WHO MAY RECOVER LOSS

SEC. 302. A person is entitled to compensation under this Act if he is a victim as defined in section 102 (6) of this Act; or is a person who was dependent on a deceased victim of a crime of violence for his support at the time of the death of that victim.

APPLICATION FOR COMPENSATION

SEC. 303. (a) In any case in which the person entitled to make an application is a child, or incompetent, the application may be made on his behalf by any person acting as his parent or attorney.

(b) Where any application is made to the Commission under this Act, the applicant, or his attorney, and any attorney of the Commission, shall be entitled to appear and be heard.

(c) Any other person may appear and be heard who satisfies the Commission that he has a substantial interest in the proceedings.

(d) Every person appearing under the preceding subsections of this section shall have the right to produce evidence and to cross-examine witnesses.

(e) If any person has been convicted of any offense with respect to an act or omission on which a claim under this Act is based, proof of that conviction shall, unless an appeal against the conviction or a petition for a rehearing or certiorari in respect of the charge is pending or a new trial or rehearing has been ordered, be taken as conclusive evidence that the offense has been committed.

ATTORNEY'S FEES

SEC. 304. (a) The Commission shall publish regulations providing that an attorney shall, at the conclusion of proceedings under this Act, file with the agency a statement of the amount of fee charged in connection with his services rendered in such proceedings.

(b) After the fee information is filed by an attorney under subsection (a) of this section, the Commission may determine, in accordance with such published rules or regulations as it may provide, that such fee charged is excessive. If, after notice to the attorney of this determination, the Commission and the attorney fail to agree upon a fee, the Commission may, within ninety days after the receipt of the information required by subsection (a) of this section petition the United States district court in the district in which the attorney maintains an office, and the court shall determine a reasonable fee for the services rendered by the attorney.

(c) Any attorney who willfully charges, demands, receives, or collects for services rendered in connection with any proceedings under this Act any amount in excess of that allowed under this section, if any compensation is paid, shall be fined not more than $2,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

NATURE OF THE COMPENSATION

SEC. 305. The Commmission may order the payment of compensation under this Act for

(1) expenses actually and reasonably incurred as a result of the personal injury or death of the victim;

(2) loss of earning power as a result of total or partial incapacity of such victim;

(3) pecuniary loss to the dependents of the deceased victim;

(4) any other pecuniary loss resulting from the personal injury or death of the victim which the Commission determines to be reasonable; and

(5) pecuniary loss to an applicant under this Act resulting from injury or death to a victim includes, in the case of injury, medical expenses (including psychiatric care), hospital expenses, loss of earnings, loss of future earnings because of a disability resulting from the injury, and other expenses actually and necessarily incurred as a result of the injury and, in addition in the case of death, funeral and burial expenses and loss of support to the dependents of the victim. Pecuniary loss does not include property damage.

FINALITY OF DECISION

SEC. 306. The orders and decisions of the Commission shall be reviewable in the appropriate court of appeals, except that no trial de novo of the facts determined by the Commission shall be allowed.

LIMITATIONS UPON AWARDING COMPENSATION

SEC. 307 (a) No order for the payment of compensation shall be made under section 501 of this Act unless the application has been made within two years after the date of the personal injury or death.

(b) There shall be no limitation on the amount that may be awarded to or on behalf of any victim.

(c) Compensation shall not be awarded if the Commission feels there is unjust enrichment to or on behalf of the offender would result. This is not to imply that a family member or relative or those victims living in wedlock with the offender may not recover.

TERMS AND PAYMENTS OF THE ORDER

SEC. 308. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, any order for the payment of compensation under this Act may be made on such terms as the Commission deems appropriate.

(b) The Commission shall deduct from any payments awarded under section 301 of this Act any payments received by the victim or by any of his dependents from the offender or from any person on behalf of the offender, or from the United States (except those received under this Act), a State or any of its subdivisions, for personal injury or death compensable under this Act, but only to the extent that the sum of such payments and any award under this Act are in excess of the total compensable injuries suffered by the victim as determined by the Commisison.

(c) The Commission shall pay to the person named in the order the amount named therein in accordance with the provisions of such order.

EFFECT ON CIVIL ACTIONS

SEC. 309. An order for the payment of compensation under this Act shall not affect the right of any person to recover damages from any other person by a civil action for the injury or death.

TITLE IV-CRIMINAL LOSS RECOVERY COMPENSATION GRANTS

SEC. 401. Under the supervision and direction of the Commission, the Executive Secretary is authorized to make grants to the States to pay the Federal share of the costs of State programs to compensate victims of violent crimes.

