Criminal Injury Claims

Criminal Injury

If you’ve been injured and it was the fault of another party then you’ve every right to make a claim for compensation. This is true over a wide range of circumstances, including being involved in a road traffic accident, slipping on a wet supermarket floor or becoming ill due to dangerous conditions in the workplace. In all of these cases, making a claim consists of demonstrating two facts – that you’ve been injured or made ill, and that the circumstances behind this situation arose as a result of another party failing to take reasonable steps to ensure your safety and well-being. The category which differs slightly is that of people who have been injured as a result of a criminal act.

Clearly, when claiming against a body such as the NHS, a supermarket chain or your employer, the compensation will be paid from insurance which the body concerned is either legally obliged or strongly advised to take out. Claiming in the case of criminal injury is a different matter, however, since a criminal is clearly unlikely to either boast the assets needed to cover the cost of compensation or invest in liability insurance to cover such an occurrence.

If you’ve suffered an injury through the misfortune of being caught up as the innocent bystander of a criminal attack it can have a devastating effect on your well-being. Whether the injuries concerned are the physical side-effects of an actual assault, the psychological ramifications of bearing witness to an act of violence or a combination of the two, they could have a dramatically detrimental effect upon your ability to live your life fully and to earn a living. Compensation in a case such as this can never fully make up for the traumatic experiences you’ve been through, but it can be the first step towards putting your life back together again, providing a sense of justice and fairness and, just as importantly, ensuring that you don’t end up being out of pocket as a result of someone else’s criminal activity.

The main difference between criminal injury compensation and other types of personal injury claim is that compensation for injuries sustained through a criminal act are calculated and paid by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), a body which was set up by the government in 1996 in order to ensure that the innocent victims of violent crime would be able to seek compensation regardless of the financial status of the perpetrator. For a detailed breakdown of the Scheme as it was amended in 2012, see: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/243480/9780108512117.pdf

This lays out the eligibility criteria, the circumstances in which payments will be made and a detailed table of the amounts which you can expect to receive for specific injuries. Under the regulations of the scheme, payments can be made for the following:

1) Any mental or physical injury following a crime of violence.
2) Any sexual or physical abuse suffered.

These payments, directly concerning the circumstances of the crime and the injuries suffered will then be bolstered by payments to cover a loss of earnings caused by you having no capacity, or a lessened capacity, to work as a direct result of criminal injury, or special expenses which are intended to cover costs that have arisen as a direct result of the criminal incident, and, under the rules, is only payable if you have been incapacitated or unable to work for a period of at least 28 weeks.

CICA also pays compensation in the event of a fatality caused by an act of criminal violence. In such cases the amount will include a bereavement payment, payment to cover the loss of parental services and financial dependency and payment to cover the cost of a funeral.

In this latter case, the relatives able to pursue a claim in the event of a criminal related fatality include:

• Spouse or Partner – this covers people of the opposite or same sex, whether married or cohabiting, provided they were living together at the time of the crime, with exceptions possible for those who couldn’t live together due to ill health.
• Parents or parental guardian, whether natural or adoptive.
• The victim’s child, or a person the victim accepted and thought of as their child.

Time Limit

In all personal injury cases, the best advice is to start your claim for compensation at the earliest possible opportunity. This will mean that the details of the incident are fresh in your own mind and those of any witnesses, as well as hastening the date upon which you receive any compensation. On top of these considerations, there is a statutory time limit to take into account.

CICA places a time limit of 2 years from the date of the incident itself, with some leeway for exceptional circumstances. If you are the victim of historical sexual abuse, for example, but felt unable to speak out until many years later, the 2 year period will run from the date upon which you report the crimes. Another exception applies in the case of victims who were under the age of 18 at the time of the incident, in which case the following rules apply: if the incident or abuse was reported to the police before you turned 18 and no one launched a claim on your behalf, then you have until you turn 20 to start a claim. If the incident took place before you turned 18 but was not reported to the police, then you have two years to make a claim running from the date upon which you do report it.

Police Report

Another requirement of claims to the CICA is that the crime in question needs to have been reported to the police. In most cases, you will be expected to make this report immediately, unless there is a good reason for not doing so, i.e. you were receiving treatment for your injuries. If you fail to report the crime at the earliest practical opportunity, or to co-operate in attempts to bring the criminal involved to justice, you will not be able to make a claim. Other factors which decide eligibility are as follows:

a) Residency – you must have been resident in the UK at the time of the incident, or meet the expanded residency criteria set out in the scheme.
b) Co-operation with CICA, including informing them of any change of address, replying to any correspondence they send to you, providing all the details they need of your injuries and attending medical examinations to verify these injuries.
c) Any behaviour which may have contributed to the criminal incident in question, such as:

• Acting in an aggressive and threatening manner in a way which provoked the incident.
• A history of violence between yourself and the aggressor.
• Injury taking place as a result of you challenging someone over a previous incident.

Other factors taken into account will include whether you willingly became involved in a fight or sought revenge for your injuries after the event.

