If you are a victim in the UK of a violent crime, you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation. What is classed as a violent crime? A crime of violence is a criminal act which includes actual violence to a person, or even the threat of violence against a person. These violence’s come in forms such as injury caused by a weapon, rape and even child abuse. Injury doesn’t have to be an actually wound caused by the violence , your injury may be a psychological injury. For example if someone threatens you with an act of violence this may cause you great stress, disturbed sleep and anxiety.
A violent crime is not an accident, it is an incident – this is because your injury has been caused by the deliberate act of the offender.
There are certain situations whereby you may be able to make a criminal injury claim where you have been injured by accident – situations include when you happen to be unintentionally involved in an incident and are injured as a result, when you are accidentally injured when risking your own safety to prevent a crime.
A good example of a claim you may not know you are entitled to make is one whereby you are bitten by a dog if you can prove:
- The person in control of the dog, deliberately let the dog injure you or;
- If the person knew that the dog was dangerous but did not take steps to restrain it.
How to make a claim for criminal injury:
There are three ways you can make a claim for compensation for injuries caused by a crime of violence:
- Make a criminal injury claim directly against the person who caused you harm – this is not always recommended because you may win your claim, but if the person you have sued does not have money – you may never receive the compensation you are entitled to.
- If the attack/assault took place whilst you were at work you may be able to make the claim against your employer – this is quite unusual also and your specialist injury lawyer will be able to advise whether this method is the best method for you
- The most common route to go down to make a claim for your injuries is to contact the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) which is a scheme that has been set up to compensate victims of violent crime. – we do however recommended that you appoint a specialist injury lawyer to deal with this claim on your behalf to ensure you get the maximum award you should be entitled to.
About the CICA:
The CICA is a scheme set up by the government with the aim to compensate victims of criminal violence. To make a claim through the CICA you must report the incident to the police as soon as possible following the incident because the CICA will require an incident reference number.
The CICA make reduce your pay out or refuse if:
- If you injury before, during or after the accident was unreasonable
- You have a criminal record
- You fail to co-operate with the police or the CICA
You must fill in an application form giving the full details of yourself, the incident and the police. Once your application has been submitted, the CICA will then make their own investigations before returning to you to confirm whether your case is accepted or not. Depending on the complexity of your claim, the CICA may take up to or more than a year to make their final decision.
