Victims Compensation and Flexible FINANCIAL Assistance

Victims compensation is supposed to help survivors heal. Instead, too many crime survivors face barriers, delays, and denials when they need support the most.

  • 8 Minute Read

In the aftermath of a violent crime, many survivors need assistance to cover medical costs for injuries, repair their homes after a break-in, find safe transitional housing from abusers, access to mental health and medical treatment, and much more. The DC’s Crime Victims Compensation Program (CVCP) was intended to provide financial relief to crime survivors and support them through the healing process. But at-least half of requests for DC’s victim compensation were not approved, and leave thousands of crime survivors each year without any financial assistance—figures that underestimate the true number of crime victims that never receive support because they did not apply for help. Barriers to access compensation disproportionately affect Black crime survivors, including individuals who are dually involved in the justice system as crime survivors still navigating trauma, and individuals who are under the custody of the justice system. Failing to meet crime survivors’ needs at the necessary scale has consequences for the safety of all DC residents. DC and the federal government should transition the operation of the federal crime victims compensation program to a DC agency, and expand the use of flexible and low-barrier financial assistance programs so that crime survivors receive immediate support to heal — something that will increase safety for all DC residents.

What you need to know

Crime survivors need support, but often do not have meaningful access to it.

National surveys show that nearly 34 percent of Americans have been the victim of a violent crime in the last decade. Crime survivors often need a combination of immediate safety, emotional support, and practical, long-term assistance to rebuild their lives and heal from trauma. Key needs include securing a safe environment, including safe housing, mental health services, which can include ongoing counseling and therapy to address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety or depression, and financial support for medical costs, funeral expenses, lost wages, and counseling expenses. Some survivors need legal advocacy to support them through the criminal justice process, including preparing victim impact statements and representing them at various stages to protect their rights. Some survivors need support for their financial empowerment around developing life skills and finding stability, help reconnecting to a job or income, and need long-term housing solutions beyond a stay in a shelter.  While national surveys of crime survivors show nearly 8 out of 10 say their lives have been affected by a crime, fewer than 1 in 3 report receiving financial assistance, counseling, medical assistance, or other recovery support from any source, including government agencies, nonprofit, or informal networks. 

Without support, crime survivors may be trapped in a cycle of violence.

A broad body of literature indicates that victimization is a significant risk factor for both future violent behavior, and increased likelihood of being re-victimized. An article in Crime and Delinquency  said that “the victim-[propensity to commit offenses] overlap represents one of the more empirically robust concepts in criminology.” Another article concluded that “everywhere researchers have looked, victimization is positively correlated with [committing a crime].”  Research also shows that survivors who receive help can remove themselves from dangerous situations and adopt healthy and prosocial coping mechanisms. People who receive help to recover from trauma and violence are much more likely to break the cycle of violence and not behave violently towards others.

The Office for Victims of Crime

VOCA Victim Compensation Data Dashboard, 2024

People in the custody of the justice system for crimes can also be crime survivors.

Individuals who have committed crimes may themselves have been crime survivors. To plan its approach to serve the needs of young people committed and confined by the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, the agency notes, “92 percent of youth that are in the juvenile justice system have experienced at least one traumatic event and that 84 percent had experienced at least two traumatic events.”  One study looking at the experiences of individuals under the custody of the DC Department of Corrections and in the DC jail found, “one in four had been wounded in events that appear unrelated to their incarceration….Eighty-three percent had personally witnessed someone being shot, and 46 percent had a family member killed with a gun. In the incidents in which they were shot, most were victims of robberies, assaults, and crossfires.” DC’s yet to fully implement gun violence reduction plan noted the dual nature of individuals’ involvement as crime survivors, and people who engage in crimes as part of a cycle of violence disproportionately impacting Black residents: “About 96 percent of victims and suspects in both homicides and nonfatal shootings were Black, despite Black residents comprising only 46 percent of the overall population in the District.”

The court administers the crime victim’s compensation program.

