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Criminal Injury Scotland

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    Criminal Injury Scotland | Personal injury claims

    criminal injury Scotland

    Criminal injury Scotland: Criminal injuries may result from random acts of violence that may leave you surprised and may impact you emotionally, physically, and financially. Compensation can help you recover from the financial impacts of the injury like loss of income and other medical costs. If you feel you have suffered from a criminal injury, you can get in touch with an expert legal advisor.

    What is the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority?

    Setup in 1966, The Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA) is a government-run body that helps people injured in a violent crime gets compensation. CICA, in many cases, holds the responsibility of paying out compensation amounts to the victims. The CICA also provides compensation to individuals injured while trying to prevent a crime under justifiable circumstances.

    You can claim:

    Claiming for a criminal injury is a bit different from a typical personal injury claim. It must start within two years, rather than three, but you have a shorter time frame to start your claim.

    You can make a claim if your injury happened in the last two years you were:

    •  The victim of a violent crime
    • No way to blame for the incident
    • Sustained an injury whilst taking reasonable steps to stop a crime
    • Psychologically injured:- witnessing a loved one falling victim to violent crime
    • If you are a relative of someone who has died as a result of violent crime
    • If your injury happened when you were a child, or before 1st August 1964, you have longer to claim.

    Exceptions about Criminal Injury Scotland

    You may not be able to claim if:

    • Failed to report the incident to the Police or took too long to speak to police or failed to report the incident to the Police
    • Behaved in a well which helped cause the injury
    • You have a criminal record
    • Failure in co-operation with the Police or CICA
    • You can find out more here,  if your injury happened in Northern Ireland then the process of claiming is different
    • A legal adviser can call you back for free to discuss your eligibility if you submit your details via one of our online forms
    • Criminal Injury Video
    • You can claim even if nobody was held convicted
    • Often, people feel like there must be a view to making a claim for their injury, but this isn’t true. You must have the ability to make a compensation claim for a criminal injury:
    • You were not responsible for the incident prove that
    • Showing the circumstances of how you were injured in the attack
    • Report the crime to the police immediately

    Unfortunately, there are many types of crimes where the guilty party might not have been caught by the police – for example, in a mugging or a burglary. Anyone who suffers from these types of criminal acts the CICA makes sure that they are able to claim compensation for their injuries and any psychological effects it may have had on them.

    Psychological trauma following a criminal act

    The injury in question can be physical and psychological when it comes to compensation for a criminal injury. You have been physically hurt, if you’re beaten up, attacked, or assaulted but, it’s also likely you’ve suffered some form of psychological trauma.

    Physical injuries are visible but psychological injuries aren’t as visible, and therefore can appear less severe, this often isn’t the case. When in your own home or walking by yourself, you may no longer feel safe

    If you’ve experienced this, then you can talk to a trained legal adviser about making a mental health claim – the legal adviser can advise whether they think you might be able to make a claim and can help you take the next steps.

    Claiming after witnessing a violent crime

    If you witnessed a violent crime, whether it was an armed robbery or a physical attack, it’s likely you’ll be experiencing some trauma and shock, the effects afterward can have a long-lasting effect on how you live your daily life; leaving you anxious about public spaces or even feeling afraid to leave your house.

    If this sounds easy then it’s likely a trained legal adviser can help. Legal advisers give you advice, you can ask any questions, without any pressure to start a claim – so either contact them or submits your details online and they’ll call you back.

    What injuries you can claim for

    You can claim for any type of injury you have unceasing in a criminal attack unless they are only minor injuries. However, you might then be able to make a claim, if you have a number of bruises and scratches and you need to see your doctor to be treated twice, and you recover more than six weeks.

    The compensation amount will I receive?

    The compensation amount depends upon your injuries and how serious they are. If you have more than one injury, you’ll normally be awarded the full amount for the most serious injury, 30% of the amount for the next most serious injury, and 15% for the third most serious injury. The most serious criminal injuries could reach as much as £500,000 award.

    The CICA cover my financial losses? (criminal injury Scotland)

     Yes. The financial losses caused by the criminal injury will be taken into consideration and the compensation you receive will cover you out of savings when making your compensation claim.

    If your criminal injuries mean you’re out of savings because you’ve had to pay for medical treatment and travel to the hospital, you might be able to claim a ‘special expenses payment’. If your injuries left you unable to work for at least 28 weeks, then it is available.

    Your lawyer will tell you what you can claim in addition to the actual injuries, and how you can prove your losses.

    Claiming for bereavement and dependency

    It’s immensely traumatic to lose a loved one following a violent crime. No amount of money can bring back your life partner, your child, or your loved ones – but it can help to ease the consequences.

    You might be able to make a bereavement claim if you’ve lost a spouse or partner as a result of criminal injuries.

    If you qualify for bereavement compensation you might also be able to make a claim for dependency. For this, you must have evidence that you were totally dependent on your loved one i.e. financially or physically dependent at the time they died. Your lawyer will be able to tell you whether you can claim, and what you need to provide to help with your claim.

     

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