Criminal Compensation Claims

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Claiming to be Compensated for Acts of Criminals

There are a number of instances where a criminal injury case does not result in a prosecution. In some instances, the criminal trial may find the accused "not guilty". What happens to the claim filed by the victims? Will they lose their plea for compensation? Is conviction necessary for settling the criminal compensation claims?

Well, it is not necessary for an accused to be convicted for having claim to succeed. Let us understand how to succeed with claiming even if the accused are either not prosecuted or found guilty of the crime.

There are a couple of situations under which you can still succeed in a even if nobody is convicted for the offence that caused a fatal injury to you. Let us see how they impact the claim process.

It is a fact that many people think that if there is no conviction then criminal compensation claims will not be considered. Such fears are unfounded because you can still make criminal compensation claims. However, your application for compensation will be processed only after the completion of the criminal trial so that the trial evidence can also be factored in while deciding the claim.

So, how will criminal compensation claims succeed if a suspect is found not guilty? Is it not going to be difficult for your claim to succeed if there is no conviction? Well, there are a couple of circumstances where you can still succeed. These include:

The accused is unknown to you

Consider this - you are walking home one night when you are suddenly attacked brutally from behind, thereby resulting in serious injuries. This incident could lead to a police enquiry where some witnesses may give evidence against a particular person. When the case comes up before a trial court, the accused is found not guilty. This can happen due to any number of reasons. For example, the evidence at hand may be insufficient or the evidence may not be consistent with facts or it may not be convincing enough for a conviction.

However, this may not have a major impact on your criminal compensation claim since there is enough evidence to show that you have been assaulted and seriously injured. All that the trial case will show is that the accused is not the person who has committed the crime against you.

The accused is a known person

Consider this situation --- you have been a victim of child abuse and as a young adult you escape from the clutches of the abuser and lodge a complaint with the police. When the matter reaches the trial court, the evidence may be inconsistent as you may not be able to recall in exact detail the events since you were very young at the time of injustice. In such circumstances, the trial court may find the accused not guilty. Yet, this does not mean that you cannot make a criminal compensation claim.

In both the above mentioned instances, it is still worth making the claim because the test to determine whether or not a person is guilty of a crime is different from whether a person should receive criminal compensation or not are different from one another. This is known as the burden of proof and in a criminal trial the jury must be beyond reasonable doubt that it is the accused who has committed the crime. Should they have even an iota of doubt, the accused may be considered not guilty.

Finally, in the United Kingdom, the test to win criminal compensation claims is otherwise known as the balance of probabilities. This means you will have to prove to the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority that the accused person was more likely than not to have caused the crime that resulted in your injuries.

Other popular articles related to this one include: Criminal Compensation Claims, Crime Injury Compensation Claim, Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, Compensation for Criminal Injuries, Criminal Injury Claim, Untraced Driver Compensation Claims, Criminal Compensation Claims, and . Please let us know if you find any errors.

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