When someone has been the victim of a violent crime, they can apply to the Crime Victims Compensation Program (CVCP) to reimburse them for the expenses they have incurred as a result of their victimization.  The CVCP run by the DC Courts are a wholly federal enterprise where funds from Victims of Violent Crime Fund (VVCF) – revenue earned from mandatory, court-ordered fines and fees imposed on individuals convicted of crimes, and supplemented by federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) formula grant – pay for the system and the compensation it provides. The courts say they can reimburse a victim for funeral and burial costs, medical and mental health bills, lost wages and loss of support, cleaning up the crime scene, and emergency shelter or moving to a safer place.

The crime victims compensation program is not a source of immediate support.

The CVCP does not provide immediate funds to all crime survivors in the immediate aftermath of a crime when they most need the support. The courts say the time frame between which someone submits a claim, and when they can receive reimbursement for an expense, “varies based on the application and documentation received.”  While there are some nonprofit organizations that can provide victims immediate support and there are other processes for victims of domestic or sexual violence to get support faster, most crime survivors are likely going to be paying out of pocket or through another funding source for the services they need, and will only be reimbursed with victims compensation if their application has been approved. Victims compensation is also the “payer of last resort” – meaning, you have to exhaust all of your other insurance or other means before you receive support from the fund.  Unlike other places, CVCP is a funding source for emergency housing for victims in DC, and lists a series of eligibility requirements for someone to get safe emergency shelter. While organizations like DC Survivors and Advocates for Empowerment (DC SAFE) have worked with CVCP to get individuals needing safe emergency housing into a placement within two to five business days, that is much longer than next-day placement times DC SAFE reported achieving with clients prior to the pandemic. 

Crime survivors may never report the crime to police.

When someone sees data on reports of violent crime, these accounts of victimization do not show the true level of people’s experience with crime. National studies show nearly half of violent crimes are not reported to police. There are several reasons a crime survivor may not report a crime. Research has suggested that low-income and/or Black residents are more likely to distrust law enforcement due to histories of over-policing, police brutality, and/or excessively harsh sentences. In cases of domestic violence, law enforcement involvement for seeking a protection order can negatively impact housing and financial stability. Roughly 20-25 percent of sexual assault survivors choose not to report their assaults due to fear of retaliation or a reported lack of confidence in the criminal justice system.  

Crime survivors' access to compensation is limited without documentation of the crime.

DC SAFE’s Advocacy Guide to the Crime Victims Compensation Program says claim eligibility is determined if the crime was reported and documented with some of following: a police report within seven days of when it could have been reasonably reported, receipt of Sexuaul Assault Nurses Examiner (SANE) to document a sexual assault, a civil protection order for an incident of domestic violence, or a neglect petition for an incident of cruelty to children. Recognizing that reporting the crime is a barrier to access to victims compensation, under the Expanding Supports for Crime Victims Amendment Act of 2022, the reporting requirement exceptions were expanded to include receipt of an intimate partner violence forensic exam and an anti-stalking order. Gathering the necessary materials for a successful claim, compounded by the several weeks it can take for a claim to be processed, may present barriers to survivors seeking urgent financial relief. Police reports and protective orders may be unavailable to crime survivors who choose not to report the crime, which disproportionately impacts Black crime survivors. As DCSAFE notes, “the Crime Victims Compensation Program will not inform claimants of these exceptions or assist them with establishing eligibility.”  It would be up to the individual survivor who is navigating a traumatic experience, or their attorney, or an advocate assisting them with the process of identifying how they might qualify for an exception to figure this all out, while the victim is navigating trauma.  For crime survivors who are particularly vulnerable to victimization and other harms, like refugees and immigrants to the DC region, the barriers to access support through the CVPC system are nearly insurmountable: one service provider, the The Persons Center, a nonprofit that serves and supports African Immigrant and Refugee survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking in DC, said that in their five year history of serving 100 clients a year, no survivors they have worked with accessed crime victims compensation

Requirements to cooperate with law enforcement can limit access to victims’ compensation.

