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Legal, criminological and forensic

Criminal injuries and victim compensation

The Professional Affairs Board recently called for an authoritative account of thr revision of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. Tom McMillian and Stephen Ireland take up this challenge.

18 March 1998

Many if not most of us know someone who has been the victim of a violent assault, and can understand that the neurological and psychological consequences in particular can be devastating. Reality is too often very far removed from the facade presented in fiction where the hero, struck down in a glorious pursuit, rises after a beating or even from a coma with little more than a black eye and a cut lip. Applied psychologists are not uncommonly involved in the assessment and treatment of victims of crime and recent changes in the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme will have implications for the resources available to their clients. Recent changes to the scheme have raised concerns about its limitations for claimants.

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