NCJ Number
114565
Date Published
1988
Length
62 pages
Annotation
A survey was conducted of 3,710 magistrates courts in England to examine how magistrates use their power to award compensation and what mechanisms and problems exist for enforcing the payments.
Abstract
Of 471 courts surveyed, 271 (57.5 percent) returned forms. Although compensation orders may be used in cases involving loss, damage or injury, results suggest that compensation is awarded less frequently for injury than for material loss. Only 17 percent of magistrate's court cases involving assault received awards despite pressure to make awards in all suitable cases. A major problem in awarding compensation for injury appears to be related to difficulties in assessing the amount of the award. Magistrates felt that they had insufficient information for making accurate assessments, and while there is a form for quantifying injury, it is rarely used. Magistrates also suggested that requests are more frequently made in criminal damage than in assault cases, and so they consider compensation more frequently in the former than the latter. The differential frequency of claims appears related to how victims are informed of their rights and how details of injury or loss are provided. Further, once compensation has been awarded, there is no guarantee that compensation will be paid on time, in full, or even at all, due to the limited means of offenders and the fairly direct method of payment. Enforcement actions were rare, and custody was not viewed as an effective sanction for securing payment, although threat of imprisonment was. 31 references.