ELIGIBILITY FOR ASSISTANCE

SEC. 402. Any State desiring to receive a grant under this title shall submit to the Commission a plan and the Federal Government will underwrite 90 per centum of such plan provided that the States adopt a plan that is in substantial compliance with the scope and intend of this legislation.

TITLE V-MISCELLANEOUS

REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS

SEC. 501. The Commission shall transmit to the President and to the Congress annually a report of its activities under this Act, including the name of each applicant, a brief description of the facts in each case, and the amount, if any, of compensation awarded, and the number and amount of grants to States under title IV.

PENALTIES

SEC. 502. The provisions of section 1001 of title 18 of the United States Code shall apply to any application, statement, document, or information presented to the Commission under this Act.

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 503. (a) There are authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of making grants under title IV of this Act $- for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1972; $- for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1973; and $- for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1974.

(b) There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out the other provisions of this Act.

EFFECTIVE DATE

SEC. 504. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 1971.

[S. 2994, 92d Cong., first sess.]

[Senator McClellan, Dec. 11, 1971]

A BILL To provide for the compensation of innocent victims of violent crime in need; to make grants to States for the payment of such compensation; to authorize an insurance program and death and disability benefits for public safety officers; to provide civil remedies for victims of racketeering activity; and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Victims of Crime Act of 1972".

STATEMENT OF FINDINGS AND PURPOSE

The Congress finds that (1) there is an increase of crimes of violence not only in urban, but also in suburban and rural areas; (2) the increase in crimes of violence is disproportionate to the increase in population; (3) the increase in crimes of violence increases the chances of a person becoming a victim of such a crime; (4) on an increasing basis crimes of violence are being directed at public safety officers, including policemen, firemen, and correctional guards; (5) law enforcement identification, apprehension, and conviction of perpetrators of crimes of violence is decreasing; (6) the perpetrators of crimes of violence, when identified, apprehended, and convicted, are often not financially responsible; and (7) the victims of crimes of violence, their families and dependents, are often themselves unable to bear the consequent pecuniary losses without undue hardship. It is, therefore, the purpose of this Act to commit the United States to meet its moral obligation to assist the innocent victims of violent crime, their families and dependens in financial need, by direct aid to those within the area primarily of Federal responsbility, by assistance to the States to aid those within the area primarily of State responsibility, by the establishment of insurance and benefit programs for public safety officers and their families and dependents, and by the strengthening of the civil remedies available to victims of racketeering activity. TITLE I-COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIME

DECLARATION OF PURPOSE

SEC. 101. It is the declared purpose of Congress in this title to promote the public welfare by establishing a means of meeting the financial needs of the innocent victims of violent crime, their families and dependents, and others acting to prevent the commission of crime or to assist in the apprehension of suspected criminals.

PART A-FEDERAL COMPENSATION PROGRAM

SEC. 102. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, is amended by

(1) redesignating sections 451 through 455 respectively as sections 421 through 425;

(2) redesignating sections 501 through 521 respectively as sections 550 through 570;

(3) redesignating parts F, G, H, and I of title I respectively as parts I, J, K, and L of title I; and

(4) adding at the end of part E of title I, as amended by this Act, the following new parts:

"PART F-FEDERAL COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIME

"DEFINITIONS

"SEC. 450. As used in this part

"(1) 'Board' means the Violent Crimes Compensation Board established by this part;

"(2) 'Chairman' means the Chairman of the Violent Crimes Compensation Board established by this part;

"(3) 'child' means an unmarried person who is under eighteen years of age and includes a stepchild or an adopted child, and illegitimate child, and student over eighteen years of age, and a child conceived prior to but born after the personal injury or death of the victim;

"(4) 'dependent' means a relative or other person who was wholly or partially dependent upon the income of the victim at the time of the personal injury or death of the victim;

"(5) Executive Secretary' means the Executive Secretary of the Violent Crimes Compensation Board established by this part;

"(6) 'General Counsel' means the General Counsel of the Violent Crimes Compensation Commission established by this part;

"(7) 'guardian' means a person who is entitled by common law or legal appointment to care for and manage the person or property or both of a child or incompetent;

"(8) 'incompetent' means a person who is incapable of managing his own affairs, whether adjudicated or not;

"(9) 'personal injury' means actual bodily harm and includes pregnancy, mental distress, and nervous shock;

"(10) 'pecuniary loss' includes:

"(A) for personal injury—

"(1) medical expenses (including psychiatric care);

"(2) hospital expenses;

"(3) loss of past earnings; and

"(4) loss of future earnings because of a disability resulting from the personal injury; and

"(B) for death

"(1) funeral and burial expenses; and

"(2) loss of support to the dependents of the victim.

