Being a victim of a sexual or violent crime has profound consequences. For example, you may have been assaulted or injured by someone else. You may have suffered not only physical injury from the sexual or violent crime but also psychological injury. If the perpetrator has been criminally convicted, their liability is established. You can then claim compensation for damages.

Method
You can claim compensation by joining as an injured party in the criminal process. It is then up to the criminal judge to assess your claim. The advantage of this joining is that a compensation measure can be imposed. The perpetrator is then obliged to pay the compensation for the victim to the State. The State then bears the risk of recovering the money from the perpetrator instead of the victim.

To judge that the victim’s claim is admissible, the suspect must have been sentenced. Also, the victim’s damage must have been caused by the suspect’s criminal act.

As a victim, you can also appeal to the Victims of Violent Crimes Compensation Fund. This must be done within ten years of the violent crime. In addition, a victim can also start a civil procedure to claim compensation.

Damage from sexual or violent crimes
In victim cases, the damage (psychological and/or physical injury) is recovered through the criminal process from the perpetrator convicted of the criminal acts. After the report of a criminal act, the police investigation is initiated.

Once the investigation is completed and there is sufficient evidence, the file is sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, where a public prosecutor decides whether the evidence is sufficient for the judge to convict a suspect. If the public prosecutor decides that there is sufficient evidence and a criminal procedure follows, the victim receives the so-called wishes and compensation forms. Our office specialists will fill out these forms together with you and add them to the criminal file. During the criminal hearing, our specialized lawyers will explain the compensation claimed on your behalf as an injured party.

In principle, only the victim is eligible for compensation. After all, they are the ones who suffered the damage. However, there are exceptions. Since January 01, 2019, a form of compensation for grief of relatives, the so-called affective damage, applies. These relatives can receive compensation if the victim has died or has suffered serious and permanent injury and if they shared their life with this victim (in case of death).

A second form of damage is called shock damage. To be able to claim shock damage, several conditions must be met:

• It must involve a violation of a traffic and/or safety norm.
• And cause a severe emotional shock.
• There must be a close affective relationship between the victim and the relative.
• The shock must be caused by witnessing the crime or the direct confrontation with its consequences.

The specialists at Elfi Advocaten are happy to advise you.