Criminal Injuries Compensation: State and Offender Compensation for Violent Crime

The 2012 Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) deals with some 33,000 applications for compensation each year. It has, since 1964, been one of the principal means by which the state aims to meet victims' expectations following an offence of violence, but it also displays a clear doctrinal effort to differentiate 'deserving' from 'undeserving' victims. Over much of the same period criminal courts and agencies have enjoyed powers to order offenders to pay compensation to their victims, most recently as an element of restorative justice.

Split into two parts, Criminal Injuries Compensation is an authoritative analysis of the statutory provisions governing these various remedies. Part One, State Compensation, analyses the Scheme's defining provisions: what constitutes 'a criminal injury', what persons and injuries may be compensated, the rules governing the victim's own conduct and character, the assessment of the award, and the procedures governing applications, appeals and judicial review. Part Two, Offender Compensation, analyses the conditions under which a criminal court may make a compensation order as an element of its sentencing decision, concluding with the potential of restorative justice to deliver offender compensation to victims. The book also touches on the wider political and criminal justice context of compensation.

Written and edited by an expert academic and practitioner team, Criminal Injuries Compensation is an essential text for all those with an interest in understanding the statutory, judicial and administrative rules that govern state and offender payment of compensation to victims of violent crime.

David Miers, Emeritus Professor of Law, Cardiff University

Dr David Miers is Professor Emeritus of Law at Cardiff University. He is regarded as one of the foremost academics with a research interest in arrangements for the compensation by the state of victims of crime, and in restorative justice, having extensive experience in conducting research into and consulting on these matters.

Ben Collins QC is a barrister at Old Square Chambers. He is a leading expert on the law of criminal injuries compensation, having appeared in many of the leading cases on successive Criminal Injuries Compensation Schemes, from the First-tier Tribunal to the Supreme Court. Ben has been recognised by legal directories as a leading silk in personal injury, clinical negligence, professional discipline and employment law.

Judge Nicholas Wikeley is a judge of the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) with extensive experience of cases on the interpretation of the 2012 Scheme. He is also Professor Emeritus within the School of Law at the University of Southampton.