Victim compensation programs always have emphasized crimes against women and children.
“The victims’ movement itself grew out of the women’s movement to some degree,” said Dan Eddy, executive director of the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards. “So when people talk about victims’ issues, there’s always a large amount of attention, I think, that’s paid–and justifiably so–to those victims and their special needs.”
Yet women and children often wind up on the short end.
North Carolina, for instance, paid not a dime in 1995 to children who were physically abused, according to the state’s annual report to the federal government. Neither did Alabama, New York or Louisiana. In all, 10 states in 1995 reported paying no money on behalf of abused children.
Women fared little better. Three states–Connecticut, Rhode Island and West Virginia–reported paying no money in 1995 to victims of domestic violence, who are almost always women. Louisiana reported paying just seven victims; Maryland reported 10; Illinois reported paying just 22.
These states gave various explanations for their low numbers. Connecticut admitted it simply did not count domestic-violence cases even though it is required to do so by the federal government.
“It’s just a coding issue in our computers,” explained Carol Watkins, director of the office of victim services. She said her office hoped to have that problem fixed in a year.
Nationwide, the biggest hunk of money goes for the one crime usually committed by and against men: assault. In 1995, compensation programs paid $247.6 million to 119,100 crime victims. Almost half of that money (48 percent) went to victims of assault. By comparison, only 3 percent went to victims of domestic violence.
The federal government does not know how many of these assault victims are men because it does not require states to report the sex of recipients.
But state administrators say their assault victims are typically young men, often injured while duking it out in bar fights or street brawls.
“Baseball bats, that’s the weapon of choice in Newark or Camden,” said Sharon Koch, an administrator in New Jersey, where assaults eat up 66 cents of every victim dollar.
“When you mix hormones and tempers and alcohol, that’s how we see people settling grievances,” said Sylvia Bogdanus, who runs victim’s compensation in Wyoming.
“Being out West, we have lots of bar fights,” said Paige Fincher, case manager for Idaho’s victim-compensation program. “It’s mostly, you know, if you’re a man you do it with your fist and bite somebody’s ear off. We have a lot of that out here.”
Assault payments in her state last year led rape payments 6-to-1.
Officials say these lopsided ratios mirror real life. Men are victimized by violent crime about 50 percent more often than women, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey. And in the case of homicide, they are killed almost four times as often.
“It reflects the activity that’s going on out there,” said Sandra Morrison. She runs the victim-compensation program in Mississippi, where claims filed by men outnumber those filed by women almost 2-to-1.
In Virginia, 67 percent of last year’s claimants were men. In Texas, 62 percent of awards went to men. In Minnesota, 55 percent went to men.
Technically, victims who contribute to their own injuries aren’t supposed to be eligible for compensation. In fact, said Eddy, “the most typical case” for denial “is a bar fight between two guys.”
But Newhouse News Service found multiple examples where barfights resulted in payments or where the victim played some role in bringing about his own injury:
– Brent Ferrell, 35. According to court records, Ferrell has been convicted of drinking a public place, possessing alcohol in a park, unlawful camping in the city, drunk driving, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and assault.
One spring morning in 1994 he was drinking in the front yard of a home in Portland, Ore., with a friend named King. They got into a quarrel, according to a police report, over the theft of a dog. Ferrell, who was drunk, said to King, “Go ahead and shoot me then, punk!” So King did. A test at the hospital showed Ferrell’s blood-alcohol level was .22 percent. The state found Ferrell was partially responsible for his own injury, but still awarded him $7,500.
– Toby Vale, 25. On the evening of Dec. 26, 1993, Vale was celebrating his birthday at The Buckeye Inn in Madison, Wis. Vale has been convicted three times for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, twice for disorderly conduct, bribery of a public official, resisting an officer, disturbing the peace and burglary.
Around 1 a.m., a fight broke out. According to a police report, Vale “seemed extremely intox., he smelled of alcohol and had extremely slurred speech.” Vale admits being drunk that night and says to this day he cannot remember who hit him or even whether he was hit. All he remembers is “my leg somehow was broke.”
Yet he received $16,723.19 for his broken leg, including $3,386.24 in unemployment compensation for 11 weeks of work he lost as a farm hand.
– Dick Gilbert, 33, an unemployed, 266-pound garbage worker. Gilbert is now serving time in an Ohio prison for beating and robbing a 68-year-old woman and trying to pull her pants down. He also has two convictions, one for assault and the other for menacing.
On the night of April 8, 1992, after having a few drinks at a cafe in Lima, Ohio, Gilbert picked another fight — with the wrong guy. According to a police report, “Gilbert walked by him and pushed into him. Gilbert then said, `You got a problem?’ and with that he drew back his fist.” The man pummeled Gilbert, according to the report, “throughout the bar.” When Gilbert asked for help, the bartender put a revolver on the counter, looked him in the eye and said, “You can leave standing up or with a hole.”
Gilbert left standing up but filed a victim’s comp claim for medical bills and lost wages. The state’s attorney general recommended the claim be denied because “the victim instigated the incident by pushing the offender and starting the fight.” But the state awarded him $735.40 anyway.
– Jon Walecki, 27, who has served time for multiple offenses in Wisconsin, including burglary and sexual assault. Walecki lost a couple of teeth after he got punched in the mouth by Tony Osusky during a fight outside Osusky’s Milwaukee apartment about 1 a.m. on Nov. 14, 1992. Walecki supposedly called Osusky “a fag.” Walecki denies making the statement.
“I can’t believe they paid this,” said Gillian Nevers, who administers Wisconsin’s program.
But they did: $3,493.70.
These payments were made while many programs were strapped for cash.
“We broke the bank this year,” said Dara Smith of Montana’s victim-compensation program, in 1996. “We just couldn’t pay any claims out in the month of June.”
“For three years we didn’t have any money at all,” said Nancy Steeves of Nebraska.
West Virginia used to pay victims up to $50,000 and would compensate them for pain and suffering. But this generosity “just ran us into the ground,” said Cheryle M. Hall, clerk of the state Court of Claims, which administers the fund.
So the state legislature in 1992 eliminated payments for pain and suffering and slashed the maximum award in non-fatal cases from $50,000 to $20,000.
But it kept one odd provision.
“We cover all hunting accidents,” said Hall. “If you for some reason hit a person instead of an animal, no matter what you’re doing, that’s negligent shooting.”
And in West Virginia, that’s a crime. Especially during turkey season.
“Turkey hunting’s horrible here,” said Hall. “See, they don’t wear blaze orange. They wear camouflage and they nail each other. And with turkey hunting, it’s that buckshot stuff. I mean, they fill people with that stuff. I mean that’s rough stuff to have dug out of you cause it takes a long time. I’ve talked to our crime victims and usually they’re shot from the buttocks down.”
Hall said she could not determine how many turkey hunters the state had compensated. But in 1995, according to the state’s Division of Natural Resources, 17 turkey hunters were shot in West Virginia. It was the first time since 1981 that none had been killed.
