This publication presents an evaluation of West Virginia’s victim compensation program as part of the larger National Study of Victim Compensation Program Trends, Challenges, and Successes conducted from 2022 to 2024 the Urban Institute and NORC at the University of Chicago.
This brief summarizes an evaluation of West Virginia’s victim compensation program to understand its utilization and perspectives on its ability to meet victims’ needs. This summary forms part of National Study of Victim Compensation Program Trends, Challenges, and Successes conducted from 2022 to 2024 the Urban Institute and NORC at the University of Chicago. The study included evaluations of four state crime victim compensation programs, including that of West Virginia. The authors concluded that the West Virginia compensation program is connected to providers in the community and provides valuable benefits to victims in a mostly efficient, effective, and comprehensive way. Its location in the legislature allows for independence and strong legislative support, but perhaps less connection to providers. It benefits from adequate funding and wants to ensure that continues and is not affected by external changes. Program staff and assistance providers note great improvement in awareness of the program since staffing an outreach coordinator. The number of staff and staff retention, however, continue to be a challenge for the program. The researchers’ analysis found some disparities in the data related to race and gender, which may be partially attributable to differences in the crimes experienced and reported by gender and by racial group and coverage by the state’s Medicaid system. Future research could dive deeper into these findings to better understand these patterns and the role the compensation program can play in improving access and success for diverse groups. Many of these findings and recommendations align with those emerging nationally in conversations about how to improve victim compensation programs.