Expands eligibility for victims and survivors of crime to access victim compensation funds by removing the mandatory law enforcement reporting requirement and providing alternative forms of evidence that would show that a qualifying crime was committed.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8619B
SPONSOR: Meeks TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to expanding eligibility
for victims and survivors of crime to access victim compensation funds
by removing the mandatory law enforcement reporting requirement and
providing alternative forms of evidence that would show that a qualify-
ing crime was committed
PURPOSE:
To expand eligibility for victims and survivors of crime to access
victim compensation funds by removing the mandatory law enforcement
reporting requirement and providing alternative forms of evidence that
would show that a qualifying crime was committed.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFICATION PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends the definition of "crime" to clarify that a crime may
be committed, regardless of whether any "suspect" was arrested or
convicted or whether the victim/survivor interacted with law enforce-
ment.
Section 2 increases the time a victim/survivor may file a victim compen-
sation claim with the Office of Victim Services (OVS) from one year to
three years.
Section 3 clarifies that the investigation and determination of claims
must be made regardless of whether a "suspect" has been arrested or
charged.
Section 4 removes the requirement that a crime be reported to a law
enforcement agency "promptly" and within one week of the occurrence of
the crime and instead, allows for reporting "within a reasonable time
considering all the circumstances, including the victim's physical,
emotional and mental condition and family situation." Additionally,
Section 4 provides alternatives to the law enforcement reporting
requirement by allowing for certain evidence to be provided to show that
a qualifying crime has occurred. Such alternatives include: (i) a writ-
ten statement from a victim services provider; (ii) a statement provided
by a witness to the qualifying crime; (iii) a self-attesting statement
from the victim that a crime was committed against them; (iv) a tempo-
rary or permanent order of protection; (v) a statement from a licensed
medical provider; (vi) a video, audio or photographic recording or the
commission of the qualifying crime.
Section 5 provides an immediate effective date.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION:
The amended version changes the length of time a victim may file a
victim compensation claim with OVS to three years and makes technical
changes to clarify the process of OVS reviewing evidence.
JUSTIFICATION:
When a citizen suffers from the impact of criminal violence, the govern-
ment has a moral responsibility to provide financial relief for the harm
they suffered. Victim compensation is a form of financial relief a
government can provide to right the injustices victims and survivors of
violence experience and enhance public 'safety.
In 1984, Congress established the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) to provide
Federal oversight and support to state-administered victims compensation
programs across the country responsible for assisting victims and survi-
vors of crime. VOCA established the Office of Victims of Crime to admin-
ister the Crime Victims Fund, which consists of non-taxpayer dollars
collected from fines and fees associated with Federal crimes. These
funds are used to compensate victims and survivors for costs, including
hospital bills, burial expenses, temporary housing, or replacing locks.
Eligibility to receive compensation varies from state to state, but the
general requirements include: (1) a showing of physical injury; (2)
reporting the crime to law enforcement; (3) not being involved in the
reported crime; (4) applying within a required time period; and (5)
mandated cooperation with law enforcement and prosecutors in the inves-
tigation of such crime.
Critics of victim compensation programs argue that they are largely
symbolic, as the most victimized groups are not the primary benefici-
aries of these services. These inequities fall across race and class
lines, where White women above the age of 55 living in non-urban areas
with incomes greater than $75,000 a year are the largest recipients of
services even though Black men under age 35 living in urban areas with
annual incomes below $25,000 experience the highest rates of victimiza-
tion. These inequities are the result of many barriers, including
mandated reporting to and interaction with law enforcement, limited
period that reports must be made and application must be filed,
reduction or exclusion from award amounts due to contributory conduct or
prior convictions, definition of harm restricted to physical injury, and
lack of public awareness about victim compensation funds.