To file a claim, it is required that the victim reasonably cooperates with the police investigation.  A Black survivor may have reasonable suspicions to fear the justice system due to over policing or having their family members involved in the justice system – which may lead to their unwillingness to cooperate with the police. There is also a requirement that the victim did not participate, agree to, or provoke the crime in question – sometimes called contributory misconduct. Elsewhere, it has been documented that contributory misconduct disproportionately impacts Black crime survivors due to the discretionary nature of how law enforcement may interpret the events. Research covering claims filed in 18 states between  2015–2023 showed that while Black victims’ families file the most claims, they face higher denial rates, with 57 percent of “contributory misconduct” denials involving Black applicants. 

Half of the individuals who applied for compensation were not approved.

The federal Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) publishes a Victim Compensation Data Dashboard, which provides an overview of key performance measure data collected by states and jurisdictions with victim compensation grant programs.. The data reported on the dashboard for the District of Columbia indicates half of victims compensation applications in DC were not approved: In 2024, of the 4,048 persons for whom an application was made, there were 1,985 approved applications – about a 49 percent success rate for the applications that DC’s CVCP processed.   

Compensation payments may not fully reimburse a crime victim for their needs.

The category limits for victims compensation reimbursement set by administrators of the victims compensation program are out of step with the costs of what a victim might need to recover from a crime. A crime survivor, or anyone, may need to be relocated for weeks and months to damaged or unsafe housing. In a city where a one-bedroom apartment in DC can cost $2500 to rent for one month, the temporary housing reimbursement is limited to $3,000 for housing costs.  While the program limits crime scene clean reimbursement to $1000, DC SAFE found the average repair costs for 33 people they provided emergency assistance to were $1,180. Neither DC SAFE nor its clients were reimbursed for the costs of helping survivors with new doors and windows immediately. Reimbursement for transportation while the victim’s car is held as evidence by law enforcement– something that could take months to resolve– is limited to $2000, when a car rental can be as much as $1,000 a month.  For the 312 homicide victims who had a claim paid, the total payment averaged out to each victim comes to $6,934: for a homicide victim who has multiple needs, just the cost of a funeral is minimally $9,000 (and is limited under the program to a $10,000 reimbursement). Even with strong collaboration between DC SAFE and CVCP to more immediately meet the needs for safe and secure housing, DC SAFE reports, the current housing being offered is primarily hotels and often outside of DC, as far as Gaithersburg, Maryland. Lastly, not all types of harm or crimes that happen as a result of a violent crime are even eligible for victims compensation. For example, if one’s house or car is struck by gunfire as part of a crime, it would not be covered unless it can be proved that it is related to domestic violence.  

Demographic data may mask a mismatch between who is a victim in DC, and who receives victims’ compensation.

Of the 4,048 persons for whom an application was made, the federal Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Victim Compensation Data Dashboards reports only reports the race or ethnicity of about 600 applicants.  Of what was reported,  there is a mismatch between what national surveys say are rates of victimization by race, gender, and age, and the application information reported. National surveys show that Black residents experience violence at a slightly higher rate (6 percent) than white residents. Where the race was known for compensation applicants, 86 percent of those applicants were Black, and less than one percent of applicants were white. When the age of an applicant was reported, 76 percent were aged 25 to 59 (a very large grouping). National surveys of victimization show that 18 to 24-year-olds experience the highest level of violence of any age group, but fewer than 13 percent of victims’ compensation awards went to 18 to 24-year-olds. National surveys of victimization show that men are slightly more likely (12.7 percent) to be victimized than women for all types of violence, but when the gender of victims’ compensation applicants was reported in DC, men were only 41 percent of applicants. While the data do not show the sources of these disparities between who is a victim and who applies for and receives compensation, there is national research that shows that young men of color are the most likely to experience violence, but the least likely to receive support. In a city where white households have 81 times the wealth of Black households, it may be that the low rates of documented white applicants for victims compensation are an indicator that white crime survivors in DC may have more resources to pay directly out of pocket for healing services any survivor might need, and more of them may be avoiding the victims compensation process altogether.

