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Criminal Injury Compensation
Thankfully, being injured by someone committing a crime is still a rare occurrence in this country. If you are injured by the criminal act of another person, making a personal injury claim will be via a different procedure. Whereas claims are normally made through insurance companies as in a car accident, an injury caused as a result of a crime will be dealt with by a government scheme.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Board was set up in 1964 to enable people who were injured during a criminal event to access compensation. However as it is a statutory body funded by the taxpayer the compensation amounts are strictly limited and are dependent on the type of injury sustained. Also, injuries are assessed on the basis of common law damages so may not be as high as awards offered through a court of law.
In 1996 the Act was updated and the original board was replaced by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). This body now administers a tariff system for all applications made after the 1st April 1996.
When it was established, the CICA courted a certain amount of controversy as it was found that it did not pay out as much as was hoped. In fact, the authors of the Act stated that the scheme was not “intended to give full compensation, but should be an expression of public sympathy to victims of violent crime.”
In order to qualify for a payment, any injury sustained must be proven to have been caused directly by a criminal act.
Further information on this should be obtained from a no win no fee lawyer.
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