Victims and survivors often do not report their crimes for a variety of
reasons, including fear of retaliation, mistrust in law enforcement, the
age and/or other demographics of a victim/survivor, or the dynamics of
an intimate partner relationship. According to the U.S. Department of
Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (DOJ BJS) National Crime Victimiza-
tion Survey (NCVS), 5,813,410 violent victimizations occurred in 2019.
Of those victimizations, 59 percent (roughly, 3,429,912) were not
reported to law enforcement officials. NCVS also reported that in 2019,
only 7.7% of victims/survivors of violent crimes received assistance
from victim service agencies. This data suggests that more than 90% of
victims and survivors of violent crimes have a low likelihood of receiv-
ing necessary services or support due to non-reporting.
In New York,'in order to qualify for victim compensation, a
victim/survivor must, among other things: (1) report the crime to a law
enforcement agency within one week; (2) file for compensation within a
year of the date of crime, unless good cause is shown; and
(3) cooperate with law enforcement in any ongoing investigation of the
crime. While. Federal law requires a State's crime victim compensation
program to "promote victim cooperation with the reasonable requests of
law enforcement," it does not, however, require a victim/survivor to
report such crime to law enforcement, nor does it require a specified
timeline for reporting a crime or filing a compensation claim, though
over time, many states have interpreted it as such.
This legislation would remove New York's onerous mandated law enforce-
ment reporting requirement by expanding eligibility for victims and
survivors of qualifying crimes. This bill achieves this by changing the
law in three major ways:(1) changing the amount of time, outside of
having good cause for delay, that a victim is required to file a claim
with OVS from one year to three years; (2) changing the amount of time
that a victim is required to report a crime to proper authorities from
one week to a reasonable time considering all the circumstances;
(3)expanding the type of evidence victims may use to show that a quali-
fied crime has occurred.
This legislative fix would not only clarify and refine current law, but
provide greater access of funds to many overlooked victims of violence,
including domestic violence victims/survivors, LGBTQ victims/survivors,
immigrant victims/survivors, gun violence victims/survivors and
victims/survivors of police violence.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None. This legislation expands the eligibility requirements but does not
require a new funding line.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8619--B
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2022
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MEEKS, KELLES, CRUZ, TAYLOR, GONZALEZ-ROJAS,
CLARK, SIMON, GOTTFRIED, JACKSON, JEAN-PIERRE, QUART, GALLAGHER, HEVE-
SI, ZINERMAN, DARLING, GIBBS, PAULIN, FALL, FERNANDEZ, DE LOS SANTOS,
GALEF, BURGOS, FORREST, L. ROSENTHAL, ABINANTI, NIOU, McMAHON,
CUNNINGHAM, WALKER, STIRPE, ANDERSON, DICKENS, CARROLL, WEPRIN,
BICHOTTE HERMELYN, AUBRY -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Governmental Operations -- recommitted to the Committee on Govern-
mental Operations in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee -- again reported from said committee
with amendments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to expanding eligibility
for victims and survivors of crime to access victim compensation funds
by removing the mandatory law enforcement reporting requirement and
providing alternative forms of evidence that would show that a quali-
fying crime was committed
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 621 of the execu-
2 tive law, as amended by chapter 710 of the laws of 1996, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 (a) an act committed in New York state which would, if committed by a
5 mentally competent criminally responsible adult, who has no legal
6 exemption or defense, constitute a crime as defined in and proscribed by
7 law, regardless of whether any suspect was arrested, charged, appre-
8 hended or prosecuted for the commission of the act or whether the claim-
9 ant has interacted with a criminal justice agency investigating such
10 act; or
11 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 625 of the executive law, as amended by
12 section 10 of part A-1 of chapter 56 of the laws of 2010, is amended to
13 read as follows:
14 2. A claim must be filed by the claimant not later than [one year]
15 three years after the occurrence or discovery of the crime upon which
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13970-03-2
A. 8619--B 2
1 such claim is based, [one year] three years after a court finds a
2 lawsuit to be frivolous, or not later than [one year] three years after
3 the death of the victim, provided, however, that upon good cause shown,
4 the office may extend the time for filing. The office shall extend the
5 time for filing where the claimant received no notice pursuant to
6 section six hundred twenty-five-a of this article and had no knowledge
7 of eligibility pursuant to section six hundred twenty-four of this arti-
8 cle.
