Research Paper on:
Victim Compensation

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
of violent crimes, if the survive at all, suffer from both physical and psychological scars. These scars can result in tremendous loss both in the personal lives of these  victims and in their work lives. Victims compensation is one means of at least partially making up for those losses.  In a day when it seems that everyone is claiming victim status and receiving monetary awards for that status (Davis, 2004), it is important to distinguish between victim compensation as  it pertains to compensating victims of violent crimes and victim compensation as it pertains to doling out money is spurious lawsuits involving everything from someone stumping their toe on anothers  lawn to someone burning themselves with hot coffee and suing the restaurant. There are also victim compensation programs for unscrupulous acts perpetrated by ones own lawyer (New Hampshire Business Review,  2007) and for nurses and other medical professionals that contract diseases as a result of mandatory vaccinations (Older Americans Report, 2005). As worthy as such types of victims compensation  may be, they are very distinct from victims compensation resulting from violent crime. Smith (2006) defines victim compensation as a "form  of income redistribution designed to redistribute wealth from offenders to victims of crime" (307). The key distinction in this form of victim compensation is that these individuals are being  compensated for the impacts of criminal acts that were intentionally perpetrated against them by someone that was subsequently tried and convicted for those acts. Often there is a time  window within which a victim is required to file for compensation (Siegel, 2005). Often, however, extensions can be granted if there are justifications for filing late. In Connecticut,