Child Sex Abuse Victims' Compensation Reduced

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33707529

How can this be fair ? If a small child has been molested, what difference does it make if they stray into criminal behaviour later on in life ?

The original sexual abuse in nearly cases, is the reason why some of them resort to criminal activities.

[Cloverjo]

No, it's not fair. I don't understand how they do this, though. Do they take money back from people who've later been guilty of a crime?
Who pays in the first place? Is it the taxpayer (us)? If so, why does the taxpayer pay for the crimes of some despicable people?

[naomi24]

In cases like this I don't understand how money 'compensates'. It can't change the past.

[Cloverjo]

I was going to post something similar, Naomi. But I suppose money is better than nothing. What else can be done?

[ummmm]

Money can't buy happiness but it makes misery much easier.

[fiction-factory]

Yes, although where there are mental health issues attributable to the abuse they received we should provide support

[sandyRoe]

They've been abused and that has turned them onto a path of self-abuse, drink or drug misuse. The convictions that come inevitable with that type of lifestyle are then used to deny compensation.
They'd be forgiven for thinking the chips are stacked against them.

[jackthehat]

Money has been used as a 'remedy' for hundreds of years.

It should be given without qualification wherever it is due.

[fiction-factory]

Hopefully though, going forward, it will be an incentive for some not to commit crime. Otherwise just paying compensation may never lead to an end to this cycle

[douglas9401]

We're all in it together, this big society.

[mikey4444]

Dougie...."We are all in it together"....now, where have I heard that before !

[naomi24]

Haha! Not from the same bloke who told us "Things can only get better" ... and they didn't.

[mikey4444]

Naomi...No, you are quite right.

But it was the same person that won the Election in May, without telling us where the billions of pounds of cuts were going to come from. But now that Gideon has had his Budget, we know where all the savings are going to come from don't we ?

From the poor, especially the working poor,and those with children, and now it seems, from the people who were sexually abused as children. But some of us could have worked that out long before May 7th.

[hc4361]

This has ALWAYS been the case with compensation from the Criminal Compensation Board. The victim applying for compensation must have 'clean hands' to be entitled to any or some of the compensation.

Nothing to do with the election.

[fiction-factory]

It's a shame when issues like this are used for political point scoring.
It's wrong to attribute this to a post-election budget cuts. This report looks at payments made since 2010 doesn't it. And CICA says "The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme has always asked that awards are reduced or refused if the victim had unspent convictions". I think the issue is that should people receive compensation for criminal injuries and yet not be expected to contribute back (or have a deduction) for the costs they have caused society to incur trough their own crimes. I'm not sure whether I agree or not but I wouldn't pin this one on Gideon

[naomi24]

Mikey, //especially the working poor//

Would that be the working poor who work only 16 hours a week in order to retain their benefits?

[fiction-factory]

^That's a good example of how political point scoring has thrown an important discussion off track

[naomi24]

fiction-factory, some things demand a response.

Back to the discussion.