Keep crime victims ignorant

Radio NZ reported:

Victims of serious crime are going without the financial support they’re entitled to so the government can keep within budget.

“Untenable and unethical” are the words used to describe a deliberate strategy to exclude crime victims from accessing the Victim Assistance Scheme (VAS).

More kindness.

“The Ministry and Victim Support have managed the cost pressure by deliberately under-promoting the scheme to minimise access and uptake,” it reads.

“This approach is untenable because victims are being deliberately excluded from accessing support they are entitled to receive. If this was widely known, it would erode public confidence and undermine the stated ethos of access to justice.”

This is very bad stuff. You are a victim of crime. That is bad enough – what the criminal has done to you. But now the Government is trying to hide from you that you could be eligible for financial support.

“Currently the scheme has extremely low uptake: grants are paid out on average for only 4 per cent of the 104,190 eligible victimisations reported to police each year.

The Government seems to care more about the criminals that the victims.