This study found particularly low application rates among young victims, males, culturally and linguistically diverse communities and physical assault victims. For example, a 2008 study in the United States of America found that the vast majority of victims do not apply for state-based financial assistance-fewer than five per cent of victims apply. This annual average can then be compared with the 65,000 victim reports relating to crimes against the person for the 12-month period used by the Crime Statistics Agency.ġ2.12 Using these figures as a guide, it would appear that at present, approximately only nine per cent of all potentially eligible victims of crimes against the person are making applications to VOCAT for financial assistance.ġ2.13 As with the previous data analysis prepared by the Commission in relation to family violence, the small number of VOCAT applications appears disproportionate to the number of victim reports for crimes against the person, and may indicate a high proportion of unmet demand.ġ2.14 This appears consistent with other research findings. Accordingly, the Commission has averaged the number of VOCAT applications filed for the past three financial years to calculate the average number of applications that might be received by VOCAT in any 12-month period-a figure of 5998 VOCAT applications. However, not all victims of these crimes would satisfy all of the eligibility and mandatory consideration criteria under the Act, such as having an ‘injury’ as defined under the Act.ġ2.11 VOCAT’s data collection activities are based on the financial year and do not directly match the Crimes Statistics Agency reporting time frame. All such crimes against the person are ‘acts of violence’ for the purposes of VOCAT.ġ2.10 Based on the number of victim reports for crimes against the person between April 2016 and March 2017, approximately 65,000 individuals were potentially eligible for VOCAT.
These crimes against the person include homicide, assault, sexual offences, abduction, robbery, stalking, harassment and threatening behaviour and dangerous/negligent acts endangering people. Of the total number of victim reports, 80.5 per cent had a principal offence of ‘property and deception offences’, while 65,179 reports (19.5 per cent) were ‘crimes against the person’. ġ2.9 In the year ending March 2017, 243,962 victim reports were made by individuals. A victim report is counted when an individual, business or organisation reports that they have been a victim of one or more criminal offences and a record is made in LEAP. ġ2.7 In order to understand how aware the broader group of victims of crimes against the person are of VOCAT and their eligibility under the Act, this section examines victim report data to assess the percentage of crimes against the person reported to police that result in applications to VOCAT.ġ2.8 Victoria’s Crime Statistics Agency analyses the number of victim reports using Victoria Police’s database, LEAP. Victims’ access to VOCATġ2.6 Based on statistical analysis of family violence and VOCAT data, the first consultation paper concluded that the small number of family violence-related VOCAT applications recorded for 2015–16 (388) appeared disproportionate to the number of family violence incidents recorded that same year (78,628). It asks the Victorian Law Reform Commission (the Commission) to consider whether the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996 (Vic) (the Act) can be simplified to make it easier for applicants to understand all their potential entitlements, and quickly and easily access the assistance offered by the scheme without necessarily requiring legal support.ġ2.4 It also considers the extent to which access to the scheme is supported by the broader victim support system.ġ2.5 This chapter poses a number of questions and suggests options for reform to improve victims’ awareness of, and access to, the scheme. These are different matters to the legislative barriers that may be encountered after a victim applies to VOCAT.ġ2.3 This chapter relates to issues raised in the first matter specified in the supplementary terms of reference. This analysis explores the number of VOCAT applications compared to the recorded number of crimes against the person in Victoria.ġ2.2 This analysis seeks to understand how aware the community might be of VOCAT, and how accessible VOCAT is to victims of crime. Awareness and accessibility of VOCAT Introductionġ2.1 This chapter considers what proportion of victims of crime currently access the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (VOCAT). Review of the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996: Supplementary Consultation Paper (html)ġ2.
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