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AJPH First Look, published online ahead of print Apr 1, 2008
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AJPH.2007.113639v1
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May 2008, Vol 98, No. 5 | American Journal of Public Health 882-888
© 2008 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.113639

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Reduction of State Victim Compensation Disparities in Disadvantaged Crime Victims Through Active Outreach and Assistance: A Randomized Trial

Jennifer Alvidrez, PhD, Martha Shumway, PhD, Alicia Boccellari, PhD, Jon Dean Green, MPH, Vanessa Kelly, PsyD and Gregory Merrill, MSW

Jennifer Alvidrez, Martha Shumway, Alicia Boccellari, Jon Dean Green, and Vanessa Kelly are with the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco. Gregory Merrill is with the School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Jennifer Alvidrez, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, 2727 Mariposa St., Suite 100, San Francisco, CA 94110. (415) 437–3022 (e-mail: jennifer.alvidrez{at}ucsf.edu).

Objectives. We examined whether providing active outreach and assistance to crime victims as part of comprehensive psychosocial services reduced disparities in access to state compensation funds.

Methods. We analyzed data from a randomized trial of injured crime victims (N = 541) and compared outcomes from comprehensive psychosocial services with usual community care. We examined the impact of outreach and assistance on disparities in applying for victim compensation by testing for interactions between victim characteristics and treatment condition in logistic regression analyses.

Results. Victims receiving comprehensive services were much more likely to apply for victim compensation than were victims receiving usual care. Comprehensive services decreased disparities associated with younger age, lower levels of education, and homelessness.

Conclusions. State-level victim compensation funds are available to help individuals recover physically, psychologically, and financially from crime victimization. However, few crime victims apply for victim compensation, and there are particularly low application rates among young, male, ethnic minority, and physical assault victims. Active outreach and assistance can address disparities in access to victim compensation funds for disadvantaged populations and should be offered more widely to victims of violent crime.






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