Criminal Injuries Compensation

State and Offender Compensation for Violent Crime

David Miers
Consultant Editor Nicholas Wikeley and Consultant Editor Ben Collins QC

An analysis of the statutory provisions governing the making of compensation orders, and of their relationship with other sentencing options and with civil damages
Detailed commentary of court and tribunal decisions on the interpretation of the earlier statutory Schemes where their provisions continue to apply in the 2012 CICS, and of any decisions directly on the 2012 Scheme
An analysis of the background to and introduction of offender compensation within the development of restorative justice, and of the tensions to which it gives rise
An assessment of the place of state and offender compensation within the government's overall responses to the victims of violent crime

New to this Edition:

An extensive update of the original 1997 text, State Compensation for Criminal Injuries. The second edition takes into account all of the changes in CICS 2012 to the defining elements of a claim; primarily the definition of a criminal injury, the rules on eligibility, and the restrictions on the levels of awards to 'serious' personal injury and to offences against children or involving sexual offences
A very substantial rewriting of the chapters on assessment of compensation and on deductions to reflect the new basis of assessment for loss of earnings / earning capacity; that is, statutory sick pay
Five completely new chapters covering Offender Compensation, with detailed discussion on compensation orders and restorative justice

Criminal Injuries Compensation

State and Offender Compensation for Violent Crime

David Miers
Consultant Editor Nicholas Wikeley and Consultant Editor Ben Collins QC

Description

The 2012 Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) deals with some 33,000 applications for compensation each year. It has, since 1964, been one of the principal means by which the state aims to meet victims' expectations following an offence of violence, but it also displays a clear doctrinal effort to differentiate 'deserving' from 'undeserving' victims. Over much of the same period criminal courts and agencies have enjoyed powers to order offenders to pay compensation to their victims, most recently as an element of restorative justice.

Split into two parts, Criminal Injuries Compensation is an authoritative analysis of the statutory provisions governing these various remedies. Part One, State Compensation, analyses the Scheme's defining provisions: what constitutes 'a criminal injury', what persons and injuries may be compensated, the rules governing the victim's own conduct and character, the assessment of the award, and the procedures governing applications, appeals and judicial review. Part Two, Offender Compensation, analyses the conditions under which a criminal court may make a compensation order as an element of its sentencing decision, concluding with the potential of restorative justice to deliver offender compensation to victims. The book also touches on the wider political and criminal justice context of compensation.

Written and edited by an expert academic and practitioner team, Criminal Injuries Compensation is an essential text for all those with an interest in understanding the statutory, judicial and administrative rules that govern state and offender payment of compensation to victims of violent crime.

Criminal Injuries Compensation

State and Offender Compensation for Violent Crime

David Miers
Consultant Editor Nicholas Wikeley and Consultant Editor Ben Collins QC

1:Introduction: Compensating Victims of Violent Crime: Purpose and context
Part 1: State Compensation
2:Criminal Injuries: Victimising Events
3:Defining and Proving a Personal Injury
4:Eligible Persons
5:Refusal and Reduction of an Award
6:Personal Injury, Fatal Injury, Deductions
7:Applications, Awards, Appeals and Judicial Reviews
Part 2: Offender Compensation
8:Eligibility: Compensable Persons and Injuries
9:Assessment of Compensation
10:Procedure: Applications, Awards, and Appeals
11:Scope, Eligibility, and Procedures
Conclusion
12:State and Offender Compensation for Criminal Injuries: Themes and Challenges

Criminal Injuries Compensation

State and Offender Compensation for Violent Crime

David Miers
Consultant Editor Nicholas Wikeley and Consultant Editor Ben Collins QC

Author Information

David Miers, Emeritus Professor of Law, Cardiff University

Consultant Editor Nicholas Wikeley, Judge, Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber), and Consultant Editor Ben Collins QC, Barrister, Old Square Chambers

Dr David Miers LLB, LLM, D.Jur, LLD is Professor Emeritus of Law at Cardiff University. He is regarded as one of the foremost academics with a research interest in arrangements for the compensation by the state of victims of crime, and in restorative justice, having extensive experience in conducting research into and consulting on these matters.

Ben Collins QC is a barrister at Old Square Chambers and serves as a Recorder in crime in the South East. He is a leading expert on the law of criminal injuries compensation, having appeared in many of the leading cases on successive Criminal Injuries Compensation Schemes, from the First-tier Tribunal to the Supreme Court. Ben has been recognised by legal directories as a leading silk in personal injury, clinical negligence, professional discipline and employment law.

Judge Nicholas Wikeley is a judge of the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) with extensive experience of cases on the interpretation of the 2012 Scheme. He is also Professor Emeritus within the School of Law at the University of Southampton.