9 § 3. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 627 of the executive
10 law, as added by section 18 of part A-1 of chapter 56 of the laws of
11 2010, is amended to read as follows:
12 (c) the investigation and determination of claims regardless of wheth-
13 er the alleged criminal has been arrested, charged, apprehended or pros-
14 ecuted for or convicted of any crime based upon the same incident, or
15 has been acquitted, or found not guilty of the crime in question owing
16 to criminal irresponsibility or other legal exemption;
17 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 631 of the executive law, as separately
18 amended by chapters 189 and 295 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read
19 as follows:
20 1. No award shall be made unless the office finds that: (a) a crime
21 was committed[,]; (b) such crime directly resulted in personal physical
22 injury to or the exacerbation of a preexisting disability, or condition,
23 or death of, the victim[,]; and (c) either: (i) criminal justice agency
24 records show that such crime was [promptly] reported to the proper
25 authorities[; and in no case may an award be made where the criminal
26 justice agency records show that such report was made more than one week
27 after the occurrence of such crime unless the office, for good cause
28 shown, finds the delay to have been justified. Notwithstanding the fore-
29 going provisions of this subdivision, in cases involving an alleged sex
30 offense as contained in article one hundred thirty of the penal law or
31 incest as defined in section 255.25, 255.26 or 255.27 of the penal law
32 or labor trafficking as defined in section 135.35 of the penal law or
33 sex trafficking as defined in sections 230.34 and 230.34-a of the penal
34 law or an offense chargeable as a family offense as described in section
35 eight hundred twelve of the family court act or section 530.11 of the
36 criminal procedure law, the criminal justice agency report need only be
37 made] within a reasonable time considering all the circumstances,
38 including the victim's physical, emotional and mental condition and
39 family situation[.]; or (ii) satisfactory evidence is provided to show
40 that such crime occurred. Such evidence may include, but is not limited
41 to, one or more of the following:
42 (A) a written statement provided by a victim services provider who has
43 provided services to the victim of the crime, or other eligible claim-
44 ants as identified in section six hundred twenty-four of this article,
45 in response to the impact of the qualifying crime;
46 (B) a statement provided by a witness to the qualifying crime;
47 (C) a statement from the victim attesting to the victim's personal
48 physical injury or the exacerbation of a preexisting disability, or
49 condition provided that the office shall not require the disclosure of
50 confidential information relating to such physical injury;
51 (D) a temporary or permanent restraining order or protective order
52 issued by a court to protect or separate the victim, or other eligible
53 claimants as identified in section six hundred twenty-four of this arti-
54 cle, from the person who is responsible for the qualifying crime;
55 (E) a statement from a licensed medical provider, physician's assist-
56 ant, nurse practitioner or other person licensed to provide medical or
A. 8619--B 3
1 mental health care documenting that the victim experienced physical
2 injury or the exacerbation of a preexisting disability, or condition as
3 a result of the qualifying crime; or
4 (F) a video, audio, or photographic recording of the commission of the
5 qualifying crime.
6 For the purposes of this subdivision, "criminal justice agency" shall
7 include, but not be limited to, a police department, a district attor-
8 ney's office, and any other governmental agency having responsibility
9 for the enforcement of the criminal laws of the state provided, however,
10 that in cases involving such sex offense or family offense a criminal
11 justice agency shall also mean a family court, a governmental agency
12 responsible for child and/or adult protective services pursuant to title
13 six of article six of the social services law and/or title one of arti-
14 cle nine-B of the social services law, and any medical facility estab-
15 lished under the laws of the state that provides a forensic physical
16 examination for victims of rape and sexual assault.
17 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
