I was reading an article about the rights that victims of crime have in terms of getting compensated after they have been to court. In this article, and the poll on the side of the post, there was the general sentiment that money simply wasn’t going to cut it. Maybe this speaks to a feeling that sometimes being able to buy your stuff back, or getting some money for your taxi fare doesn’t take away the feeling of violation that comes with a crime. There is a need for something more to help with the feelings that you might feel, or to achieve justice for you, and that support might not come from money.
Nevertheless, they say that you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, and if you do have the opportunity for compensation then of course you should use it. If you have a look at our resources section you’ll see both of the SALC papers on this issue. At the moment, there isn’t very much law that allows victims of crime to be compensated but there is one piece that is worth discussing.
The criminal procedures act makes a space for the victims of crime to be compensated. Regarding compensation, the court may order the convicted person to compensate (Section 300 of the Criminal Procedure Act) the complainant for costs incurred as a result of the crime, including medical expenses, housing, counselling, replacement of destroyed property and wages lost due to attending court proceedings.
Many people don’t know about this and this can have devastating consequences. The technical details about this clause might still best be explained by a lawyer but what this does give you is some sort of discussion point with your own lawyer, or when planning what to do after you have been a victim of crime. The most important thing here is that you report your crime because otherwise you don’t have the opportunity of working with the court on getting that compensation.
What do you think? If money isn’t everything, what do we need for the victims of crime to be empowered?
How much financial compensation will a victim of murder or serious injury get? How much will a woman who has lost a husband, or has been raped get? As we know, at the moment, the rapist can expect the best of care whereas the victim is treated with disdain and gets nothing but HIV/Aids and is ruined for life!!
Can you place a value on these crimes? Getting your TV set back is one thing but getting a life back is entirely different.
Imagine a new South Africa where no one longer cares about crime because we will get ‘paid out’?
We have to fix the cause. Softening the effects, if that is at all possible, is sheer nonsense.
Here is a thought for you Jennifer. A husband and the breadwinner is on his way to the office when he is brutally murdered for his cell phone, value say 3,500. What is the claim against the fund? R3,500 or R35,000,000? The criminal is charged with theft and fined R3,500 but gets off the murder charge because he cannot compensate and neither can the State.
We don’t want solutions on how to handle the damages, we need solutions on how to stop the crime and get an effective police force run by qualified and well trained officers. Party affiliations and excess fat should not qualify but, sadly they do.
That’s interesting, I was totally unaware of the compensation clause. I have always felt that the mere sentencing to a spell in prison was not enough and that criminals should be held accountable for all ramifictions and losses caused by their actions.
Having lost my wallet last week to three buxom women who trailed me through a green grocery and then bumped me and took the goods (all in technicolour on the CCTV afterwards), I believe that since credit cards can be ‘stopped’, driving licences and ID documents could just as easily be negated. DoHA and DoT could begin processing new documents as soon as the notification came through. It also occured to me that If the state was required to shoulder the cost of new documents, we would at least have some leverage as far as lowering of crime is concerned: the state’s money being ours, so to speak. We should also be able to receive a payout for the hours we spend get a new ID or driving licence. In this case, then, the perpetrator/s would not pay for their crime in cash, but the state would reimburse us because it cannot keep crime undre control.
Yes, my son thinks I’m daft, too.