Criminals pay more compensation to victims

15/7/03
Criminals in Western Australia paid out more than $1million in compensation to their victims last financial year under a tough new campaign to make them pay for the harm they cause.
Attorney General Jim McGinty said the crackdown saw more than 2,000 criminals last year personally repay money awarded to their victims as compensation for the mental or physical harm they suffered as a result of crime.
Mr McGinty said the hardline approach had almost doubled in one year the amount of criminal injuries compensation being recovered from offenders.
The compensation awards - which range from hundreds through to thousands of dollars - are initially paid to victims by the Government, which then seeks to recover the money from offenders.
The $1.007million recovered from 2,046 criminals in 2002-03 compares with just $585,898 recovered from 1,428 criminals the previous year.
Mr McGinty said the largest single amount recovered was $25,000. Two offenders - one convicted of a sex offence and the other of causing grievous bodily harm - each repaid this amount.
Other criminals forced to pay up ranged from dozens of people convicted of assaults causing bodily harm through to very serious offenders such as rapists, armed robbers and murderers.
The Attorney General said the substantial increase in recoveries was due in part to skilled staff with experience in debt recovery being recruited to help target offenders who had assets but refused to pay their debts.
The Government was also pursuing many more of the debtors through legal action by the Crown Solicitor's Office.
"Unfortunately, many compensation awards are to victims of crimes where no offender has been identified, or where an offender has no assets, and it is important the Government continues to cover the cost of compensation to those victims," Mr McGinty said.
"However, in cases where an offender has been identified, and particularly where they have or are likely to accrue assets in the future, every effort should be made to force them to pay compensation.
"That approach is now being pursued vigorously."
Mr McGinty issued a blunt warning to people who engaged in criminal conduct to be aware that their court-imposed sentence was not the only cost they faced.
"Criminal injuries compensation is quite separate from any court-imposed fines or other penalties, and it can be substantial in some cases," he said.
"Offenders are often very surprised, even shocked, to find this kind of obligation following them around for years after the event."
The Attorney General said the push to make more criminals pay for compensation awarded to their victims complemented the Government's tough approach to confiscating the assets of criminals.
In the past two years, under WA's criminal property confiscations laws, criminals have forfeited over $3million in cash, cars and property, while a further $28million in assets is currently frozen, awaiting further court proceedings.
"The bottom line for anyone considering engaging in criminal behaviour is to know that their actions will end up costing them dearly," Mr McGinty said.
Minister's office: 9220 5000