title: Compensating for the harms of family violence: statutory barriers in Australian victims of crime compensation schemes.
abstract: This article considers the compensative capacity of the victims of crime statutory schemes that are present in all eight Australian jurisdictions for primary victims of family violence. It argues that the recommendations of the Final Report on Family Violence conducted jointly by the Australian Law Reform Commission and the New South Wales Law Reform Commission in 2010, although a positive step, are insufficient to facilitate meaningful compensation to victims of family violence. In addition to the primary limitations identified by the Commissions--a requirement to report the crime to the police within a reasonable time and a requirement for multiple acts of violence to be reduced to a single act if they are related--there are other statutory barriers that disproportionately disadvantage victims of family violence. These include time limitation provisions, a requirement to report the crime to police, the restriction of compensation to prescribed categories of loss which exclude many of the social, vocational, emotional and psychological harms suffered by victims of family violence, and significant cut-backs on the non-economic component of the schemes. This article further argues that the statutory barriers cumulatively contribute to the perception of a crime as an isolated event perpetrated by a deviant individual. The article recommends that specific provisions for family violence victims should be introduced into all schemes including three categories of compensation not tied to criminal offences but rather the different forms of family violence, with a generous compensation range, and no requirement for proof of injury.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Forster
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D035881:Compensation and Redress / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans