Crime Victim Compensation in Illinois: We Can Do Better

Crime Victim Compensation (CVC) exists in the US to help individuals and their families following violent injury. In Illinois, the CVC program can reimburse up to $45,000 per claim to assist with mental health, relocation, and burial expenses. CVC provides an opportunity to address recovery after violent injury across the continuum of care as part of the mission of trauma centers. We aimed to study CVC claim outcomes in Illinois, assessing delays in reimbursements and differences between crimes.

We filed a Freedom of Information Act claim with the Office of the Illinois Secretary of State from 2012 to 2024, requesting data on individual CVC claims. We analyzed CVC claim requests, focusing specifically on reimbursements and delays.

On average, 3,677 claims were filed annually. The most common crimes for which compensation was requested were assault (47.1%) and homicide (20.8%). Overall, only 36.7% of claims were awarded. Claims following homicide were more likely to be awarded (65.2%) compared with all other claims (23.4% to 33.8%, p < 0.01). The median award following assault was $1,670 (interquartile range $658 to $4,576), whereas the median award following homicide was $7,500 (interquartile range $5,380 to $7,500). The overall time to payment was a median of 281 days, with only 17.9% of claimants awarded within 6 months of claim. Since 2022, wait times have decreased (p < 0.01).

CVC was created to support injured people; however, most claims in Illinois are rejected after a long delay. To be an effective program, CVC applications must be efficiently administered to address the needs of victims of violence.