How Black and Brown New Yorkers could benefit from new victims comp reforms

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A state law lowering barriers to access victim compensation went into effect on Jan. 1, notably allowing survivors to file a claim with the Office of Victim Services (OVS) without requiring a police report. The reform stems from findings by the NYC-based advocacy organization Common Justice suggesting Black, Brown and Indigenous assault victims were less likely to be awarded compensation than their white counterparts.

“Survivors of violence have been denied support because of systemic barriers rooted in bias, mistrust, and outdated requirements,” said State Assembly sponsor Demond Meeks in a statement. “The Fair Access to Victim Compensation Act is about removing those barriers and making sure help is available when survivors need it, not months or years later. This law expands access to victim compensation without forcing survivors to rely on law enforcement or meet unrealistic deadlines while they are still healing.

“It also acknowledges the painful racial disparities that have existed in the system and takes meaningful steps to address them. Survivors deserve a process that treats them with dignity, compassion, and respect.”

Now survivors can go through a victims service provider or licensed medical professional for documentation towards compensation instead of police. Additionally, the law expands the claim window from one year to three years from the incident.

“When we think about survivors, we want to make sure that we’re being trauma informed and compassionate — not saying that’s not law enforcement, but just for some survivors, that wasn’t where they found that,” said Common Justice senior policy manager Tahirih Anthony. “The bill also allows survivors to report their harm now with up to three years. Originally, the current law was one year. We recognize that healing just isn’t linear.”

The legislation piggybacks off of other victim compensation reforms walked through by Gov. Kathy Hochul in the last budget, which went into effect on Nov. 5. Those changes include eliminating contributory conduct — ostensibly legal victim blaming — from influencing victim compensation claims in homicide cases. According to Anthony in a previous interview with the AmNews, cases involving Black victims make up roughly half of contributory conduct denials.

Additionally, the state doubled funeral reimbursement from $6,000 to $12,000 to reflect growing costs. The state will also allow anyone who pays for crime scene cleanups to file a victim compensation act, including landlords.

Support for reforming victim services also drew rare bipartisan support from state lawmakers, aligning the likes of Brooklyn democratic socialist Julia Salazar and conservative Long Island Republican Dean Murray across the aisle.

Common Justice’s findings, which spurred the reforms, employed OVS data on claims between 2018 and 2020 obtained by public records requests and cross-examined with NYPD data on assaults. The organization found Black New Yorkers were 37% less likely to file victim compensation applications. And they were 17.5% less likely to receive reimbursement if they did make a claim.

“This is really just a major win for all New Yorkers, but especially for Black and Brown New Yorkers … I think what really made this difference was hearing directly from survivors,” said Anthony. “[On] what’s going on and just really what they need.”