Pecuniary loss includes any other expenses actually and necessarily incurred as a result of the personal injury or death, but it does not include property damage.

"(11) 'relative' includes a spouse, parent, grandparent, stepfather, stepmother, child, grandchild, siblings of the whole or half blood, a spouse's parents, a niece or nephew;

"(12) 'student' means a person who is a 'student' as defined in paragraph (17) of section 8101 of title 5 of the United States Code: and

"(13) 'victim' includes any person who is killed or injured as proximate cause of a criminal act committed or attempted against him enumerated in section 458 of this part or killed or injured while assisting a law enforcement officer to apprehend a person who has committeed a crime or to prevent the commission of a crime.

"COMPENSATION BOARD

"SEC. 451. (a) There is hereby established a Board within the Department of Justice to be known as the Violent Crimes Compensation Board (hereinafter referred to as the 'Board'). The Board shall be composed of three members to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The President shall designate one of the members of the Board as Chairman, who shall have been a member of the bar of a Federal court or of the highest court of a State for at least eight years.

"(b) There shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an Executive Secretary and a General Counsel to perform such duties as the Board shall prescribe in acordance with the objectives of this part.

"(c) No member of the Board shall engage in any other business, vocation, or employment.

"(d) Except as provided in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of section 456 of this part, the Chairman and one other member of the Board shall constitute a quorum. Where opinion is divided and only one other member is present, the opinion of the Chairman shall prevail.

"(e) The Board shall have an official seal.

"FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD

"SEC. 452. In order to carry out the purposes of this part the Board shall"(1) receive and process applications under the provisions of this part for compensation for personal injury or death resulting from criminal acts enumerated in section 458 of this part;

"(2) hold such hearings, sit and act at such times and places, and take such testimony as the Board or any member thereof may deem advisable;

"(3) order the payment of compensation to victims and other beneficiaries in accordance with the provisions of this part; and

"(4) take such other action as it deems necesary and appropriate to carry out the purposes of this part.

"ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS

"SEC. 453. (a) The Board is authorized in carry out its functions under this part to

"(1) appoint and fix the compensation of such personnel as the Board deems necessary in accordance with the provisions of title 5 of the United States Code;

"(2) procure temporary and intermittent services to the same extent as is authorized by section 3109 of title 5 of the United States Code, but at rates not to exceed $100 a day for individuals;

"(3) promulgate such rules and regulations as may be required to carry out the provisons of this part;

"(4) appoint such advisory committees as the Board may determine to be desirable to carry out the provisions of this part;

"(5) designate representatives to serve or assist on such advisory committees as the Board may determine to be necessary to maintain effective liaison with Federal agencies and with State and local agencies developing or carrying out policies or programs related to the provisions of this part;

"(6) use the services, personnel, facilities, and information (including suggestions, estimates, and statistics) of Federal agencies and those of State and local public agencies and private institutions, with or without reimbursement therefor;

"(7) without regard to section 529 of title 31 of the United States Code to enter into and perform such contracts, leases, cooperative agreements, or other transactions as may be necessary in the conduct of its functions, with any public agency, or with any person, firm, association, corporation, or educational institution, and make grants to any public agency or private nonprofit organization;

"(8) request such information, data, and reports from any Federal agency as the Board may from time to time require and as may be produced consistent with other law; and

"(9) arrange with the heads of other Federal agencies for the performance of any of its functions under this part with or without reimbursement and, with the approval of the President, delegate and authorize the redelegation of any of his powers under this part.

"(b) Upon request made by the Board, each Federal agency is authorized and directed to make its services, equipment, personnel, facilities, and information (including suggestions, estimates, and satistics) available to the greatest practicable extent to the Board in the performance of its functions.

"(c) Each member of a committee appointed pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection (a) of this section shall receive $100 a day, including traveltime, for each day he is engaged in the actual performance of his duties as a member of a committee. Each such member shall also be reimbursed for travel, subsistence, and other necessary expenses incurred in the performance of his duties.

"TERMS OF BOARD MEMBERS

"SEC. 454. (a) The term of office of each member of the Board taking office after January 1, 1972, shall be eight years, except that (1) the terms of office of the members first taking office after January 1, 1972, shall expire as designated by the President at the time of appointment, one at the end of four years, one at the end of six years, and one at the end of eight years, after January 1,