amounts awarded during the preceding fiscal year, other than amounts awarded for property damage. Except as provided in paragraph (4), a grant under this section shall be used by such program only for awards of compensation.

(2) If the sums available in the Fund for grants under this section are insufficient to provide grants as provided in paragraph (1), the Director shall make, from the sums available, a grant to each eligible crime victim compensation program so that all such programs receive the same percentage of the amounts awarded by such program during the preceding fiscal year, other than amounts awarded for property damage.

(3) For the purposes of calculating amounts awarded in the previous fiscal year under this subsection, the Director shall not require eligible crime victim compensation programs to deduct recovery costs or collections from restitution or from subrogation for payment under a civil lawsuit.

(4) Not more than 5 percent of a grant made under this section may be used for training purposes and the administration of the State crime victim compensation program receiving the grant.

(b) Eligible crime victim compensation programsA crime victim compensation program is an eligible crime victim compensation program for the purposes of this section if—

(1) such program is operated by a State and offers compensation to victims and survivors of victims of criminal violence, including drunk driving and domestic violence for—

(A) medical expenses attributable to a physical injury resulting from compensable crime, including expenses for mental health counseling and care;

(B) loss of wages attributable to a physical injury resulting from a compensable crime; and

(2) such program promotes victim cooperation with the reasonable requests of law enforcement authorities, except 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;

(3) such State certifies that grants received under this section will not be used to supplant State funds otherwise available to provide crime victim compensation;

(4) such program, as to compensable crimes occurring within the State, makes compensation awards to victims who are nonresidents of the State on the basis of the same criteria used to make awards to victims who are residents of such State;

(5) such program provides compensation to victims of Federal crimes occurring within the State on the same basis that such program provides compensation to victims of State crimes;

(6) such program provides compensation to residents of the State who are victims of crimes occurring outside the State if—

(A) the crimes would be compensable crimes had they occurred inside that State; and

(B) the places the crimes occurred in are States not having eligible crime victim compensation programs;

(7) such program does not, except pursuant to rules issued by the program to prevent unjust enrichment of the offender, deny compensation to any victim because of that victim’s familial relationship to the offender, or because of the sharing of a residence by the victim and the offender;

(8) such program does not provide compensation to any person who has been convicted of an offense under Federal law with respect to any time period during which the person is delinquent in paying a fine, other monetary penalty, or restitution imposed for the offense;

(9) beginning not later than 3 years after March 15, 2022, such program—

(A) provides a waiver for any application filing deadline imposed by the program for a crime victim if—

(i) the crime victim is otherwise eligible for compensation; and

(ii) the delay in filing the application was a result of a delay in the testing of, or a delay in the DNA profile matching from, a sexual assault forensic examination kit or biological material collected as evidence related to a sexual offense; and

(B) does not require the crime victim to undergo an appeals process to have the application of the crime victim considered for a filing deadline waiver under subparagraph (A); and

(10) such program provides such other information and assurances related to the purposes of this section as the Director may reasonably require.

(d) DefinitionsAs used in this section—

(1) the term “property damage” does not include damage to prosthetic devices, eyeglasses or other corrective lenses, or dental devices;

(2) the term “medical expenses” includes, to the extent provided under the eligible crime victim compensation program, expenses for eyeglasses or other corrective lenses, for dental services and devices and prosthetic devices, and for services rendered in accordance with a method of healing recognized by the law of the State;

(3) the term “compensable crime” means a crime the victims of which are eligible for compensation under the eligible crime victim compensation program, and includes crimes, whose victims suffer death or personal injury, that are described in section 247 of title 18, driving while intoxicated, and domestic violence;

(4) the term “State” includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and any other possession or territory of the United States; and

(5) the term “recovery costs” means expenses for personnel directly involved in the recovery efforts to obtain collections from restitution or from subrogation for payment under a civil law suit.

(e) Relationship to certain Federal programsNotwithstanding any other law, if the compensation paid by an eligible crime victim compensation program would cover costs that a Federal program, including the program established under title IV of Public Law 107–42, or a federally financed State or local program, would otherwise pay,— 1

1 So in original. The comma probably should not appear.

(1) such crime victim compensation program shall not pay that compensation; and

(2) the other program shall make its payments without regard to the existence of the crime victim compensation program.

(Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1403, Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2171; Pub. L. 100–690, title VII, §§ 7123(b)(1)–(3), 7125, 7126, Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4421–4423; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXIII, §§ 230202, 230203, title XXXIII, § 330025(b), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2079, 2151; Pub. L. 104–132, title II, §§ 233(a), (b), 234(a)(1), (b), Apr. 24, 1996, 110 Stat. 1244, 1245; Pub. L. 104–155, § 5, July 3, 1996, 110 Stat. 1394; Pub. L. 107–56, title VI, § 622(a)–(e)(1), Oct. 26, 2001, 115 Stat. 371, 372; Pub. L. 109–162, title XI, § 1133(a), Jan. 5, 2006, 119 Stat. 3108; Pub. L. 117–27, § 2(b), July 22, 2021, 135 Stat. 301; Pub. L. 117–103, div. W, title XIII, §§ 1311, 1316(b), Mar. 15, 2022, 136 Stat. 935, 939.)