Inadequate Safety Measures? Victim Assistance Programs Can Impose Financial Burdens

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Pamela White, in the midst of clearing out her son’s apartment, found herself contemplating graveyards and tombstones rather than the glistening Christmas tree that had just days before brought joy.

Her son, Dararius Evans, a former army reservist who had lived through an Iraq deployment, was tragically killed in a shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, just after Christmas 2019. The perpetrator was sentenced to life imprisonment last year.

Throughout these trying times, Pamela managed her expenses through a personal loan, accruing interest as she awaited reimbursement.

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Each year, thousands of crime victims grapple with the financial challenges presented by state compensation programs, touted as safety nets. These programs typically necessitate victims to front costs for funerals, medical care, and relocation, among others, and exhaust all payment options before any reimbursements are issued. Regrettably, these reimbursements often fail to fully offset the costs incurred.

These programs are also plagued by volatile funding sources, making them susceptible to budget deficits and legislative shifts. Even prison and criminal justice reforms aimed at reducing imprisonment rates have inadvertently caused funding shortages in states heavily reliant on court fines and imprisonment fees.

Many advocates argue that the prerequisite for victims to pay upfront excludes individuals teetering on the brink of financial ruin, who are often most susceptible to crimes.

“Many families can’t solely depend on the reimbursement model… The funds take months to reach families,” notes Aswad Thomas, vice president of the Alliance for Safety and Justice, a nonprofit dedicated to reforming victim compensation and other facets of the criminal justice system.

Although some programs agree to directly pay funeral homes or medical providers, the costs for victims in regions where this is not the case can prevent them from affording rent or crucial services like counseling.

In addition, victims must deplete other potential payment sources like insurance, lawsuit awards, or crowdfunding campaigns before accessing these programs. Crowdfunding efforts by a family member or friend could even lead to a reduction in awards or retraction of previously granted funds.

Furthermore, the time it takes to process claims adds to the financial pressure. Processing times vary widely, with some states reporting a few days while others taking months or even years. As of 2022, the average processing time was three months, as per federal data collated from states.

Andrew LeFevre, executive director of the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, believes that more stable funding sources could expedite payments and extend assistance to more victims.

Only a handful of states draw most or all of their funding from recurrent state budget provisions. However, several states have shifted the responsibility of funding these programs onto individuals within the criminal justice system – through court fines, deducting a portion of prisoner wages, or prison commissary fees.

These revenue streams can be quite volatile. Early pandemic court closures, sentencing reforms, and changes to misdemeanor crime charges have all resulted in reduced funding for many state programs.

LeFevre has spent years advocating for stable funding to Arizona lawmakers. In the past decade, revenue has dropped by 38% in the state’s Criminal Justice Enhancement fund, largely sourced from surcharges on criminal and civil penalties, which funds victim compensation and other programs.

In the previous year, Arizona lawmakers supplemented the program with a one-off $10 million from the American Rescue Plan and added $2 million recurring general funds. Despite this, the program remains underfunded, requiring approximately $14 million annually to adequately serve all victims in the state without relying on criminal justice funds.

“We refrained from promoting the program (to victims) ourselves,” says LeFevre. “The last thing we wanted was to double the number of victims seeking assistance and then fail to help them.”

Hawaii’s program, primarily funded through fines and fees since 1998, almost shut down in 2022 due to chronic funding shortfalls. The program was saved thanks to an influx of general funds from the legislature to pay staff, as per their annual report.

Several state legislatures have relied on one-off general fund boosts to address budget gaps created by downstream effects of criminal justice reforms.

California’s restitution fund shrank by about 27% between the fiscal years 2021 and 2022. State lawmakers increased general fund dollars to cover the gap and for the subsequent budget year. However, the program continues to depend partially on the unstable restitution fund, which dissuades lawmakers from expanding the program or eliminating obstacles.

Many states heavily depend on matching funds from the U.S. Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime. However, this Crime Victims Fund also relies on volatile criminal fines, penalties, forfeited bail, and special assessments, leading to financial instability.

Following a shift in legal strategy that led to more deferred federal prosecutions (typically in white-collar crime cases), less money was channeled into the federal fund. These cases usually avoid court if fines or other conditions are met. Congress addressed this in 2021 by rerouting fines from these pre-prosecution agreements into the fund, while also increasing the percentage of matching funds that states receive annually.

In Louisiana, past funding shortages resulted in victims waiting more than a year for approved compensation. In 2017, the state began clearing the backlog by reallocating money saved through reduced incarceration costs due to prison reform, which also increased its federal reimbursement.

White’s application, filed in 2020, was not part of the backlog, but her case took nearly two years to be settled. Each Christmas, she would set up the silver tree from Dararius’ apartment and wait.

During her appeal hearing, White implored the board, reminding them that despite the circumstances that led to her son’s killing, he was a human who did not deserve to die.

“It doesn’t matter if they were arguing. It doesn’t matter if they got in a fistfight… It doesn’t warrant a person losing their life,” she pleaded.

The board reversed its decision and granted White $5,000 — the maximum amount for funeral assistance at the time. However, the loan White had taken out was for $6,000, which accrued interest as she made monthly payments.

While White managed to handle these payments, she understands many others cannot.

Elizabeth Ruebman, a New Jersey-based victims advocate and former adviser on compensation to the state attorney general, argues that compensation programs currently are not designed for emergency needs.

“It’s slow, it’s bureaucratic. We’re talking about people who have a crisis right now,” she laments.

Some states do offer immediate awards to assist victims during the initial aftermath of crime, but advocates argue these awards are flawed. They’re often restrictive, capped as low as $500, and are subtracted from any subsequent award. Roughly a dozen states don’t offer immediate awards at all.

The AP discovered that maximum awards offered by programs ranged from $10,000 to $190,000 across individual states. Many programs haven’t increased these amounts for decades: North Dakota, Montana, and Rhode Island last raised their caps in the 1970s.

Programs have been more proactive in raising limits on individual expenses like funerals. However, many states don’t provide sufficient money to cover the actual cost of burying a loved one. The National Funeral Directors Association estimated the median cost of a funeral with a burial vault was over $9,400 in 2021. Only

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Victim Compensation Programs

More about Victim Compensation Programs

• State Compensation Programs
• Crime Victims Fund
• The Alliance for Safety and Justice
• Arizona Criminal Justice Commission
• National Funeral Directors Association
• Office for Victims of Crime
• Public Welfare Foundation