NCJ Number
212051
Date Published
April 2005
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This handbook presents West Virginia's rules and statutes, revised in April 2005, that pertain to compensation for innocent crime victims who have suffered personal injury and incurred out-of-pocket costs due to the criminally injurious conduct of another person.
Abstract
In 1981, the West Virginia Legislature enacted legislation that created the crime victims program within the State's court of claims. This handbook presents sections of article 2A of the legislation, which pertains to compensation awards to crime victims. This is followed by sections of article 2B, which address the distribution of crime profits. This article provides that when a person convicted of a crime later profits as a result of that crime, such profits should be used to compensate the crime victims who were damaged as a result of the commission of the crime, as well as the taxpayers who paid for the prosecution or incarceration of the defendant, or both. Article 8B is also included in the handbook. It creates "The Forensic Medical Examination Fund" for sex offense cases, which is a special fund in the State treasury that holds the appropriations made to the fund by the legislature for this purpose. The text of article 5 is also included in the handbook, which pertains to mandatory costs assessed upon conviction of a felony. The handbook also includes rules of practice and procedure of the court of claims under the compensation act, guidelines for crime scene cleanup and relocation costs, copies of forms used in the court of claims subpoena, a crime victims compensation fund application, attorney fee voucher, and statute changes.