The fact that you may have been drinking or taking drugs at the time of the attack, and were thus more vulnerable, will not have a bearing on your claim. Drugs and drink will only become an issue if it is felt that they contributed towards you provoking the incident in question.

If you have a criminal record then this could have a bearing on your claim. Depending upon the severity of any unspent convictions and the time which has passed since they were handed down, you may find your claim being turned down altogether, or the amount of compensation awarded being reduced. For precise details on the type of convictions covered by this part of the scheme, see www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/243480/9780108512117.pdf (Annex D).

There are a few other factors relating to what might be termed your ‘character’ which will also be looked at, which means that payment may be reduced or withheld altogether in light of:

• Association or involvement with illegal drugs or crime.
• Tax evasion or benefit fraud.
• Anti-social behaviour orders.
• Cautions or reprimands.

Your personal injury lawyer, once they’ve taken all the details of your case, will go over exactly what effect any lifestyle or ‘character’ issues will potentially have on your claim.

Assault

According to the Office for national Statistics, the number of people involved in a violent crime which resulted in injury, in the year up to March 2014, was 322,611. (Source)

Whilst being caught up in a violent crime is still, fortunately, a relatively rare occurrence, if you do have the bad luck to be assaulted through no fault of your own then the detrimental impact can be huge. If you’ve been the victim of an assault the rights and wrongs of claiming for compensation are pretty clear cut. You’ve been attacked and left injured. These injuries might take the form of physical effects of either a minor or major nature, and might also include psychological ramifications which impact hugely on your ability to live a full life.

People who have been assaulted, long after cuts and bruises have faded and healed, may find themselves suffering from stress, anxiety, panic attacks and an inability to face the outside world. All of this can have a hugely limiting impact on their ability to earn a living and to enjoy a full social life. Effects such as these will be taken into account when the amount of any compensation awarded is calculated.

Dog/Animal Attacks

The owner of any dog has a duty of care to keep that dog under control. If a dog bites you then you may be in a position to make a claim if it can be shown that the owner knew, or ought to have known, that the dog might be dangerous. The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 specifies certain breeds of dog which are prohibited:

• Pit Bull Terrier
• Japanese Tosa
• Dogo Argentino
• Fila Brasileiro

The Act was brought in after a spate of high profile attacks in which people, often children, were attacked by dogs of this kind. In many cases the attacks caused serious injury and even death, and the provisions of the Act also cover cross breeds of the types mentioned and dogs which fit a similar physical template.

If you feel that the owner of a dog which attacked you ought to have known it was dangerous, no matter what the breed, and thus made efforts to stop it launching its’ attack – muzzling it, putting it on a leash etc. – then you may have a good case for seeking compensation. Even if you are attacked by a dog and the owner cannot be found, a claim could be pursued via CICA.

If you’ve been attacked by a dog in this manner then it’s imperative that you report the attack to the police. Not only is this a requirement of claiming via CICA, but it will also help to establish whether the dog has been reported before, a factor which will strengthen any claim you make.

Domestic Violence

In recent years, the UK cross government definition of domestic violence has been as follows: ‘any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.’

The abuse in question can be psychological, physical, sexual, financial, emotional or, as is common, a combination of several of these factors. In recent years, the notion of ‘coercive behaviour’ has been accepted by the UK government, which means that it is recognised that domestic violence often takes the form of a pattern of behaviour taking place over a prolonged period rather than the assumption being made that acts of domestic abuse are self-contained episodes.

Although widely accepted as a definition across government, the above is not yet a legal definition, and most domestic violence cases still rely upon one specific instance of a crime such as assault, rape, burglary or kidnapping. Experts in the field feel that this is one reason that, up to 2011, prosecution rates for crimes of domestic violence in the UK stood at just 6.5%. (Source: www.womensaid.org.uk/core/core_picker/download.asp?id=1602)

If you’ve been the victim of domestic violence then your main concern will be removing yourself from the situation, with the issue of compensation coming a distant second, if it occurs to you at all. The fact of the matter is, however, that another person has had a hugely negative impact on your life in a violent and criminal manner, and the after effects could linger for many years to come, impacting upon your ability to lead a full life, particularly in respect to your social and emotional dealings with other people. Negative effects of this kind can linger on for many years after cuts have healed and bruises faded, so it’s only right that you should receive compensation to help you start putting your life back together. Under CICA, nobody needs to have been convicted of anything, just as long as you can demonstrate that you have been the victim of a crime which has left you injured.

Witnessing a Crime (PTSD)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a debilitating condition which can affect those who have experienced or been witness to a traumatic and distressing event. If you have been caught up in a crime such as violent robbery, witnessing other people being assaulted, for example, then there is a chance you might develop PTSD and experience some of the following symptoms:

— Reliving the event
— Feeling emotionally numb
— Avoiding the outside world
— Feeling anxious and stressed
— Insomnia
— Headaches
— Dizziness

In the worst cases, PTSD can lead to relationships breaking down and people being unable to work. If you suffer from PTSD after witnessing a crime it can be every bit as serious as actually being physically injured during that crime. For that reason, you will have every right to pursue a claim for compensation through CICA, working to the same rules as any other form of injury.