DC could assume control over the victim’s compensation system.

DC’s Crime Victims Compensation Program is currently run by a court with limited local accountability. Due to DC’s lack of statehood, its CVCP does not have meaningful administrative authority over its compensation program like other states. It is instead managed by the DC Superior Court, which means the District has limited ability to make the program more responsive to survivor needs or to enforce the reforms DC has already enacted into law. As part of the development of the Public Safety Policy Agenda with nearly 30 organizations, crime survivor organizations like Volare, DC Coalition to End Domestic Violence and Bold Yoga recommended that “DC the crime victim compensation program should be shifted to a DC agency, giving the District greater autonomy and oversight of decision-making and program operations, and enabling survivors and advocates to influence improvements to the program based on survivor experiences.”  To do so, the U.S. Congress, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, and Council of the District of Columbia would need to have some collaboration around legislation that would amend the Home Rule Act and executive action to transfer administrative authority of the Crime Victims Compensation Program to a DC agency and establish pathways for ongoing survivor and advocate input into the program.

Flexible financial assistance can address the barriers survivors face in accessing victims' compensation.

Flexible financial assistance (sometimes referred to as flexible funding or flexible cash assistance) for crime victims is a low-barrier, direct-cash model that provides immediate funds to survivors of violent crime. Unlike traditional victim compensation, which is often a reimbursement-based process for specific expenses, flexible funding covers urgent, victim-identified needs that traditional funding streams typically cannot cover, promoting safety, housing stability, and recovery. The strength of flexible financial assistance is that it speeds up the financial assistance process, and removes the types of reporting, administrative, environmental, or other burdens that limit access to victims’ compensation. 

DC has provided flexible financial assistance to crime survivors – but it is limited, and does not meet the scale of the need.

In the District of Columbia, the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants has provided grants to nonprofits to provide the equivalent of flexible cash assistance, to organizations like The Persons Center to provide immediate assistance to a crime survivor. As an organization with two case managers serving 100 African Immigrant and refugee survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking each year, The Persons Center says that even with these resources, they cannot keep up with the demand observed by calls for help to their offices. As the budget process for Fiscal Year 2027 evolves, organizations that provide support to underserved crime survivors say the use of direct cash transfer may no longer be an allowable method for providing financial assistance.  These proposed changes come at a time when the DC victims service provider community is still managing through federal cuts that have impacted their services to crime survivors. 

There is a national push to expand flexible financial assistance for crime survivors.

Several states have enhanced their crime victims’ compensation systems and augmented them with more flexible funds and cash assistance. The City of Chicago’s Emergency Supplemental Victims Fund (ESVF) is designed to combat the immediate financial impacts and trauma inflicted on those who experience loss from gun violence. The ESVF is open for survivors, or their next of kin, regardless of immigration status, and has low-barrier eligibility, which significantly increases the number of survivors supported. California had a Flexible Assistance for Survivors (FAS) pilot grant program within its existing Office of Emergency Services. Before budget cuts limited its reach, the program dispersed grants to community organizations, giving them the authority to provide direct cash assistance to survivors without hindering them with overly complicated processes. The LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania uniquely provides flexible funds through installments, having repeated success transitioning survivors out of violent environments and into their own residences. In Congress, the Crime Survivor Support and Stability Act of 2026 would direct funding to community organizations to provide direct financial assistance to crime survivors.  

WHERE TO LEARN MORE

Solutions

The U.S. Congress and DC should:

  • Shift DC’s Crime Victims Compensation Program from the courts to a local agency.
  • Fund community organizations to give out direct cash assistance to crime survivors with low-barrier eligibility requirements – at the scale that they are needed by survivors.
  • Support the federal Crime Survivor Support and Stability Act of 2026, which would direct funding to community organizations to provide direct cash assistance to crime survivors.
  • Restore federal cuts to victims service.

special thanks

Isabella LeBlanc  ★  Micaela Deming  ★  Kylie Hogan  ★  Rebbie Davis  ★  Lul Mohamud

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