criminal defendants.186 Although the VWPA was the first attempt to compensate crime victims, it
was limited by a discretionary prong, which directed judges to take into account the defendant’s
economic situation as well as the severity of the victim’s harm when ordering restitution.187
Accordingly, there was still much work to be done on behalf of the fight for victim recovery.
In 1984, Congress enacted the Victims of Crime Act (“VOCA”).188 The VOCA created
the first victims’ compensation fund, which federal criminal prosecutions subsidized through
fines from offenders.189 VOCA attempted to reimburse crime victims for expenses directly related
to crimes by granting money to state-administered victims’ assistance funds.190 Every state now
has a compensation program that can aid victims and their families, and only about thirty-five
percent of the total revenue involved in these funds comes from federal government grants,
mostly collected from offender fines, penalties, and forfeited bail bonds.191
Crime victims’ funds are able to offer victims a limited amount of funding for a variety of
expenses ranging from medical expenses to lost wages attributable to a physical injury resulting
from a compensable crime.192 These funds provide some relief to a limited number of victims by
distributing almost five hundred million dollars annually to more than two hundred thousand
victims across the country.193 Considering that there were nearly seven million victims of violent
crime who were twelve years of age or older in 2012, it becomes clear that crime victim funds are
vastly underutilized.194 Indeed, there is currently a balance approaching eleven billion dollars in
the Crime Victims Fund established by VOCA.195 The funds appear to be underutilized and have
administrative complexities that make it difficult for victims to receive compensation.196
Access to crime victims’ funds is especially challenging for victims of child pornography
possession and distribution because they are not classified as “violent” crimes.197 Additionally,
while a number of funds agree to provide funding for the expenses incurred as a result of the
possession or distribution of their sexual abuse images,198 many states have not amended their
statutory language, which limits fund eligibility to victims who suffer physical harm; thus, claims
by victims of child pornography possession or distribution are often denied.199 Victims’ funds in
their current form also fail to account for foreign victims of child pornography as well as U.S.
citizens or residents who are victimized outside of the country or by foreign perpetrators.200 Even
when child pornography victims meet the eligibility requirements and overcome the
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186 Cortney E. Lollar, Child Pornography and the Restitution Revolution, 103 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 343, 352 (2013).
187 18 U.S.C. § 3663(a)(1)(B)( i) (2012).
188 Victims Compensation and Assistance Act of 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-473, 98 Stat. 1837 (1984) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §
10601 (2012)).
189 Id.
190 42 U.S.C. § 10602 (2012).
191 42 U.S.C. § 10601; Crime Victim Compensation: An Overview, NAT’L ASS’N OF CRIME VICTIM COMP. BDS.,
http://www.nacvcb.org/index.asp?bid=14 (last visited Feb. 1, 2015).
192 42 U.S.C. § 10602(b)(1).
193 Id.; Crime Victim Compensation: An Overview, supra note 191.
194 DOUGLAS N. EVANS, JOHN JAY COLL. OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, COMPENSATING VICTIMS OF CRIME 1 (2014), available at
http://www.justicefellowship.org/sites/default/files/Compensating%20Victims%20of%20Crime_John%20Jay_June%202014.pdf.
195 Id. at 2.
196 Id. at 1.
197 Id.
198U.S. DEP’T OF JUSTICE, VISION 21: TRANSFORMING VICTIM SERVICES 21 (2013), available at
http://ovc.ncjrs.gov/vision21/pdfs/Vision21_Report.pdf (noting that most states do not have specific policies on child pornography but
most claim to compensate for the harm).
199 Id. Oregon defines injury as “[a]ctual bodily harm and, with respect to a victim, includes pregnancy and mental or nervous shock.”
OR. REV. STAT. ANN. § 147.005(9) (West 2015). Because possession and distribution cause mental harm, victims should be
compensated. However, in other states such as California, physical injury is required and a victim could only be compensated for the
initial harm. CAL. GOV’T CODE § 13955(f) (West 2015).
