On The State Compensation Of Victims Of Crime

Crime victim compensation provides government compensation to a victim in circumstances in which a victim has not received or will not receive recompense from an offender or another source for crime-related losses. The most frequently cited authority for current efforts by government to compensate crime victims is the 1775 B.C.Code of Hammurabi of ancient Babylonia. But the early emphasis on victim compensation changed and the right to compensation was denied under the feudality. With the realization on crime Victims especially the promotion of the victim rights movement in 20th century, most countries today have provided compensation to crime victims.But commentators have advanced five rationales to justify government programs compensating crime victims. These are: the social contract/failure to protect theory, the shared risk/insurance theory, the social welfare/moral obligation theory, the political motivation theory, the social contract/autonomy recovering theory. Every theoretical justification will have an great effect on victim compensation programs.In our country, government has compensated victim in some special crimes, but the compensation has not been institutionalized or legalized. The foundation of government compensation programs is in keeping with the trend of protecting crime victim and will improve our criminal justice greatly. So, we should draw lessons from main developed countries' compensation programs especially from the United States, draw up a Code of Crime Victim Compensation to construct and perfect the system of victim rights protection.