(The Center Square) – The Kansas Crime Victims Compensation Board gave financial assistance to 230 violent crime victims at its meetings during the first quarter of 2023, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced this week.
The Board considered 288 applicants and approved $623,172.98 for victims.
The Division of Crime Victims Compensation in the Attorney General’s office administers the Crime Victims Compensation program. The program was created in 1978 to help the victims of violent crime pay for unexpected expenses, including medical treatment, counseling, lost wages, dependent support, and funeral expenses.
The state’s Crime Victims Compensation Board decides which claims are eligible for compensation and how much they receive. The maximum award is $25,000, and the program has limits of “$7,500 for funeral and burial expenses, $5,000 for outpatient mental health counseling, $10,000 for inpatient mental health treatment, and $1,500 for grief counseling for family survivors of homicide victims,” according to a press release from Kobach’s office.
“Monetary compensation is a vital part of the healing process for individuals who have had their lives upended through the criminal act of others,” Kristen Czugala, Division Chief for Victim Services, said.
Funding for the program comes from a portion of the assessed court costs and fines, inmate wages, parole fees, and restitution paid by convicts.
More information on the Crime Victims Compensation program is available by calling (785) 296-2359 or visiting the attorney general’s website at www.ag.ks.gov.
This article First appeared in the center square