Who's Eligible

To be eligible for compensation, a person must be a victim of a qualifying crime involving physical injury, threat of physical injury or death. For certain crimes, emotional injury alone is all that needs to be shown. Certain family members or other loved ones who suffer an economic loss resulting from an injury to, or death of, a victim of a crime may also be eligible for compensation.

The Victim Compensation Program (VCP) can help victims and family members of victims for crimes such as:

• Domestic violence
• Child abuse
• Assault
• Sexual assault
• Molestation
• Homicide
• Robbery
• Drunk driving
• Vehicular manslaughter

In addition to being the victim of a qualifying violent crime, applicants must meet other criteria, including:

• Generally, they must report the crime to the police, sheriff, child protective services, or some other law enforcement agency.
• In most cases, they must apply to the VCP within a year of the time the crime happened. If applying after one year, they can inform the VCP in writing why the application is late, and an extension of the time limit may be granted for certain reasons. If the victim was under 18 when the crime happened, they have until the victim's 19th birthday to apply.
• Applicants/victims must cooperate with law enforcement during the investigation and prosecution of the crime. Also, a victim cannot have participated in or been involved in committing the crime.
• Applicants/victims must cooperate with the VCP by providing the information needed to review the application.